Coogs

Trust me, David knows what he is talking about! The demise of the Ruger Maximum was a result of a couple things. Uniformed and under informed Gun writers and the fact that some shooters were trying to load the Max for what IT WAS NOT INTENDED, ie., light weight bullets, super fast velocities and fast burning powders! Heavy bullets, 180gr. and bigger as well as powders like 4227 are the great. Top strap cutting will continue for 1000 rds. or so, then will just not progress at all. Forcing cone erosion was the biggest problem, but if you stayed with the heavy bullets and slow burning powders was not an issue. At one point Ruger did change the degree of the forcing cones for the Max, I'm not sure of either angle though. Hope this helps, Coogs.

David Bradshaw

Coogs... As you know, the early experimental .357 Maximum ammo was loaded to some pretty tall pressures. Basically .357 Maximum PROOF load pressures, which we shot by the case. Naturally, this stuff has the capacity to do some gas cutting. Erosion accelerates when the gun is shot hot. Akin to an oxy-acetylene torch on hot steel vs cold steel.

Bill Ruger, Jr., had the forcing cone of one (perhaps more) SRM hard chrome plated. (Across the street from the factory in Southport, Connecticut. The Maximum was built in Southport, as were all single actions----until that production was moved to NH. The facility across the street hard chromed M-16 barrels for Colt.) The idea to plate the forcing cone came from the M-60 machine gun, which had a stellite liner to resist erosion.

The industrial chrome plate immediately began to fleck under combustion of experimental .357 Maximum ammo. The plating was abandoned.

I do not recall the forcing cone of any of the ten barrels fitted to SRM-2 as receiving the chrome plate. I distinctly remember the plated cone on an all-blue 10-1/2" SRM barrel----with front sight and ejector assembly.

My handloads with 180 and 200 grain bullets exhibited very little in the way of erosion. IHMSA silhouetters had the benefit of knowing the momentum advantage of heavier bullets, and understood that the Maxium/Super Mag is more about downrange clout. Thus, competitive shooters stepped over the velocity trap that some others stomped on.

David Bradshaw

Master Chief

Googs-Great find. I love it, nice collection you have there. I will find me a maximum one day. I'll give you $600 for it right now

D. Bradshaw - Not sure which Nosler Edition you wrote the page for 10mm on but I've been a fan every since. I'm a big 10mm fan as well. Good to meet you.

David A.

Master Chief

BTW, Coogs did I see that gun on gunbroker recently??

Tiremanws

$500.00 ???? You stole it. One beautiful revolver, thanks for bringing back the memories of this often forgotten cartridge.

David Bradshaw

David A... Don't have manuals at hand: Think the 10mm Auto intro was in Nosler #4. A beautiful, super-reliable and accurate Colt Delta Elite is mentioned. The pistol in the photo doesn't look like a 1911 because it isn't. Think they used a photo with SIG P220.

Nosler #3 has several cartridge intros, including .357 Maximum----with a Dan Wesson pictured. A little known footnote----Federal stopped loading .357 Maximum due to spitting from Dan Wesson revolvers.

Nosler #5 has a photo of my Freedom Arms .44, to which I had Jim Stroh fit a Shilen barrel to my specs. The part that looks like a silencer is bull barrel. A Redding competition seating die is shown. The photo appears----without info----on page 497 or 597, whichever is the start page of the handgun section.
David Bradshaw

Coogs

David, very interesting about the hard chrome, hadn't heard that one! I have serial #600-0032 that has the bore diameter, I can't remember the number exactly, as well as if it was the land or groove diameter, stamped on the muzzle, it is a 10 1/2". It also has a "witness" mark from barrel to frame, on the left side, so that the barrel was removed and replaced I would say several times. The gun also did not ship from Ruger until the late 90's. Wonder who was testing this one? Coogs.

David Bradshaw

Coogs... .357 Maximum 600-00032, with muzzle stamped and a witness mark, may have been used in a test. More likely, I'm thinking, it may have had an oversize groove, or other accuracy complaint, and a new barrel installed. I am not by inclination an archivist. My guess is that 00032 was an assigned collector number, as I was told the first 100 were, and the owner fired it and sent it in.

If it was not assigned, it may have been randomly pulled out of the line, and measured. If so, are other barrels so stamped? Are measurement-stamped Maximum barrels out there, having been replaced?

If the number was assigned and its recipient is alive, you may have a story.

The hard chrome plated forcing cone was Bill Ruger, JR's experiment after I talked up the stelite barrel liner in The M-60 .308 machine gun. I had already discerned the more aggressive erosion of 296/H110 ball powder in the .44 magnum (versus 4227), which I had described as a sandblasting effect of the tiny hard grains. I happen to think that ball powder works a sandblasting effect on the bolt extension in the M-16, as well. It is not merely a question of flame temperature.

Erosion became a non-issue once we backed of all those ROCKS & DYNAMITE loads. I pushed Freedom Arms to offer a replaceable forcing cone insert, which, in retrospect, is gilding the lilly.

That said, both Smith & Wesson and Ruger have set back barrels for me to remove forcing cone erosion.

David Bradshaw

M'BOGO

Nice score Cpher.

Must have been local to slip past Coogs.. Been thinking about looking for one to play with over the last couple of weeks.

There has been a lot of talk about them lately, and is making my mind wander.