I just rechambered a 357 Magnum NEF with a 357 Remington Maximum reamer. This cleaned out the overly long throat that NEF had used on the 357 Magnum. Fired a few of my last factory rounds and the fired brass showed that the chamber had no abnormalities that the eye couldn't see. It took far more time to set up the barrel in the lathe that it did to recut the chamber.

I'd like to find another one and rechamber it to 357 Herrett (sp?). Would have to change to a 30-30 extractor but that's not complicated. I like these better than the TC Encore for fun guns because of the lower cost and acceptable performance.

Posted just FYI.

H&R made a run of 100 of the 357mag barrels early this year, the last time someone at GBO talked to them, they still had a few left if you want to send a frame in for one to be fitted. They also have a special going right now for $5 off on a barrel w/free fitting, so that's $20 off the cost.....If you're interested, call em at (978) 630-8220 and ask for Jennifer to see if they have any left and if the "special" is available to anyone or just previous customers who bought a new rifle recently, cuz I don't know for sure, yet.

http://www.graybeardoutdoors.com/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=62021

www.hr1871.com

As a point of interest the Speer 180 grain semi spitzer is awesome in the rifle length .357 Maximum. Work up with Win 296 or H110 and be amazed with the performance. I did your trick to a .357 Ruger #1 years ago, and now regret it, but also went to .358 Win on the Ruger... That was a very accurate rifle, Killed a fine Maine bear with it as well.

I've had three of the Ruger No.1's in .357 Magnum. Each time some idiot offered me a lot of money for the thing and I sold it. I always wanted a 357 Rem Max which is why I didn't mind rechambering the cheap NEF. If I like it then I will build a Ruger No. 1 as I always intended.
Already have a barrel blank.

I want to use this for whacking badgers, coyotes up close, possums, and other medium size varmints at short ranges. I'll try the Speer 180 grain. Thanks for the info.

I have had 3 NEF Handis in 357 Max..two were rechambers done by SSK and one is a factory chambered barrel. They are indeed handy rifles and I enjoy them much. I also had a 357 barrel rechambered to .358 Bullberry which is the full length 30-30 case necked to 35 cal and improved. I can also use 375 Win cases or 38-55 Win cases to form the round. Some call this round the 357 Herret LONG. It is a good performer from the Handi-rifle and is very accurate with 180-200gr bullets. Drops deer quite handily also. I have a 12 inch contender barrel in this chambering as well and it has given me DRT performance on about 30 deer. The nice thing about it is the versitility of using either heavy rifle bullets or light weight pistol bullets with equal accuracy. Pretty useful chambering. A rechamber to the Herret round would work nicely as well

shortgun

The 358 bullberry sounds interesting. I have formed the equivelant brass when necking down 38-55 brass to form 357 herret. I look at it, think about getting a reamer for it, then continue moving the shoulder back to form 357 H. I didn't know there was an actual chambering for this. I had thought of the 35/30-30 also.
Looks like it ought to be almost a rimmed 35 Remington in performance. Thanks for the hint.

I shot two coyotes out on BLM land this morning with the 357 REM MAX in the NEF. Stopped them cold with
chest shots. Used 180 Hornady XTP's.

Yup..you could call it a 35 Remington rimmed I guess as the performance is about the same but in my view it is a little more efficient and better suited to single shot guns than the Remington offering. I think the performance would be a bit better if the handi had a better barrel...smoother would be better as mine is a bit rough inside. I intended to fire lap it but it shoots to good to mess with just to gain a few FPS. I actually use the 375 win and the 38-55 win cases more than the 30-30 case. The 35-30-30 you speak of is a little les in case capicity than the 358 Bullberry as it retains the long parent case neck and taper. I would like to make a lever gun in this chambering and the max as well..would be fun guns I think

shortgun

I've been renting out a Manson reamer for .357 Max. It's done about 20 barrels, mostly NEFs and everyone has been delighted. Seems to improve even accuracy with .38 Specials and top end ballistics push factory .35 Rem.

quote:

Originally posted by Leftoverdj:
I've been renting out a Manson reamer for .357 Max. It's done about 20 barrels, mostly NEFs and everyone has been delighted. Seems to improve even accuracy with .38 Specials and top end ballistics push factory .35 Rem.

I've gotten the same improvement with my Handi, I rented a reamer and did the job myself by hand and am very happy with the outcome. It took some searching, but I've finally found the load that shoots where I point the thing! I don't remember the charge of H110,but the 180 gr cast bullet works great. I might even get to use it on whitetails this next season!
I found this picture of the bullet: