Hello, thanks to everyone who advised me in my last post. I am in the market for a .357 max 10 inch contender barrel. I have owned a 357 herrett before in a 12" and wouldnt object to having the herrett again. The question is, would the herrett have much more muzzle blast than the max, both with 180 gr @ 1600 fps? it Looks like the herrett would use 5% more powder for a given velocity, in some manuals its about 20 grains and 21 grains for the same vel. I do like the idea of having lots more power available, and I do hunt with ear protection. So is there any reason to shoot the max rather than 1 gr powder and case forming?
thanks
Ian

I've never shot a .357 Maximum but do have a 357 Herrett with a 10 inch barrel. I don't consider the muzzel blast with IMR 4227 excessive at all.

Black Wildebeest taken with a 10 inch 357 Herrett.

I can bracket the other side of this question as I have a 357 Max with a ten inch barrel and the muzzle blast is perfectly tolerable.

And from the Step Below The Maximum Dept... I get a chrono'd 1500 fps from a 180 over a Speer #11 charge of H110 from a 10 inch 357 magnum. These days my hearing is so far gone even this load give me that icepick in the ears sensation, so I hunt wearing electronic hearing protection.

Muzzle blast should be mild ,my 15" encore in 454 casull has some blast especially using win 260 partition gold ammo with the worthless muzzle tamer and the 06 with the kdf variant shooting my rifle hunting loads barks loud.It would be great if I could give a demo with the 2 of them as a comparison to any other calibers in contender or encore.

The more the powder and less the barrel equals more blast. Put a brake on it and you really see and hear the blast.

Both calibers you refer to are very mild and pleasant to shoot. I do prefer the 14 inch barrels for all my applications though.

for what its worth.