Dave DeLaurant
Member
I did this operation on a .357 Handirifle barrel. While it shoots great with the pointier .35 Remington bullets, I'm not so sure it was such a great idea. After converting my H&R I found that my groups with regular .357 Magnum ammo had opened up considerably -- your mileage may vary.
The Maximum was designed to shoot ultra-heavy bullets rather than to achieve high velocities; one advantage to the longer case is to have enough brass to reach the cannelure on a deeply-seated 180 grainer for a hard crimp -- you need this to prevent bullet jump in a hard-kicking revolver. In a single shot rifle, you can use standard .357 Magnum brass and seat the bullet long with a less aggressive taper crimp and come pretty close to the same powder volume.
The real advantages to the Maximum is the thicker-walled case for higher pressures and greater powder volume to take advantage of it. In a single shot, brass hasn't been that big of a problem -- 200 cases will last forever. Loaded factory ammo is basically non-existent though.
The Maximum was designed to shoot ultra-heavy bullets rather than to achieve high velocities; one advantage to the longer case is to have enough brass to reach the cannelure on a deeply-seated 180 grainer for a hard crimp -- you need this to prevent bullet jump in a hard-kicking revolver. In a single shot rifle, you can use standard .357 Magnum brass and seat the bullet long with a less aggressive taper crimp and come pretty close to the same powder volume.
The real advantages to the Maximum is the thicker-walled case for higher pressures and greater powder volume to take advantage of it. In a single shot, brass hasn't been that big of a problem -- 200 cases will last forever. Loaded factory ammo is basically non-existent though.