JimGnitecki
Member
- Joined
- Mar 28, 2010
- Messages
- 1,258
Now that I am getting back into Cowboy Action Shooting (after about a quarter century off), I needed 357 Magnum cases at a time when cases of any caliber were hard to find (now a bit better at leats where I live). My buddy in another city found me 2 batches from 2 different guys.
One batch was indeed 357 Magnum brass. But when I started to load the other batch, which is nickel plated by the way, I discovered that they are NOT in fact "357 Magnum" cases, even though the external dimensions appear identical. Yes, on one side of the primer on the case bottom they say "357 Magnum". But on the other side of the case bottom (i.e. 180 degrees away on the opposite side of the primer) they say "WW SUPER". I THINK their wall thickness is thicker, and maybe some other non-visible changes from 357 Mag, as a loaded cartridge made with these cases will NOT seat fully into a 357 Magnum case gauge. It goes in most of the way, but the last 1/8" or so of the case near the base will not chamber in either the gauge or my 357 Magnum revolvers' cylinders.
So, I looked up "357 SUPER Magnum" on Google, and Wikipedia has an entire article that covers a number of "Super" calibers, including this one and others like 45 Super.
For the 357 Super Magnum, that article says:
"
The .357 SuperMag is essentially the same cartridge as the later-named .357 Remington Maximum that was jointly developed circa 1982–1983 by Sturm, Ruger & Company and Remington, the .357 Remington Maximum brass is only 0.005" shorter than that of the .357 SuperMag brass, but identical in all other dimensions. Ruger, as well as Dan Wesson, introduced revolvers in this cartridge, followed shortly later by Thompson/Center in their single-shot Contender.[1]Due to flame cutting of the top strap of revolvers when shooting cartridges loaded with 110 and 125 grain bullets, Ruger discontinued their revolver in this cartridge after a short production run. Dan Wesson provided a second barrel to customers, but this failed to address customer fears, and the cartridge remained popular only in the single-shot T/C Contender. Remington then dropped this cartridge from production, although brass is still manufactured for reloaders every few years.
"
I live in Canada. At least one Canadian brass supplier sells the very similar .357 Remington Maximum (.005" shorter than 357 Super Mag, but apparently otherwise identical), but not the 357 Super Mag. But their price for the .357 Remington Maximum is about 3.5 x times as much as for 357 Mag! Evidently, these cases are pretty costly now that they are very rare. And i have 191 nickel plated ones. And there are probably .357 Super Magnum shooters somewhere out there who would love to have them.
But, how can I practically find those buyers? First of all, I live in Canada. Canadian law apparently prohibits exporting ammunition components (unless you have some sort of dealer export license I imagine). And, with Canada having barely over 1/10 the population of The U.S., there are going to be even fewer 357 Super Magnum or 357 Remington Maximum shooters than the already few in The U.S.
The only online shooting classified ads website I am aware of (because I normally do not buy or sell firearms stuff except from and to actual storefront type dealers with a checkable reputation) requires setting up an account and I don't really want to do that and also pay an ad fee.
Any suggestions on how to best sell these cases to someone who might be looking for them?
Jim G
One batch was indeed 357 Magnum brass. But when I started to load the other batch, which is nickel plated by the way, I discovered that they are NOT in fact "357 Magnum" cases, even though the external dimensions appear identical. Yes, on one side of the primer on the case bottom they say "357 Magnum". But on the other side of the case bottom (i.e. 180 degrees away on the opposite side of the primer) they say "WW SUPER". I THINK their wall thickness is thicker, and maybe some other non-visible changes from 357 Mag, as a loaded cartridge made with these cases will NOT seat fully into a 357 Magnum case gauge. It goes in most of the way, but the last 1/8" or so of the case near the base will not chamber in either the gauge or my 357 Magnum revolvers' cylinders.
So, I looked up "357 SUPER Magnum" on Google, and Wikipedia has an entire article that covers a number of "Super" calibers, including this one and others like 45 Super.
For the 357 Super Magnum, that article says:
"
The .357 SuperMag is essentially the same cartridge as the later-named .357 Remington Maximum that was jointly developed circa 1982–1983 by Sturm, Ruger & Company and Remington, the .357 Remington Maximum brass is only 0.005" shorter than that of the .357 SuperMag brass, but identical in all other dimensions. Ruger, as well as Dan Wesson, introduced revolvers in this cartridge, followed shortly later by Thompson/Center in their single-shot Contender.[1]Due to flame cutting of the top strap of revolvers when shooting cartridges loaded with 110 and 125 grain bullets, Ruger discontinued their revolver in this cartridge after a short production run. Dan Wesson provided a second barrel to customers, but this failed to address customer fears, and the cartridge remained popular only in the single-shot T/C Contender. Remington then dropped this cartridge from production, although brass is still manufactured for reloaders every few years.
"
I live in Canada. At least one Canadian brass supplier sells the very similar .357 Remington Maximum (.005" shorter than 357 Super Mag, but apparently otherwise identical), but not the 357 Super Mag. But their price for the .357 Remington Maximum is about 3.5 x times as much as for 357 Mag! Evidently, these cases are pretty costly now that they are very rare. And i have 191 nickel plated ones. And there are probably .357 Super Magnum shooters somewhere out there who would love to have them.
But, how can I practically find those buyers? First of all, I live in Canada. Canadian law apparently prohibits exporting ammunition components (unless you have some sort of dealer export license I imagine). And, with Canada having barely over 1/10 the population of The U.S., there are going to be even fewer 357 Super Magnum or 357 Remington Maximum shooters than the already few in The U.S.
The only online shooting classified ads website I am aware of (because I normally do not buy or sell firearms stuff except from and to actual storefront type dealers with a checkable reputation) requires setting up an account and I don't really want to do that and also pay an ad fee.
Any suggestions on how to best sell these cases to someone who might be looking for them?
Jim G
