How many kids get to experience one of the coolest rounds ever made in one of the coolest guns ever made?
Such a neat cartridge - simple, versatile, efficient and economical - GREAT for cast bullets. I remember when it first came out that it didn't really push a lot of buttons for me but seemed interesting. At that time, it was hyped as a revolver cartridge for silhouette shooting and my imagination hadn't latched onto it yet.
I lived in California at the time and while visiting a central coastline park, a ranger or some such authority stopped to chat with my wife and me while we were hiking. He pointed out an area where he'd seen a group of hogs (wild Russian hogs, all hairy and tusky) and advised that we should be on the lookout and steer clear of them because there was a huge, cranky male among the crowd. I felt the 3" 44 Special in my pocket shrivel up a little.
It hit me at that moment that the 357 Max may just be the berries for the guys shooting steel, but it would almost certainly be a really neat hunting round as well! I shared my epiphany with my wife and got "that look" - you know, the patient, hollow stare waiting for you to come back to the present reality? "OK, Dear, never mind - onward to our picnic-blanket lunch-date."
I know everybody knows this, but commonality of components, and especially tooling is a huge plus to this round. Anyone with a 38 or 357 revolver, should have a single-shot 'Max as a companion. Just THREE moulds provides NINE possible options with this caliber, without considering the endless possibilities regarding powder choices and charge variations. This is one of those where a fella could easily get by with one to three powders for a very wide range of loads. Note that Glenn has an article on LASC using a single mould for several 35 cals which is extremely interesting reading.
I'm glad this one came back from near obscurity. I'd like to thank every shooter who uses it and buys the brass, because that's what saved it - people using it and more people waking up to its potential over the past several years. I was ready to give up on it until Starline started making brass for it. Supplies were too spotty and iffy just previous.
Oh, and not to dis' the 44 Special, so don't beat me up. I had just started loading for it myself and it seemed very "light " compared to the 44 Mags I had cut my teeth on.
