Peter M. Eick
Bearcat
I have not been shooting in a while and was getting a bit rusty. It had been over a month and work has kept me off the firing line. But today is a holiday and the public range I am a member at will be overrun with rookies and once a year shooters. It is bad enough getting muzzle swept by experienced shooters but once a year types is particularly a concern. Ok, remember to bring a trauma kit. After a lot of thought, I figured it was too nice a day not to go. Heck it is about 80F here and not humid so lets go for it.
But now the decision. I really wanted to shoot 38 super but since I just got all of the brass loaded I decided not today. I then was thinking about 38/44's but with the range full, I needed to keep a bit of space to myself. I finally settled on the big dogs (for me), the Dan Wesson MD40 357 Supermag, aka the 357 Maximum and my Dan Wesson 357 SRM or 357 Maximum.
This is both of them. The DW is on the bottom, the Ruger is on the top.
Lets start with the ammo. The 357 Maximum is a 357 magnum on steroids.
For scale here is a 38 special, 357 magnum and a 357 maximum. The ammo I am shooting is 20.7 grns of 4227 with a 158 grn Lasercast SWC. I did not bring the Chrono today (remember the range was a zoo) but normally out of either gun it comes in right around 1600 FPS or about 930 Ft-lbs of energy. These are my plinking loads basically. They are pretty mild since I am shooting lead bullets and I like them because they don't lead the barrels. The other load I was shooting is sierra 158 JHP with 22.5 grns of 4227 and these run right around 1670 fps or around 960 Ft-lbs of energy. Again, mild loads overall. Just a lot of fun to shoot.
One of the issues I am trying to work past is flame cutting on my Ruger SRM. I am trying avoid this problem by only using stick powders and heavier bullets so I have now switched to 180 grn lead as a rule and this was some "old stock" of reloading that I am trying to burn down.
As a comparison here is two pictures of the flame cut. The first is from 3 years ago and was before I switched to only heavy bullets and 4227 powder.
This is 1600 odd rounds later, shot today.
As you can see the difference is pretty mild so I think I am onto the solution. I just have to burn out the rest of these old 158's.
Since I am talking about the SRM, lets show it.
This is your standard stretched Super Blackhawk chambered for the 357 Max. Ruger made and shipped about 10,000 of these but then recalled them because folks were trying to shoot 115 grn bullets at 2200 fps out of them and using ball powders. This flame cut the frames and caused a tizzy and they were recalled. If you happened to have one, never send it back to Ruger because the word is you will never get it back. They will credit it for you but you don't get your gun back. Too bad because it is fun to shoot.
Here is the frame so you can see what the roll stamp looks like.
On the other end of the extreme is the DW MD 40 SuperMag.
The DW is a dream to shoot. Big, heavy, great trigger and easy to fire well. The problem and the advantage it has is the removable barrel. When the lock nut loosens your accuracy goes to put quickly. I find that if I tighten it at the range, it normally is not removeable so I tend to make it loose and then tighten as needed. Today it was loose a few times and I tightened it hot so not it is one for a while. I find that if I don't get all panicky and leave it alone, it will loosen back up eventually and I can then readjust it in the future. I have wondered why I would want to remove the barrel because the whole reason for the Maximum is to get the most velocity out of .358 cal bullet you can so why have a short barrel? Oh well to each his own.
So now (finally) to the shooting. I bought out 650 rounds of Max today. 300 of the 158 Lasercasts I mentioned above and 350 of the Seirra JHP reloads I also mentioned above. I like tossing them out in the mid 1600 to 1700 fps because it reminds me of what the old 357 Magnum used to do. As you probably have heard the original 357 Magnum did 1550 (give or take) out of a 8 3/8" barrel with 158's. My mild Maximum 158 Lasercasts do better than this out of a heavier gun so it is a nice approximation of an old style full magnum load.
