Wildcatting the .357 Maximum ......?

[Couger]

I love talking and reading about 'gun gack' as much as the next guy that enjoys reloading and tweeking his pieces, etc.

And some of the talk around here about wildcatting with the Handi's got me thinking about my own interests in cartridges ......

Where can someone find information about necking down the (rimmed) .357 Maxi to .224 caliber?  Or .243?  Or .264?  Or .284?  Or even .308?

And how would a fellow find or have dies made for a [homemade] wildcat round?  Redding lists many dies they can make that are (group G or H) for wildcats, but I doubt their list is really "complete."

Thanks!

[Steve P]

I have a 7 Super Mag contender barrel which is the 357max necked down to .284.  The Merrill pistols were chambered for .270 max, 30 max, etc.  Lots of info out in cyberspace.  You could ask specific questions in the Silhouette thread.  You could also ask questions at IHMSA.net.  Do a google search for Merrill pistols or check out threads on the Thompson Center Contender having to do with the 7SM. 

Steve

[stimpylu32]

Couger

There are a boat load of wildcats that were formed from the 357 Max , the most common and easiest to do are the .224 GNR and the .224 C&R Maxi . The GNR uses a form die and a sizing die to make the case and the C&R use a 222 Rem die with 0.030 removed from the bottom of the sizing die to put the shoulder in the proper place .

The .224/357 has 4 diffrent shoulder angles  17 , 22 , 30 and the 45 , some have the shoulder pushed back and yet others bump it out , It has been necked down as far as .17 .224 .243 .270 .308 . the smaller bullets from 17 to 243 seem to do the best with the limited case cap of the max , which is just about the same as the .222 Rem. when necked to .224.

stimpy

[LaOtto222]

Stimpy - I am surprised you did not say more about the .224 GNR, since you have one It is one that I would not mind having.

[stimpylu32]

LaOtto222

That was just a quick overview of the 357 Max cats , as for the 224GNR , I love mine . The cases are simple to make , all you do is annell the case mouth down about 3/8" , run it into the form die that drops the neck to about 1/2 way and finish the form in the FL sizer die . Another reason I went with the GNR is that there is no pre or post trimming to be done before loading the first rounds .

Load data is no problem as you can use any 222 Rem starting loads and work up like any other . With mine being a 1 in 12 twist it does lend itself to the 50 , 52 , 53 and 55 grain bullets better than the 35 to 45 grain .

The C&R Maxi on the other hand has a slightly smaller case cap than the .222 Rem so you have to pick and chose your loads some what , it was the first one that I looked at before going with the GNR , another down side to the Maxi is that all the forming is done in the FL sizer die and you will loose about 30% of the cases due to the brass rolling over onto itself in the neck .

For my next one I'll be using up some of the max cases that I screwed up before I got the GNR form die and form 22 Remington Jet cases , which is a wildcat based on the 357 Mag case .

stimpy

[Datil]

 Stimpy I guessed you would jump in here on this, I may just have to take
 The 22 GNR away from you! HAHA. See you at the end of the month.
 Take care old buddy Marvin

[stimpylu32]

Marv

You would have better chances of getting the 218 Bee away from me , did I say , I just love the Reeder . 

stimpy

[Couger]

Hello and thanks for all the replies.  Glad to see the discussion generated.

I went looking on Goggle for 'wildcat' information and came upon a couple of sites, but found no information for wildcatting the .357 Maxi except the .22 C&R Maxi.  Nor could I find where to buy reloading dies.

Where can I learn about necking the .357maxi to .308 caliber?  .264?  and .243?  I'm aware the necked-down Maximum case holds a similar volume of powder to the .222 Remington.

I tried Google-ing Redding and RCBS for custom or unusual [cartridge] dies, but had little success.

Stimpy;  Where did you buy your dies for your .22 GNR?  And where did you find reloading data and specs for that round?

Thanks fellas!

[quickdtoo]

http://www.ch4d.com/ has almost 1900 dies listed, lots of wildcats, they'd be one source of wildcat dies.

Tim

[stimpylu32]

Couger

The dies are Hornady's that Gary Reeder has made to sell to people that have one of his GNR's chambers done , as for loads , I used the 222 Remington data as the cases are so close in cap. and it is working well .

As Tim said , 4D would be the place for custom Wildcat dies , they will make them with the same reamer you use on the chamber , they will also make form dies if you need work the neck or shoulder profile down in steps .

stimpy

[Couger]

Thanks for the ch4d.com site.  That answered a lot of questions.



Who is a good gunsmith that does a good job tweeking or rechambering chambers?  Thanks!

[quickdtoo]

Wayne York has done lots of work for me and many others here.

Tim

http://home.earthlink.net/~oregunsmithing/

[stimpylu32]

Wayne York would be my first choice and Gary Reeder would be the 2nd , actually those would be my only choices .

stimpy