coonan 357 mag

They are fabulous, well made shoot great, feel good. You can change springs and shoot 38's as well. I have never had a negative issue with mine, had it for 3 years now. They are expensive? It is all relative I guess, I wanted one, saved and got one. Glad I have it and would never sell it.

I have two of the first run Model "B" guns

Gutterman, thanks for asking.

They are strong. Also heavy and large. Not as large as the Desert Eagle, but large enough to count as such. They feel (I have not measured) narrower than my .45 ACP 1911s, but a bit taller and longer. Takedown is the same as any 1911 gun, but they have no barrel link Instead, a linkless system. It makes no difference to the operation.

They have single-stack magazines, so do not come near the round count of 9mm or .40 S&W. Also, since the grips have to contain the longish .357 mag cartridge, the grips are WAY too long for shooters with smaller hands.

The magazine springs are the strongest I have ever felt. Fortunately, the guns are supplied with a loading assist tool and if you lose that, a finishing nail will do very nicely. Just stick it through the magazine follower (the magazine is slotted to allow that) and pull down. Most magazine assist tools (Super-Thumb and Uplula, for example) cannot fit over the Coonan magazine. Magazine is just too long.

One of my guns is definitely not a tack driver. The other as good as my Colt Gold Cup or any revolver I own except maybe my Dan Wesson .22 or my Colt Trooper 8".

Rimmed cartridges are well-known to be difficult to design a magazine for, but my guns (4 magazine) have never had a feeding problem. Getting the cartridges out and cycling through the action has never been a problem. Getting them into the magazine is tough (as I mentioned before), but worth it.

With a recoil spring and the gun's weight) absorbing some of the recoil, the guns are sweet shooters.

Lost Sheep

I love mine with the 6" barrel. Feels great, shoots better than I can. Others better than I shoot it very accurately. I need more time with it. Hope to solve that issue when I retire.

Gutterman:

If you love the .357 Magnum in a revolver, you will love the 10mm Auto in an autoloader. The same ballistics in lighter bullets, and the option of using heavier bullet weights at good velocities. And you have the choice of several modern manufactured handgun designs, at prices below the collector prices for the Coonan.

Anybody out there have one of these? I'm intrigued. I love the 357 mag round and can only imagine shooting a 357 auto. Are these as well made as I'm hearing? I looked on GB and there are some on auction ranging from $1200 to over $2200 but not one bid. Is it the caliber that scares them away or something else? For a well made auto the prices near the $1300 to $1500 range don't seem out of line.

Click to expand...

$1300 - $1500 for a nib custom 1911 isn't too outrages at all.

Gutterman:

If you love the .357 Magnum in a revolver, you will love the 10mm Auto in an autoloader. The same ballistics in lighter bullets, and the option of using heavier bullet weights at good velocities. And you have the choice of several modern manufactured handgun designs, at prices below the collector prices for the Coonan.

Click to expand...

Why is it any time somene asks a question about a Coonan or any other powerful semi auto pistol somebody has to chime in with a go with the 10mm instead comment. I'm sure the OP is aware of the 10mm's existence, but he wasn't asking about 10mm pistols which are a dime a dozen. He was asking about the Coonan 357 magnum.

> feeding rimmed cartridges

All of Browning's own cartridge designs were rimmed. Semi-rimmed, they call them now. Browning's pocket pistols were designed for his .25 or .32 and the 1911 was initially designed for .38 Colt Auto. The Hi Power was the only one I know of that was designed from the beginning for a rimless cartridge.


> 6" barrel

That's how Browning designed his big autoloader to start with. Colt bobbed it down to 5" as it evolved into the 1911.


> Coonan

The question isn't "why", but "why not?!"

I love mine! It is very loud, puts out a big fireball, but the action absorbs most of the recoil.

Neat guns, and one that I've been verrrrry attracted to as I'm a big .357 magnum revolver fan.

But, I've held off. When I can get a Glock 20 with a capacity of 16 rounds of 10mm which is every bit as powerful as .357 magnum from respective barrel lengths (and also fires larger, heavier bullets) with a .40 S&W conversion barrel for cheaper practice, all for about half the cost of the Coonan, and with less weight... it pushes me away.