Went to the PO and lo and behold. A grin came across my face. Couldn't wait to get home and put it together. The gun is a Factory Unaltered AA easy open frame with a factory unaltered AA 357 Max 10 " barrel. It wears a Wanre 4 hole, weaver style base, with Burris Signature rings and a Brand New Bushnell Elite 2-6X 32mm matte black Handgun Scope. The furniture is from High Plains and features a Pegasus Grip (been wanting to try one of these for years) and 2" wide flat bottom target forearm in Saphire Laminate. I think the purple pops with the AA frame. Have 200 rounds of Remington 357 Max brass and will start load development shortly. Have some AA1680 I am going to play with.
Thanks for reading and feel free to offer any "Pert Load" you might have. I have some 125,140,158, and 180 grain JHP to experiment with.
Thanks for reading and any and all input is welcome
Doug

That just looks like a ton of fun! Let us know how it shoots!

It has been a blast so far. Been shooting almost solely Contenders for a decade or two now and don't crimp any of my bullets. Been playing with 180 gran JHP and not getting quiet the accuracy I was expecting. Been reading a lot about the Max and a lot of people recommend a heavy crimp, say it is almost Required. What say you fellows? Is it NEEDED? Let me also add I have been shooting mostly sub calibers with no recoil so it may be my OLD hands rebelling LOL. Any and all thoughts & opinions are appreciated.
Thanks
Doug

A good taper crimp might help with the accuracy. Very cool looking gun!

TRED1956: I HAD BELLM REAM OUT A 12 INCH 357 MAG CONTENDER BARREL TO 357 MAX, WHICH HE CLAIMS RESULTS IN A PROPERLY THROATED CONTENDER 357 MAX BARREL vs. A FACTORY THROAT. THE RECOIL WAS AN ISSUE FOR ME SO I SENT THE BARREL TO MNP FOR A "FAERBER" STYLE QUAD PORT, IT MADE A BIG DIFFERENCE FOR ME ON MY ABILITY TO SHOOT IT ACCURATELY. AM USING SOME REED's AMMO IN IT AND HAVE NOT RELOADED MUCH FOR IT SO CANNOT COMMENT ON CRIMP vs. NO CRIMP. LOOKING FORWARD TO COMMENTS AS I WUD LIKE TO LOAD UP SOME 180gr JACKETED BULLETS. RE POWDERS, FROM WHAT I SEE ON VARIOUS WEBSITES, 4227 AND 1680 ARE GOOD POWDERS TO TRY, AND DON'T BOTHER WITH H110, WW296 AND SIMILAR POWDERS.

Awesome looking gun.

I see H110 and 296 recommended a lot......but my initial results with 180s did not show me much so far. I havnt got back to it yet. Its a 14? mgm contender.

I do have a couple lb of AA1680 to try

I load 357 Max for a 10 1/2" Ruger not a Contender, but I have found a relatively heavy roll crimp helps with accuracy and extreme spread with Fury 180 gr jacketed bullets. 296 has worked better than 4227 for me, but 300MP has been best overall. I'm getting 1650 fps, low ES and 2" groups at 50 yards. Starline brass and either CCI400 or Rem 7 1/2 primers. 4227 has been good with cast bullets.

It's been a while so I can't recall on the crimp or exact load, but I used Hogdons Lil' Gun and a 180 gr. XTP. Accuracy was good for hunting whitetail, as was the terminal performance.

Hornady's 180 XTP is an excellent bullet. I always used the 4227's, for excellent accuracy. Only H-4227 marketed now, of course. I recommend a crimp. Experiment.

Try? 19 grains of Lil Gun, with the 180?s, 20 grains with the 200?s , you should be able to get 1? groups at 100 yards with the correct seating depth.

Tred1956 The AA1680 should work good for you if not I would go back to the tried and true 4227 with the 180gr 18.5 to 19grs has always been accurate for me. Did not use the lighter bullets so can't offer any opinions.