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Old 06-07-2017, 07:57 AM
Wildman101010 Wildman101010 is offline
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Curious about Buffalo Bore 44 mag / extra room in cylinder Curious about Buffalo Bore 44 mag / extra room in cylinder Curious about Buffalo Bore 44 mag / extra room in cylinder Curious about Buffalo Bore 44 mag / extra room in cylinder Curious about Buffalo Bore 44 mag / extra room in cylinder  
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Default Curious about Buffalo Bore 44 mag / extra room in cylinder

Have tons of miscellaneous 44 Remington for my 44 Magnum and didn't think anything of it until I ordered some 300 grain flat nose from buffalo bore. The exact same scenario applies to my 357.

Putting the ammo in my cartridge belt I noticed that the buffalo bore in 44 was longer, in fact quite a bit longer and it completely filled up the cylinder.

I don't reload so the curiosity has gotten to me and I can't figure out a couple things.

1) If both the 357 and 44 are equally "hot" Buffalo Bore loads, to say the maximum grain bullets and maximum FPS, why is only the 44 longer and not the 357?

2) After seeing how nicely the buffalo bore fills up the cylinder in the 44 I have to now ask myself why does regular 44 magnum come short, or if that is the "standard" ammo why do they have so much extra room (length) in the cylinder, whereas the "standard" 357 ammo fills up the cylinder almost perfect?
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Old 06-07-2017, 08:54 AM
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snuffy51 snuffy51 is offline
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Looks real good from the business end.
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Old 06-09-2017, 09:16 PM
Wildman101010 Wildman101010 is offline
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Curious about Buffalo Bore 44 mag / extra room in cylinder Curious about Buffalo Bore 44 mag / extra room in cylinder Curious about Buffalo Bore 44 mag / extra room in cylinder Curious about Buffalo Bore 44 mag / extra room in cylinder Curious about Buffalo Bore 44 mag / extra room in cylinder  
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So really, no one has an answer to this? That's scary and making me think this is not standard stuff...
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Old 06-09-2017, 09:34 PM
jmcghee jmcghee is offline
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Most 44 factory rounds have 240 grain or lighter bullets. A round with a 300 grain bullet will be bigger. Relax BB is a reputable company
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Old 06-09-2017, 10:05 PM
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A bullet of larger caliber, and greater weight is going to be longer in most cases. Put heavy for 9mm bullet beside a heavy for 10mm bullet side by side. The bullet will be longer, more mass. Though a bullet of the same weight for two different calibers the bullet for the smaller caliber should be longer. I have never seen a 300 grain .357 load though.
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Old 06-10-2017, 12:42 AM
Wildman101010 Wildman101010 is offline
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I'm not the least bit worried about buffalo bore my question wasnt really pertaining to Tim, I trust him explicitly.

But not really sure my question was answered and I may have been confusing so let me say a different way.

I'm just trying to figure out why it is that in most handguns the standard every day ammo fills up the cylinder and there is very little room left over at least in all of the many handguns that I own but in the 44 the standard ammo comes way short in filling it? What is it about the 44 that so much room is left over for a longer cartridge?
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Old 06-10-2017, 02:20 AM
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It is going to vary considerably depending on the S&W frame sizes. Remember that the K frame was not originally designed for the .357 magnum. So it has less cylinder length to work with. J frames were never designed for 200 grain bullets. Plus Smith usually designs their guns for minimal bullet jump. Otherwise the model 27 cylinder would be longer.

I have plenty of room in my model 64 for a 200 grain bullet, but not in my Rossi 352(J frame clone). The K frame might have been shorter if it were not for being manufactured in 32-20 OAL 1.592.38 spl OAL 1.55, 357 OAL 1.59. So as you can see the 32-20 has almost the same OAL as the 357. 32-20 was not loaded with that heavy of a bullet, around 105 grain and was a round nose flat point. The standard load for 38 spl was a lead round nose. Now I do not have a L frame to take measurements, but my GP100 has considerable room from a standard 158 grain bullet for a much heavier bullet. I would guess that the L frame is very similar in cylinder length to the GP.

Keep in mind also that the N frame was designed for current cartridges at that time in history. 45 Colt OAL 1.60 was only slightly shorter than the later 44 magnum OAL 1.61. Otherwise the N Frame might of had a shorter frame, and cylinder like the Webley. Colt also built there frames around available cartridges of the time. Colts medium frame was large enough for the 41 short, and long enough for the 32-20, it was a natural for the .357. Colt medium frame before .357 was rated for 38-44 the same as the Smith N Frame. Sorry I forgot to mention the 38-40 OAL 1.59, and the 44-40 OAL 1.592, see where I am going?

Smith had to redesign a X frame for even longer, and larger more powerful cartridges. Ruger did the same with their Super Redhawk, but the Super Redhawk is available in 44 magnum. The standard Redhawk was also chambered in 357, not sure it still is.

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Old 06-10-2017, 08:22 AM
Wildman101010 Wildman101010 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Walkingwolf View Post
It is going to vary considerably depending on the S&W frame sizes. Remember that the K frame was not originally designed for the .357 magnum. So it has less cylinder length to work with. J frames were never designed for 200 grain bullets. Plus Smith usually designs their guns for minimal bullet jump. Otherwise the model 27 cylinder would be longer.

I have plenty of room in my model 64 for a 200 grain bullet, but not in my Rossi 352(J frame clone). The K frame might have been shorter if it were not for being manufactured in 32-20 OAL 1.592.38 spl OAL 1.55, 357 OAL 1.59. So as you can see the 32-20 has almost the same OAL as the 357. 32-20 was not loaded with that heavy of a bullet, around 105 grain and was a round nose flat point. The standard load for 38 spl was a lead round nose. Now I do not have a L frame to take measurements, but my GP100 has considerable room from a standard 158 grain bullet for a much heavier bullet. I would guess that the L frame is very similar in cylinder length to the GP.

Keep in mind also that the N frame was designed for current cartridges at that time in history. 45 Colt OAL 1.60 was only slightly shorter than the later 44 magnum OAL 1.61. Otherwise the N Frame might of had a shorter frame, and cylinder like the Webley. Colt also built there frames around available cartridges of the time. Colts medium frame was large enough for the 41 short, and long enough for the 32-20, it was a natural for the .357. Colt medium frame before .357 was rated for 38-44 the same as the Smith N Frame. Sorry I forgot to mention the 38-40 OAL 1.59, and the 44-40 OAL 1.592, see where I am going?

Smith had to redesign a X frame for even longer, and larger more powerful cartridges. Ruger did the same with their Super Redhawk, but the Super Redhawk is available in 44 magnum. The standard Redhawk was also chambered in 357, not sure it still is.

Now that's an answer! Thanks for spending so much time and educating me as honestly when you said "remember" it was more like "never knew" until now

Thank you again!
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Old 06-11-2017, 12:37 AM
mscampbell2734 mscampbell2734 is offline
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Also keep in mind the ORIGINAL 357 Magnum, the Smith Registered Magnum, had a short cylinder with a large gap. The barrel was screwed back into the frame.

This limits the overall length of the cartridge. Loads that come right to the end of the Smith 27 cylinder will have quite a bit more room in say a 686 or GP-100.
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