Has anyone rechambered their No.1 357 to 357 Max.? I am considering this to clean up the long throat. Any experience? Thanks.

Tanker I did this project quite a while ago and went to the .358 Winchester after several years of the maximum. The maximum was quite a bit of fun and the Speer 180 SP and winchester 296 made a very potent combination, velocities about 1850 ft/secs. The .358 was by far the best, though if doing it today I would go .35 Whelan. I prefer to load longer cartridges into the single shot. I frankly miss the .357 basic chambering, for fun shooting.

The rechambering is "just a reamer away!" You WILL be impressed. I have done several.
Aloha, Mark

Aw heck, Tanker- NOW you've gone and done it!

That thought makes me wish I had bought one of the Ruger #1's in .357 when they first came out, because....

- The .357 Max is the parent case for the .32 Miller Short

- The .32 Miller has won LOTS & LOTS & LOTS of schuetzen matches.

- Out to 40 rods (220 yards) the .35 is likely as good or better than the .32 for a seasoned (used to a little recoil) shooter.

- There are probably many times more .35 bullet moulds available overall than .32 moulds, even though there may not be as many purely "match bullet" moulds.

- I've still got about 1,000 unfired brand new & unfired .357 Max brass in the shop.

- It sounds like a potentially very accurate, easy-to-load, fun-to-shoot combo.

RATS!!! And here I thought there were no other rifles I "need"........(that's always just a temporary fantasy, isn't it?)

Go for it, I say.

Hi Tanker,

Yep, I did the "max" reaming conversion as well, and it was a definate improvement. Like 308Sako, mine really did well with the Hornady 180 sspb, only I used ~23gr. Lil' gun. You can always go to a 358 or Whelen afterwards (I ended up with the 358 over the Whelen after plying with the Maximum, deciding that the 1:16 twist wouldn't let it shine as a Whelen anyway).

I have not miked my barrel but isn't the bore supposed to be .357? Is it a good idea to be squeezing .358s at full 358 or Whelen pressure through it?

Guess my memory is failing at a steeper curve! I thought the Ruger had a 1 in 14" twist. Regardless, I had no trouble at all stablizing the Hornady 250 grain RN's, and avergae accuracy was .75 MOA in the .358 reincarnation.

quote:

Originally posted by Tanker:
I have not miked my barrel but isn't the bore supposed to be .357? Is it a good idea to be squeezing .358s at full 358 or Whelen pressure through it?

In practical terms, very few bores are actually exactly what the nominal diameter indicates.

Also, with lead-cored bullets, .001" of bullet diameter, either plus or minus, is virtually untectable most of the time. As a matter of fact, it is not at all unusual for rifles to shoot BETTER when using slightly over bore-diameter bullets....in some instances, vastly over-sized bullets, depending on throat diameter and length.

For single shot rifles, I do not cut SAAMI chambers for straight wall pistol cartridges.

The SAMMI reamer with have a neck ~ .381", but most ammo is ~.377".

If the loaded ammo is resized, then the chamber can be even smaller.

My 45acp single shot rifle for punching holes at 100 yards .469" [not .474" with a SAAMI reamer].

That is one of the big deals with single shot rifles, they can feed tight ammo without jamming.

Oddly enough I also have a 45 ACP rifle built up on a No.1. One of my all time favorites for hunting varmints to deer.

A 45acp rifle that is accurate is a crowd pleaser at the range.

With hearing protection on, and others shooting, it is still a distinct sound when the 45 hits a plywood backed target 100 meters away.

Mine is a wonderful shooter and a joy in the field. It is one of my favorite rifles. Most folks including my friends thought I was nuts but all liked it when they saw it in action. It has served well on armadillos, ground hogs, coyotes, hogs, deer, and as a croud pleaser on the range especially in the hands of upcoming shooters.

I helped eat an armadillo in 1972.
A native in Zipolite killed it.
Now I see on the food channel that poor Mexicans must pay $75US for an armadillo.

15.2 gr AA#5 230 gr Montana Gold FMJ is a 460 Rowland type load, but from a stout 45acp rifle, I am sure it would stop anything. 4" 20 Shot group @100m rapid fire for a single shot.

We ate armadillos pretty regularly once my dad imposed the "you shoot it, you eat it" rule when I was a kid. I'm sure the dillos liked the rule better than I did.
My No.1 likes the Speer listed loading for the 200JHP with Bluedot. Unfortunatly I have to try another stouter bullet since I have shot deer in the back of the neck at about 60-70 yards and had it stop on the bone flattened out like a quarter.. That's only a few inches down here.