The Lasercast load was a bit smokey but hit very close to aim. I was on the 15 yrd line today because the 25 yrd line was full and why wait. No pictures of targets but frankly I was running about 3 to 4" patterns. I was having problems with getting a good sight picture at the break of the shot. I have not done anything to the DW but I have removed one lug of the trigger return spring stirrup. This brought trigger pull down to a respectable 3 lbs while the DW does right at 2.5 lbs single action. I tended to shoot 24 rounds and then switch because both guns would heat up quickly. When the DW heats up the cylinder warps slightly and on one side it rubs the barrel given the 0.002 cylinder gap for the 357 SM. My understanding is later guns were heat treated then finish machined to eliminate this quirk. Since I doubt many guns are shot like I shoot mine, this is probably not an issue.
The SRM on the other hand the ejector housing screw slowly backs out. You get about 50 to 75 shots off and then you have to tighten it back up. I am up to locktite blue to hold the screw but the heat is too high so next step is locktite red. I hate using locktite red but since I get the gun so warm I am not sure much else will hold it. I can normally get at least 100 to 150 shots fired per 30 minutes between cease fires so you can see both guns get warm.
I did notice that my SRM will split brass yet my DW does not do that. I had a bad batch of brass a while back and it split a lot. Here is a picture of it.
I am still shooting up the leftovers of that brass lot which was poorly made. Remington sent me a full replacement set of brass so I have no complaints. I was getting some splits still today. I had at least 6 today and they all occurred in the Ruger. It must have just slightly bigger of a cylinder holes than the DW.
I will say I like the hold open latch on the DW. This is a nice feature I had only previously seen in pre-war S&W's. If you have not seen this feature there is a detent that holds the cylinder open so it won't flop around as much when open. Just a nice bit of class.
The Seirra 158 JHP load was a lot of fun to shoot. I was banging it away at the end and actually my groups were doing better than I did with the lead load above. The accuracy was running right at about 2 to 3" and I was improving with shooting. Fatigue was kicking in though. I should have quick at 500 rounds because by 650 I was pretty beat up. I could feel flinch starting to develop as I watched the front sight on recoil.
So my summary is simple. The 357 Maximum is a great round that more folks should enjoy. It gives you the power of the 41 mag, or mild 44 mag rounds without getting beat up like you do with 44 mag. I find I can't enjoy the 44 mag much beyond about 200 full power rounds. 357 Maximum I can go about 500 rounds with no issues but 650 is close to my limit. For me these are my big dogs.
If you get a change, shoot one. Brass is available, it is easy to load and very accurate (not counting my poor showing today!)
But now the decision. I really wanted to shoot 38 super but since I just got all of the brass loaded I decided not today. I then was thinking about 38/44's but with the range full, I needed to keep a bit of space to myself. I finally settled on the big dogs (for me), the Dan Wesson MD40 357 Supermag, aka the 357 Maximum and my Dan Wesson 357 SRM or 357 Maximum.
This is both of them. The DW is on the bottom, the Ruger is on the top.
Lets start with the ammo. The 357 Maximum is a 357 magnum on steroids.
For scale here is a 38 special, 357 magnum and a 357 maximum. The ammo I am shooting is 20.7 grns of 4227 with a 158 grn Lasercast SWC. I did not bring the Chrono today (remember the range was a zoo) but normally out of either gun it comes in right around 1600 FPS or about 930 Ft-lbs of energy. These are my plinking loads basically. They are pretty mild since I am shooting lead bullets and I like them because they don't lead the barrels. The other load I was shooting is sierra 158 JHP with 22.5 grns of 4227 and these run right around 1670 fps or around 960 Ft-lbs of energy. Again, mild loads overall. Just a lot of fun to shoot.
One of the issues I am trying to work past is flame cutting on my Ruger SRM. I am trying avoid this problem by only using stick powders and heavier bullets so I have now switched to 180 grn lead as a rule and this was some "old stock" of reloading that I am trying to burn down.
As a comparison here is two pictures of the flame cut. The first is from 3 years ago and was before I switched to only heavy bullets and 4227 powder.
This is 1600 odd rounds later, shot today.
As you can see the difference is pretty mild so I think I am onto the solution. I just have to burn out the rest of these old 158's.
Since I am talking about the SRM, lets show it.
