357 herret

[mwilson]

can a 357 barrel be rechambered for the 357 herret? if so what would be involved? thank you

[eskimo36]

Yes it can....rechamber and swap the extractor to a 30-30 extractor. 

[LaOtto222]

eskimo36 is correct on the rechamber and extractor. The 357 Herret approaches the 35 Remington for performance. For the most part you will need to reform 30-30 cases to get your 357 Herret in shooting order. I think you can buy cases preformed at least one place. The 35 Remington you can purchase cases at a reasonable cost. I have thought about that same conversion for my barrel, but the Indiana laws just changed for deer and a 357 Max will fit the bill while the 357 Herret will not. I am going to rechamber mine to the Max.

[cwlongshot]

I was at one time very enamored with the 30 and 357 Herrett cartritges. If you know the story, they where designed for the shorter pistol legnth barrels. they also carry some "issues" esp the 357. 

 I will advise the same as LaOtto, just go for the 357 Maxi. it will do about everything the Herrett can with ALOT less problems!! Remember we are talking rifle legnth barrels here.
 I get 2000 2100fps from 180gr bullets in my 21" maxi barrel and 1680 powder.


CW

[mwilson]

thanks to all for the information. looks like max is the way to go

[quickdtoo]

Don't be afraid of the 35 Remington if you're not limited to a pistol round, 2150fps with 200gr bullets is quite doable and 1900-1950fps with 240-250gr cast bullets work in the 1:18¾" twist too.

Tim

[Ditchdigger]

I've also considered the 357 Herret in a Handi. My main reason was the accuracy of the 357 Herret.I have a Contender in that caliber,and it will shoot 3/4" groups all day at 100 yds.,when I take the time to shoot it alot. It will do 2350 fps in a 14" barrel and a 158 gr. XTP and I'm guessing 2650 with a 22" barrel. Mine will do 1975 with a 180 gr.bullet in the 14" barrel. Any 30 30 brass can be made into the Herret fairly quickly and I've fireformed them with near max loads and the were fairly accurate.
You can pickup 30 30 or 375 brass around just about anywhere there's people shooting,so theres a plentiful supply of it. According to all the articles I've read, the Herret holds a slight edge over the 35 Rem. and the Max. The 125 gr. XTP's really sizzile in my Contender. Hope this helps.  Digger

[quickdtoo]

http://www.gun-tests.com/performance/may97FTform.html

.357 Herrett
After Steve Herrett’s and Bob Milek’s success with the .30 Herrett, they decided that a larger, more powerful load was needed for hunting. In those days 10-inch barrels were most common in the Contender, so this was a big consideration in the load’s development.

The .357 Herrett was designed from the parent .30-30 case. The mouth was opened to .35 caliber and the shoulder pushed back to 1.360 inches with a 30-degree angle. The taper is blown out of the body for a much straighter case.

This cartridge has been dropped from the Contender lineup in favor of the factory-loaded .35 Remington. Though the .35 Remington is a fine round in a 14-inch barrel, it is not even chambered in the 10-inch tube. The .357 Herrett is much better in the 10-inch length. The .357 Herrett is one of the finest hunting rounds ever developed for the 10-inch Contender, and it’s a shame that Thompson Center no longer offers it.

Likely the largest reason for its demise was difficulty in forming the cases. With the introduction of 14-inch and longer barrels, the .35 Remington took over because of the availability of factory ammo and the ease of reloading. However, the .357 Herrett remains one of the classic and best handgun-hunting calibers, particularly in the much handier 10-inch barrel length. For deer and black bear at woods ranges, it is a great choice. While not often thought of as a varmint caliber, there are a bunch of woodchucks and a few coyotes who would debate that, if they were around.

Even though it is a rimmed cartridge and the parent .30-30 Winchester does headspace on the rim, the .357 Herrett headspaces on the shoulder, not the rim. It is important that the case be formed so that the shoulder supports it on the very first firing the fire-forming load). If the case is allowed to headspace on the rim, it will result in the case stretching ahead of the web.

This is usually noticeable as a bright ring or even a crack on the case just ahead of the web. In extreme cases or if the case is used again, separation will often result. This can damage both the gun and the shooter.

To ensure that the case headspaces on the shoulder, the sizing die should be set so the base is 1/4 inch above the shell holder when the press ram is raised all the way to the top. Run a case through the die and trim it to 1.750 inches. Because this requires shortening the case by 0.29 inches—and that’s a lot of turning on a hand-cranked trimmer—the Power Trim Pro Trimmer from RCBS will speed up the job.

After chamfering the mouth, try the case in the gun. It should not chamber all the way, and you should not be able to close the action. Now screw down the die in 1/8-turn increments, running the lubricated case in each time and trying it in the gun. The object is to size the case until the gun will just close with no interference from the case. Take care not to go beyond that point.

The old thinking was that the gun should close with just a little force so that the shoulder was jammed against the chamber. The problem: If this operation was not done correctly, the Contender would misfire. Instead, the shoulder should be pushed back until the gun can close without interference from the case. The danger here is that the shoulder can be in the correct position, or it can be pushed back too far, there is no way to know for sure. Either method requires that careful attention be paid to the process. I prefer to have a very slight interference from the case when closing the Contender. If this interference is minimal and the gun is closed with a sharp snap, there is usually no problem. Also, I accept the possibility of a misfire and never use the first fire-forming load for hunting.

No matter how you decide to adjust the sizing die, once you find this place, lock the die and size the remaining cases. I used a feeler gauge to measure the space between a fully raised shell holder and the bottom of the die and saved that number for future reference. Or you can carefully measure the distance from the top of the die to the top of the locking ring. This can help to speed up the process the next time you need to form a batch of cases. Because this dimension can vary with different presses and dies, it is important that you check your own setup.

After sizing your remaining cases they must be trimmed to length, and the case mouths chamfered inside and out. Here I use the RCBS Trim Mate Case Prep Center to speed up the job. Then I clean lubricant off the brass by tumbling it.

Fire-forming loads should not exceed 90 percent of the final loads. The Bullseye-Cream of Wheat method doesn’t work as well here, probably because the diameter of the neck is large in relation to the body, so fire-forming with bullets is necessary.

After fire-forming you must adjust the die so it does not contact the shoulder. In theory you can simply leave the setting you used for forming the brass, but to be safe and to extend case life I prefer to back the die off a little bit, usually about 0.040 inches. You can check this by putting some machinist blue on the case (it also works to simply color the case with a felt marker) then lube the case and run it into the die. If the die is contacting the shoulder, it will be apparent.

Always use magnum primers and powder charges that are near maximum for the best results in the .357 Herrett. Check for case lengthening after each firing, particularly the first, and trim as necessary.

[d_hiker]

Has anyone had their .357 re-chambered to the .358 JDJ by one of our sponsors SSK Industries?  If you are wanting to push a .357 size bullet, it sounds like this might do the trick.  The parent case is a .444 Marlin.