357-44 Bain & Davis

Mike,
I started this and got sidetracked by the posts, and having a go on the clymertool.com site at designing a reamer.,,,,, so this ain't quite in sequence, but more info, and thoughts,,,,,FWIW.

That convertible bit got me too, LOL. $150 to ream one by www.bainanddavis.com. . Dies are availableoff the shelf from both Hornady and CH for $65. A relatively cheap way to get into the cartridge. Or go Paco's route for dies in the article posted in my other post. Course ur idea with a reamer has got to be a bit more elegant, and accurate. Lots of 44Mag brass available, and I got 35cal bullets from 95 to 200gr.

Contender,
Welllll, funny you should mention that, and Ed's right, a 35 Rem, IMO, is right in the same ballpark. But here's something I got while kicking around on the Marlin boards. Based on the 444Marlin, which I think is the 445Mag precursor. A 35-444 design, courtesy of Mr. Mushial of gmdr.com. No longer a short action, but should better the 356Win. I started looking around for a 336ER Marlin, and they're difficult to find. Seems to be more second hand guns in 444Marlin, both the Marlin and Winchester.
And lastly, but not least!, the ultimate lever wildcat, a 35-348IMP. Start on the 1895 45/70 and use that as the base.
SERIOUS grunt. And that reamer is already available.

Cheers all,
R2

I believe with the 35/444 AKA 358 JDJ type rounds, you run into OAL problems in the leverguns unless the Marlin case is shortened somewhat. The 35 cal bullets are longer in comparable weights.

There are a ton of possibilities.

There is also the 360 DW (brass from Starline) which is a Dan Wesson sponsored case that is a mid length 357 mag type case falling in length roughly in between the Max and Mag. 1.4" I believe. I've also toyed with the idea of the 5.6X50R Magnum case necked up to 35 cal. At least in a Contender. Case Length would fall out at about 1.8" or so.

I like the Super Mag case because it would be a stronger rated case than the 35 Rem with a more modern profile and shorter length.

Then there are Krag cases shortened and necked up to 35. As a Contender shooter, I mostly stick with a rimmed case for easier use.

The Super Mag was developed in the 70's.


Regards