Interesting, it seems to me that the decision was made within the last two weeks or so of the shutdown to drop the 357. Within a couple of days, the 44 was being discussed as being dropped too. Now, the interesting thing about these two chamberings is that they are the most readily rechambered for the home tinkerer, and there was at the time a reamer being passed around and openly spoken of on the board to rechamber a 357 Mag to a Max. While the discussion that lead to this was nearly 6 weeks in the making, within 3 weeks of the reamers purchase and use... SHUTDOWN.... Over the same time, a conversation about rechambering the 44 to a 445 Super mag, or even 444 Marlin had been taking some shape, the originator was simply waiting on a 44 to purchase and try out. Where does this leave us? With supposition, suspition, and remarks frooom the company on thte shutdown now posted where there was once a "Welcome".......
I have my 44. I have my 357 (Maximum, since April or May of last year) I have a 30-30 which I do not know at present if I will ever do much with and I have a 45-70. I feel for those guys that don't have one yet, it seemed that the more I wrote of the loads I was using and the success I was having with my 44 and 357, the more people were seeking them. (I would like to think that was all about my success, but probably had more to do with others using me as a guinea pig)
Since I have all the rifles I would ever use, I am more in the search for a shotgun, but would be more inclined to buy one of the Baikal models than anyone else's. I hate it for those guys who were looking for a 44 or 357 Handi, could I suggest that they look to the Bakial single shot or double in 7.62x39?
Looks very sweet from here.