This is your standard stretched Super Blackhawk chambered for the 357 Max. Ruger made and shipped about 10,000 of these but then recalled them because folks were trying to shoot 115 grn bullets at 2200 fps out of them and using ball powders. This flame cut the frames and caused a tizzy and they were recalled. If you happened to have one, never send it back to Ruger because the word is you will never get it back. They will credit it for you but you don't get your gun back. Too bad because it is fun to shoot.
Here is the frame so you can see what the roll stamp looks like.
On the other end of the extreme is the DW MD 40 SuperMag.
The DW is a dream to shoot. Big, heavy, great trigger and easy to fire well. The problem and the advantage it has is the removable barrel. When the lock nut loosens your accuracy goes to put quickly. I find that if I tighten it at the range, it normally is not removeable so I tend to make it loose and then tighten as needed. Today it was loose a few times and I tightened it hot so not it is one for a while. I find that if I don't get all panicky and leave it alone, it will loosen back up eventually and I can then readjust it in the future. I have wondered why I would want to remove the barrel because the whole reason for the Maximum is to get the most velocity out of .358 cal bullet you can so why have a short barrel? Oh well to each his own.
So now (finally) to the shooting. I bought out 650 rounds of Max today. 300 of the 158 Lasercasts I mentioned above and 350 of the Seirra JHP reloads I also mentioned above. I like tossing them out in the mid 1600 to 1700 fps because it reminds me of what the old 357 Magnum used to do. As you probably have heard the original 357 Magnum did 1550 (give or take) out of a 8 3/8" barrel with 158's. My mild Maximum 158 Lasercasts do better than this out of a heavier gun so it is a nice approximation of an old style full magnum load.
The Lasercast load was a bit smokey but hit very close to aim. I was on the 15 yrd line today because the 25 yrd line was full and why wait. No pictures of targets but frankly I was running about 3 to 4" patterns. I was having problems with getting a good sight picture at the break of the shot. I have not done anything to the DW but I have removed one lug of the trigger return spring stirrup. This brought trigger pull down to a respectable 3 lbs while the DW does right at 2.5 lbs single action. I tended to shoot 24 rounds and then switch because both guns would heat up quickly. When the DW heats up the cylinder warps slightly and on one side it rubs the barrel given the 0.002 cylinder gap for the 357 SM. My understanding is later guns were heat treated then finish machined to eliminate this quirk. Since I doubt many guns are shot like I shoot mine, this is probably not an issue.
The SRM on the other hand the ejector housing screw slowly backs out. You get about 50 to 75 shots off and then you have to tighten it back up. I am up to locktite blue to hold the screw but the heat is too high so next step is locktite red. I hate using locktite red but since I get the gun so warm I am not sure much else will hold it. I can normally get at least 100 to 150 shots fired per 30 minutes between cease fires so you can see both guns get warm.
I did notice that my SRM will split brass yet my DW does not do that. I had a bad batch of brass a while back and it split a lot. Here is a picture of it.
I am still shooting up the leftovers of that brass lot which was poorly made. Remington sent me a full replacement set of brass so I have no complaints. I was getting some splits still today. I had at least 6 today and they all occurred in the Ruger. It must have just slightly bigger of a cylinder holes than the DW.
I will say I like the hold open latch on the DW. This is a nice feature I had only previously seen in pre-war S&W's. If you have not seen this feature there is a detent that holds the cylinder open so it won't flop around as much when open. Just a nice bit of class.
The Seirra 158 JHP load was a lot of fun to shoot. I was banging it away at the end and actually my groups were doing better than I did with the lead load above. The accuracy was running right at about 2 to 3" and I was improving with shooting. Fatigue was kicking in though. I should have quick at 500 rounds because by 650 I was pretty beat up. I could feel flinch starting to develop as I watched the front sight on recoil.
So my summary is simple. The 357 Maximum is a great round that more folks should enjoy. It gives you the power of the 41 mag, or mild 44 mag rounds without getting beat up like you do with 44 mag. I find I can't enjoy the 44 mag much beyond about 200 full power rounds. 357 Maximum I can go about 500 rounds with no issues but 650 is close to my limit. For me these are my big dogs.
If you get a change, shoot one. Brass is available, it is easy to load and very accurate (not counting my poor showing today!)
