All that said, a Blackhawk would probably be your best choice for this. They're cheap and plentiful and will stand up nicely to your loads.By the way, my goal is to load up to 1550 with a 158swc in my 8 3/8" pre-27's and then sacrifice a gun like the blackhawk or redhawk to a steady diet of them.
All that said, a Blackhawk would probably be your best choice for this. They're cheap and plentiful and will stand up nicely to your loads.
Drail is spot one about destroying even the strongest revolvers by shooting light grain high velocity with slow burning powders rounds. Here is a example of what happen to a GP100 after a years worth of shooting the so called "flame throwers"Man, LOOK at the amount of steel between the chambers on that Redhawk! You probably will not blow up any Ruger in .357 but you can and will destroy the forcing cone if you run a steady diet of 110-125 gr. heavy loads through it. This is not an internet rumor. I have done it myself. Still have the gun. I was young and stupid. It only took about 2 months to do this. Kuhnhausen's Ruger DA Revolver shop manual has multiple photographs of Ruger barrel's forcing cones that were destroyed by people using light bullet heavy loads. Use 158 gr. loads and it will last forever. The Kuhnhausen book also has photos of barrels cut lengthwise to show results of some tests that Ruger conducted to prove how strong their barrels are. They threaded a steel plug into the muzzle and fired rounds until the entire length of the bore was filled with bullets smashed into each other. The barrel never blew, bulged or even cracked. They also did the same thing with a S&W and Colt revolver and they both let go after 2 rounds. There are other photos of customer's gun where they fired a squib into the barrel and then kept firing rounds until the barrel coud not revolver any more because of the bullets sticking out the rear of the barrel. It did not blow or even bulge the barrel. Ruger's design philosophy has always been to design it to withstand normal use and then double it. It works very well.
So the hunt begins.
I know I can find a blackhawk pretty much any day at my local dealer. I can also occasionally see a FA 357. I will watch and see if I can shake up a Redhawk 357 and if I get bored get the Blackhawk.
So off to the classified to post a "I am a looking for one"..
Thanks a bunch for the advice.
I've never seen or heard of one, prove it.They even made some Super Redhawks in .357 Magnum.
Never seen or heard of this either. Seen plenty with unfluted cylinders but they were either .45's fitted with .454 SRH cylinders or custom five-shot .45Colt, .475's or .500's. Besides, unfluted cylinders are heavier but not stronger.I have even seen some unfluted .357 cylinders...
You do understand that maximum velocities are obtained with slow powders, right?They may have had large quantities of fast powders and maximum velocity rounds...
I've never seen or heard of one, prove it.
Never seen or heard of this either.
I too am trying (just getting started) to develop loads for my 357 blackhawk. I've sold my heavy revolvers due to the combination of me not being able to shoot accurately and I can't take the recoil. I kept the 357 because it is really an accurate gun and the recoil doesn't bother me.Iggy is right. I am only interested in what the 357 Magnum can really do. If I want more power I just go to my 357 Maximum. This is just a study in understanding what the actual round is capable of.
Much like my love of the 38/44s. The 357 Magnum makes more sense but the romance of the 38/44 is what is neat to study.
Besides, I don't reload 44's and yet I usually load about 10,000 .358 caliber 158's every year for my hobby. It just makes sense to stay with the 357 magnum over the 44 magnum.