Be careful with your .357 ammo choices....

[The Annoyed Man]

A little over 8 years ago, I posted a thread called "I believe I’ve met my match", in which I described the joys of firing Remington's .357 magnum 158 grain SJHP "Express Revolver and Pistol" whitetail hunting load in a J-framed scandium framed snubbie. It was written for the purposes of humor, as it was a "full house" load being fired from a 13 oz revolver, which was accompanied by pain, evil thoughts, and the expansive and torrential use of very purple profanity. I put the rest of that box of ammo away after that range session, and I still have it today. I held onto it because I knew that some day, I’d purchase a K, L, or N-famed .357 revolver which would be more appropriate for its use.

Well, a couple of months ago, I purchased a very nice used model 327 TRR8 from carlson1, but I hadn’t shot it until this last Saturday, when I took it over to Shoot Point Blank, not too far from my house, to give it a going over. I brought along 3 loads to test in it: that 158 grain Remington load mentioned above, some Hornady 125 grain FTX Critical Defense, and some 110 grain SJHP Winchester White Box. The results were instructive.

The revolver shot all all 3 loads within "acceptable" accuracy, but the Hornady FTX really stood out and provided really good accuracy. The TRR8, being scandium framed, produces more perceived recoil than a, all steel gun would produce, but at no time was the recoil painful. In fact, it was quite comfortable to shoot; it’s just that the amount of muzzle flip was fairly pronounced.

I inspected all the fired cases each time after ejecting them - primarily for indications of over-pressure - and that’s where things became instructive. I’ll start by saying first that the Hornady load, in addition to being the most accurate, also appeared to be the most "normal" after firing - showing no signs of over-pressure. The 110 grain WWB had badly flattened primers. I found that interesting because it did no such thing when fired from a 1-7/8” barrel, as opposed to the 5” TRR8 barrel. Maybe the longer barrel allows for higher pressure spikes? But the most disturbing to me was that one of the 158 grain Remingtons suffered a blown primer (see pictures below). I only fired 8 rounds of this ammunition, one cylinder-full, and I stopped after noticing that one of the 8 fired cases had blown through the primer. I noticed no difference in the recoil - which was prodigious - from one round to the next, or in the sound of the report, but there it is.

In the first image, the one on the left is one of the other seven that were normal, and the one on the left has the blown primer. Even the "normal" one has a kind of deep primer strike. The second image is a closeup of the blown primer, and you can clearly see that it goes all the way through into the case. Suffice it to say that I’ll NEVER be carrying this load in this revolver, as I think it is unsafe.





FWIW, the primer strikes on the WWB looked normal, except for the extremely flattened primers, and the primer strikes on the Hornady looked exactly how they ought to, with very little flattening of the primer. Anyway, it was an interesting test for me, for unexpected reasons. But I would urge anybody who is trying out different loads in a new (to you) magnum caliber revolver, to please take the time to inspect your fired cases for any signs of dangerous conditions after each cylinder-load, and then stop shooting any load that might be unsafe in that particular revolver.

[LTUME1978]

TAM,

You might want to contact Remington about this to see what they have to say.

Not to long after the 6.5 Creedmoor came, I bought a rifle and a bunch of Hornady factory ammo to shoot and to get brass for future reloading. Upon examination of the ammo, I found one round with the primer in backwards. I called Hornady about it and was told they would send a replacement round. I never heard back after that so I decided to pull the bullet, knock out the primer, replace it and put the powder/bullet back in place. While I had it apart, I weighed the powder and found that it was several grains over the specified amount (they list the component and powder charge on the box so that reloaders can duplicate the factory load). I then weighed several loaded cartridges and found some that weighed several grain more that the one that I disassembled (after it was put back together).

I called Hornady about that and it go their attention. They told me not to shoot any of that ammo until they got back with me. They did call back a couple of weeks later and tell me that it was ok to shoot that ammo. I did experience flattened primers but they are Federal Match primers and are on the soft side so I did not think a lot of that. What I found after three reloads of this brass is that the primer pockets got so loose that the primers would literally fall out. So, maybe those loads were not as "ok" as Hornady though. You may have the same thing going with the 357 ammo but I would be surprised if Remington would tell you what powder and how much of it should be in the case so that you could pull some bullets and check the charge.

Please let us know how this turns out if you go any further with this.

[The Annoyed Man]

Check your firing-pin for signs of flame-erosion, too.

I will. I hadn’t thought of that. Thanks!

[AdioSS]

That ammo is begging to be used in a rifle/carbine.