A necked down 357 mag cartridge.

[Jimbo357mag]

Has anybody heard of a 357mag cartridge necked down to 32 caliber. Seems like it might be an easy conversion in some 327 federal mag guns. ...and there are a lot of 32 cal bullets.

...or how about a 357 mag case necked down to 30 caliber. That would be an easy conversion for a 30 cal Blackhawk wouldn't it? Not too many 30 cal handgun bullets though.

...of course I know about the somewhat successful 256 Win Mag a necked down 357 mag to a 25 cal bullet.

 

[mhblaw]

Someone, somewhere and at sometime has done both I suspect...

 

[gunzo]

Someone, somewhere and at sometime has done both I suspect...

No doubt.

Probably would be less answers if you asked "what hasn't the .357 been necked down to"

 

[NikA]

.30 Reece or .30-357 both exist, and there may be dies and chamber reamers available.

.32-20 is awfully close to the dimensions of a .357 necked down to .32. I would guess you wouldn't get any better performance out of a modern gun from a true .32-357 than a .32-20.

.22 Jet is also based on the .357 case necked down to .22.

 

[contender]

One thing about necking down a case like the 357,,, say for the .256 Win. It takes special dies,,, in that you have to do the necking in stages. A 2 die set for the 256 will cost you almost $200 from Redding. Not a mainstream reloading item.
Now,, if you took the design & did a more gradual taper necking,,, it'd likely be ok.

 

[Dan in MI]

.357 Max down to 7mm was done for silhouette. I forget the name.

It'll come right after I hit submit.

 

[jsh]

Necked down 357 to a 30 or 32, is nothing much more than a rimmed whisper or black out. Virgin brass, starline run up in to the whisper/blackout die and your done.
The 357 max necker down in a 7tcu die is the 7 super mag,aka neck less wonder.
I have fooled with necking down the 357 mag to .223, rimmed 221. 360 Dan Wesson brass is better in length for the 221.
Jeff

 

[ptypegreen]

To form 256 win mag from 357 brass, (or 256 Maximum from 357 Maximum brass) you do not need the $200 Redding form dies. Start with virgin brass and first anneal the necks in molten lead for a couple of seconds. Then use an intermediate die such as a 30 Luger or 30 Mauser sizer to start the neck. Then use the 256 sizer die. Lee has relatively cheap 30 Luger or 30 Mauser sizer dies. Other wildcats can be done similarily. This was not my idea, read it before I tried it somewhere on the net.

 

[Jimbo357mag]

Thanks folks. I am fascinated by this stuff. Thanks for all the info. The 30-357 as compared to the 32-20 or 30-20 is very interesting as is the .30 Reece. ...and the use of other dies to form cases is great. I was thinking mostly about handgun cartridges but when you consider carbines and single-shots the longer bullets really opens the field up.

 

[okie44]

30 Badger created by Badger Edd. Case capacity is equal to 32-20 and is formed from 38 special brass in 30 Mauser or 7.62x25 dies. I have a 10" Contender and I'm keeping an eye out for a 30 Carbine Blackhawk to convert.

 

[mikld]

The 357 Mag. case has prolly been resized to every imaginable caliber. Most common is prolly the .256 Winchester Magnum and .22 Remington Jet. I found a 30-357 called the 30/357 Paxton, but didn't find any 32/357 in my Reloader's Manual of Cartridge Conversions. But I did find a .32 based on the .357 Max. called the 32-35 Stevens & Maynard. There isn't anything wrong with dreaming up/making a wildcat for personal use, but nearly every need has been filled so most "new" cartridges are just modifications of current cartridges (38 Spec-.357 Mag.-357 Max., and a ton of cartridges made from 30-06 brass from .22 up to .375) and most wildcatting is to get ultra high velocities in a rifle cartridge...

 

[jsh]

One case that has not been wild catted much in this part of the world is the 303 Brit and the 7.62x54R.
I had thoughts of tinkering with a 7BR rimmed for a while, then I came to my senses :wink:

 

[Pocketfisherman]

There is a great multipart article on the trials and tribulations of creating a wildcat cartridge on the realguns.com website. They went with a 357-.17.
http://www.realguns.com/archives/094.htm

 

[NikA]

.303 British has been extensively wildcatted in Australia, where surplus guns and ammo are more available in this caliber. I remember seeing quite a bit about a .25-303 cartridge, and I have vague recollections about .22/7mm/.270 wildcats.

 

[Jimbo357mag]

30 Badger created by Badger Edd. Case capacity is equal to 32-20 and is formed from 38 special brass in 30 Mauser or 7.62x25 dies. I have a 10" Contender and I'm keeping an eye out for a 30 Carbine Blackhawk to convert.

Another article about the 30 Badger.

http://singleactions.proboards.com/thread/13731/30-badger-contender

 

[mikld]

One case that has not been wild catted much in this part of the world is the 303 Brit and the 7.62x54R.
I had thoughts of tinkering with a 7BR rimmed for a while, then I came to my senses :wink:

I noticed quite a few wildcats based on the 303 British case when looking through my Cartridge Conversions book. Folks wanting a rimmed case for a base have used the 303 quite often. (.25/303 Epps, .30 Lever Power.)

I'm not an expert on wildcatting cartridges I just wanted to know, so I bought a book... :roll: