Chamberings better as Pistol length or Carbine?

[J A XSP]

I've been thinking about rounding out my barrel collection with a pistol barrel or two (and probably another carbine or two, eventually) and I've been wondering about which chamberings really benefit from longer barrel length. Pretty much everything I have an interest in could go either way.

Current chamberings cover from 223 (14") to 445 Supermag (carbine) and include most anything I'd ever need for any hunting situation or serious accuracy work. Main carbines for hunting include 30-30 AI and 6.8SPC and I have a nice 25 Bullberry that's sort of redundant. Right now I've got both 445 and 44 Mag in carbine - might end up with just 44 Mag. I have plans to get a 22 Hornet carbine as soon as Troy at Bullberry can get to it. I've got several interesting pistol barrels, mostly for range time but a couple that would hunt.

What I don't have is a 357 Mag and I've been really missing that. Also of real interest is 350 legend and 300 Blackout. Any of these would do fine as a carbine but at least a couple of them would work extremely well at pistol length. Any could be considered good candidates for potential sub-sonic suppressor shooting if I decide to go that route.

I'll have a 357 Mag one way or another. I have a ton of reloading stuff for it and it's still one of the best in off-the-shelf ammo in terms of consistent availability and price. I've been loving the idea of a 357 Mag carbine but a good 357 Contender handgun set up is just hard to beat - longer than 10", shorter than 15". I'm feeling a little recoil shy as my hands get more sensitive with age but I have a couple of great pistol scopes and I'd definitely consider this one either way.

The 350 Legend has had me intrigued from the beginning. Seems like this one that should be a carbine to make the most of the extra case capacity. In terms of performance, it falls in between my 44 caliber stuff and my 30-30 AI. Should be satisfying round to shoot in terms of accuracy, mild recoil and decent range. I'd be happier if I knew I could use my supply of .357 bullets for reloading but this is one ammo that I've seen on the shelf every single time I've been out looking.

I admit I never really got the 300 Blackout but I've come around. Once again, factory ammo offerings are varied and pretty reasonably priced. And I've got a very good supply of .308 bullets and .223 brass. It's probably a great candidate for a pistol length. Keeping recoil to a minimum would be super easy with the low-velocity load data that's available. SKS has threaded barrels in 10" and 15"...I'd lean toward the 15".

Anyone have experience or opinions?

[Blades]

I think it was a bain& davis 44 mag case necked down to 357 ( likely could do it 9mm as well). that was before the max came out.

[Blue Avenger]

I think it was a bain& davis 44 mag case necked down to 357 ( likely could do it 9mm as well). that was before the max came out.

Power wise, .357 B&D is equal to a .357 Max. Have both. The B&D being bottle neck is pron to setback lockup with heavy loads in revolvers. Also need special B&D dies. Max uses normal .357 dies. In a Contender it's which ever You find brass for or which ever you think is cooler. My Ruger .357 / 9mm was re-chambered to .357/44 B&D By Bayside custom.

If you opt for the Blackout, the Harbor Freight mini chop saw is cheap and fantastic!

Did a .30-40 Krag once to clean up a bad .30-30 chamber. Can't run full power if you like your frame. Hits your hand like a .45-70

[FyrepowrX]

Have mostly gone to smallish centerfires that dont beat me up much, and shoot the .350legend in 2 bolt guns (howa mini, and ruger scout). Great cartridge. Tried it in an AR for a while, but prefer my bolt guns. I tried some .357 bullets, but found tight chambering, and mediocre accuracy. Had toyed with swaging down some assorted .357's to .355 to see how that went, but in the end i was too lazy to do that. And, the factory loads i tried shot great in both guns...even the cheap stuff.

I have noticed that some load data was noticeably hotter in my bolt guns than i was comfortable with. I assumed that had maybe been developed in AR's with more generous chambers, & the gas port allowed more bleed off of pressure in autoloaders? Dunno, but in any case it was way on the hot side for me, to the point that my bolt guns were getting the max velocities shown with 2.5gr to 3gr lower powder charges.

Up a tree with the.350 scout last year:



I went overboard on blackouts..no TC's, but have a Kimber Adirondack, one of the new Ruger Americans shortys, and a Howa Mini...don't do any long range stuff, but for woods use they have been excellent, leave no bruises on me, and are cheap to shoot. In general, the .300BLK has been pretty easy to me find accurate loads with all sorts of bullet weights..ive gone as light as 100gr, and up to 200gr. The Barnes 110 Tac-TX's work like a charm on deer sized stuff at 2000-2300 fps. and the speer 125 TNT's have wrecked lots of varmints. Also found the 190gr Sub-X's shot well in my guns at about any speeds, though when sighted with lightweights, my blackouts have shown quite a difference in POI when i try to switch to heavies...so i sighted all of 'em with different stuff.

Also found that various midweights like 125's, 130's, etc which are marketed as varmint bullets dont necessarily behave like varmint bullets at 2000-ish FPS, and worked great on deer at those speeds.

I've had the .300blk in a 14" also, and it was great there also, kind of wish i still had that...but have not carried pistols as much the last few years.
Thought about getting another one at some point, but not sure i'd use it enough to justify.

Would the .357max maybe work for your needs? Great in pistols or rifles, and you could feed it some of those .357 bullets you have...

[J A XSP]

Have mostly gone to smallish centerfires that dont beat me up much, and shoot the .350legend in 2 bolt guns (howa mini, and ruger scout). Great cartridge. Tried it in an AR for a while, but prefer my bolt guns. I tried some .357 bullets, but found tight chambering, and mediocre accuracy. Had toyed with swaging down some assorted .357's to .355 to see how that went, but in the end i was too lazy to do that. And, the factory loads i tried shot great in both guns...even the cheap stuff.

I have noticed that some load data was noticeably hotter in my bolt guns than i was comfortable with. I assumed that had maybe been developed in AR's with more generous chambers, & the gas port allowed more bleed off of pressure in autoloaders? Dunno, but in any case it was way on the hot side for me, to the point that my bolt guns were getting the max velocities shown with 2.5gr to 3gr lower powder charges.




I went overboard on blackouts..no TC's, but have a Kimber Adirondack, one of the new Ruger Americans shortys, and a Howa Mini...don't do any long range stuff, but for woods use they have been excellent, leave no bruises on me, and are cheap to shoot. In general, the .300BLK has been pretty easy to me find accurate loads with all sorts of bullet weights..ive gone as light as 100gr, and up to 200gr. The Barnes 110 Tac-TX's work like a charm on deer sized stuff at 2000-2300 fps. and the speer 125 TNT's have wrecked lots of varmints. Also found the 190gr Sub-X's shot well in my guns at about any speeds, though when sighted with lightweights, my blackouts have shown quite a difference in POI when i try to switch to heavies...so i sighted all of 'em with different stuff.

Also found that various midweights like 125's, 130's, etc which are marketed as varmint bullets dont necessarily behave like varmint bullets at 2000-ish FPS, and worked great on deer at those speeds.

I've had the .300blk in a 14" also, and it was great there also, kind of wish i still had that...but have not carried pistols as much the last few years.
Thought about getting another one at some point, but not sure i'd use it enough to justify.

Would the .357max maybe work for your needs? Great in pistols or rifles, and you could feed it some of those .357 bullets you have...

I wondered about pressures with the Legend...loads for chamberings intended for the AR in general are pushed a little to get velocity and us Contender guys have to approach with caution.

As I mentioned, I never thought much about the BLK when it came out but it's become one of the best supported chamberings around and is obviously a great Contender round in any format.

I've thought hard about the Max and I really like the idea of it but brass, when it can be found, approaches the price of the cheapest Legend loaded ammo. I definitely like the idea a round that uses reloading supplies that I already have plenty of but the Legend can be loaded with 9mm pistol bullets for plinking and that's about as cheap as anything gets these days. There does seem to be decent availabillity for barrels chambered for Max.

I've been very tempted (if they ever actually get stock) by the Midway price on a 10" SSK 300 BLK barrel - $269! Hell, at that price, you can't afford not to buy barrels! :D :D I think the round would be more satisfying and useful out of a longer barrel but the SSK is threaded so a forward compensator or eventually a suppressor would make it very interesting.

It's totally likely that through some combination of horse-trading and lucky finds, I'll end up with all 3 chamberings, whether I need them or now. :) Your information bears out my notion that the Legend is the one of the 3 that would benefit most from carbine length. It'll just be a matter of what becomes available when I have money burning a hole in my pocket. :)

[J A XSP]

I had been agonizing a little over whether to look for a 357 Mag in pistol or carbine...definitely a caliber that shines in both. Then I realized...I can have a 357 Mag carbine and a 38 Special in pistol length!!! :)
Since I really didn't want to be bummed about recoil, the 357 in a short barrel wasn't really appealing to me as much as it used to. When I remembered that...duh...38 Special is the perfect pistol length round for plinking and target work in the Contender!
I've got a deal working to get a Van Horn 357 Carbine barrel and I talked to Troy today and got on the books for a 38 Match chambered 8' or 10" barrel. I'm a little tempted to have it threaded just in case I ever get around to working with a suppressor but one way or another, it'll be a dandy!! :)
I may still find a way to check out the Legend and the Blackout but for now I'm feeling pretty well set, though I'll have to wait quite a little while for the 38 to show up.