Back to the Max, again

Way back when TC first introduced the .357max as a contender carbine, i got pretty interested in that combo, and ended up with a 21" tapered blued .357max carbine. Shot a few deer with it, and liked the performance without too much recoil. Then somewhere along the way, it got traded off when i picked up a .35rem carbine that shot spectacularly well (that barrel never heard that thin whippy tapered carbines were not supposed to be benchrest guns).

With the .35rem shooting so well, i kind of didn't miss the .357max carbine, since i still had the max in a pistol tube. Then, maybe 15 years ago or so, or thinking back maybe a bit over that , Ed took in a BADLY fouled stainless tapered .357max carbine that was a TC Custom shop barrel. Filthy, grubby, so much lead & crud in the bore some spots looked like the rifling was absent. Can only assume someone was shooting undersized soft lead lightweight bullets at nuclear speeds, then when things went sideways they traded it off. It was priced pretty cheap so bought it , and wore out a few brushes getting the crud out, and after some work it looked better than i thought it would. And...it shot well, and killed stuff nicely, just like the first one did. Throat was excessively long, and it doesn't care much for lightweights, but 180gr XTP's, and the old Remington bulk 180JHP's, and Sierra 180FPJ, all shoot well when seated long.

This last fall i spent a bit of woods time sneaking around with a .357 Bain & Davis carbine, and found it to also be a fine meat-making tool. Unlike my .357max, the new .357B&D carbine does like 158's, much preferred them in fact, and after shooting it some it reminded me the 357max should get more attention, since they pretty much do about the same thing.

Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago....when Craig posted the list of VanHorn barrels, he had a 16" tapered carbine in .357max, which seemed like it might make a cool shorty carbine. It wears factory irons, and had a weaver style Warne base on it, onto which i parked a Leupold 1.5-4x with "hunt-plex" reticle...kind of a modified German #4.

Turns out that one was one of the "transition" barrels; when TC closed down, Match Grade Machine finished out some of the remaining factory blanks and did the final crowning/finishing/chambering...and it does not have the excessive long toilet bowl throats of some factory barrels.

Will get a pic or 2, weather has turned surprisingly nice, and i'm getting the trigger finger itch. Whenever i do get to take it for a test spin, will be sure to shoot it along side my other .357max pipes for some speed comparisons, still have a 10" Armour alloy, a 13" magnaported custom shop tube, and the old 22" stainless tapered.

More info as this one gets a work out.

G~

I too shed my Max barrel in favor for the 35 Rem. Like yours the Rem was no dog. In fact it has an interesting history relative to this thread. Back in the day, that is to say the VVCG era, I was on the phone with Steve looking for a barrel. He mentioned having a Max barrel lying around which had its' chamber buggered up with a burr while reaming. Steve offered to have a 35 Rem cut for me with a counterbore for Krag brass and shipped with two extractors all for a sweet deal. When I received it it checked out well and had that mirror finish of the Shilen blanks they were using as standard at the time. While I could use 35 Rem brass, 20 years later the rimmed extractor has never been out while using both 30-40 Krag & 303 Brit brass and it has become one of those "never to sell or trade" barrels. What started as a Max for some customer became my 35 Rem. I've thought of going back to the Max but haven't yet.

Tagging in to this one! I recently acquired a 21" Max carbine barrel and I'm anxious to see what it can do. I had some 180 grain XTP's loaded for my 12" Hunter barrel and shot a few of them in the carbine to get the scope dialed in. The load showed promise but I didn't get serious. I did come home and lay in a pretty good supply of those XTP 180 grainers though!

years back had a 357mag 10" with internal choke tube barrel re-chambered to rem 357 max by Bellum some time in the early 80's, sight set on it from factory was less than adequate for sillywet. I was just getting started in a sillywet and the TC addiction. Shot a deer with it. Came across a great deal on a 35rem 14" ( poor man's 35 Herret) barrel never looked back. Pretty sure I sold that barrel about 10 years ago. Now if I remember correctly when Elgin came up with it the case was a .10 longer than what Remington brought out. Not much was said about that as everyone was happy that there as factory brass. And it would reliably take down the rams. Recoil was a lot more manageable than a full bore 35 rem also in the single shots and of course same can be said about it vs the 44 mag in revolvers. Not over bore like the 35 Rem and no hassel making the Herret brass. Fast forward to Hornady introducing there new 357 leververlution cartridge which is a dang close if not right on to Elgins original idea. That extra .10 that Rem dropped is back on the hornady item. Course the max got a bad rap with the top strap etching deal in various revolvers, which kinda killed it. That all was a very long time ago and I doubt that I still have any of the write ups from back in the day.

That should be a good shooting barrel, Gerald. MGM’s 357 Max chambers are fantastic in my experience. Pretty cool find. How does the 16” feel to you on a carbine?

Feels good, and is very light...points & swings fast. I've had a 16" .41mag carbine for years, and have had a few others super 16's in times past, but the .41 has stuck with me a long time. Have a couple of 18" tapers too now, and those carry well for me.

i did find that with wood stocks, the 16's didn't point as well for me...too heavy in the backside. But with factory tupperware, and smallish glass, they have worked well. (My .41 wears a 1.5-5x)

Other 16's of the past were a .35rem, a 30/30, and 3 different 45/70's which i liked as a combo, but .45/70's tended to be pretty snappy in recoil even with mild loads; finally found i was downloading those to the point that the 41mag was killing stuff just as effectively with less powder & fewer bruises. :black_eyed: