moooose102
Member
Does Anybody Still Make A Handgun Chambered In .357 Maximum? My Wife Thinks She Wants Another Wheel Gun, I Kind Of Miss My S&w 686, But I Think A Maximum Would Be A Hoot To Shoot.
1911Tuner said:Good cartridge, but hard on revolvers. Eats topstraps while-u-wait.
Will the maximum actually cut deep enough into the topstrap to cause a structural failure, or does it stop before that point?
The .357 max was a terrible idea. It's what happens when the boss takes an extended abscense and leaves management in the hands of morons.
I shoot mine with everything from 110gr to 200gr usually loaded hot and haven't seen any topstrap cutting at all.
This is no worse "in my opinion" then many S&W 357 magnum L & k frames that I have seen shot with a lot of 110 and 125 grn magnum loads.
Now it's true that gas cutting would have gone only so far through the topstrap, then it would have stopped. But that was unacceptable to the manufacturers. True, heavier bullets could have been used, but then they would have no practical advantage over other, more popular calibers (including the .357 mag), and the manufacturers realized that. If there was any practical way they could have made the .357 max viable, they would have done so.
Seems like they could have milled a simicircular relief notch in the top strap right where the gas cutting would take place.
Which would accomplish nothing at all. Thinning of the topstrap still equates to a weakened topstrap.