Here's Glen Fryxell's thoughts about the "problem" of top strap cutting: "Initially, there was a surge of interest in taking light bullets and trying to drive them as fast as possible with the .357 Max. This is counter-productive. These short stumpy bullets are ballistically inefficient and shed velocity quickly, and provide poor terminal performance. These loads also tend to be the ones that accelerate top-strap cutting and forcing cone erosion (especially with W296/H110). Like any Magnum, the reason for the .357 Maximum's existence is not to take lightweight bullets and drive them ultra-fast, but rather to take heavier than normal bullets and drive them as fast (or faster) than the standard cartridge drives standard weight bullets. The .357 Max does its best with bullets weighing 175 grains and up. The top-strap cutting and forcing cone erosion that resulted from these experiments rattled the folks at Ruger, and the .357 Maximum was dropped from production after only about 9,000-10,000 were made. The negative PR also damaged the sales of Dan Wesson revolvers. They tried to counter it by offering a second barrel with the gun, but that didn't help much. The popularity of the .357 Maximum was waning. Which is too bad, because all that was really needed was an understanding of how to properly load the cartridge, and to recognize that top-strap cutting is a self-limiting process that stops after it reaches a certain point".
Personally, I'd love to have a Maximum to use as it was intended, as a great silhouette sixgun.....Butcher one with a conversion? Not me....Dennis :x (Uh....could a five shot Blackhawk in .500 WE be built on one of these?.... :shock: )
