357 battery

The last 357 batteries I got were from Walgreens. Pretty cheap, came

5 to a package, individually carded.

I have a .62cal underhammer that shoots about 6 inches left at 50 yards. Uncle had a little flashight with a laser and white led that we stuck to a mandrel to check to see where this barrel is truely pointing. May not seem like much but the sights look nasty dealing with this.

The darn thing takes 3 batteries and his wife paid 12 bucks to replace them. Is there a better source for them? Heck the little thing cost under 6 bucks when he bought it. My cycle computer takes the same ones btw.

Sadly my Colrain barrel is off 1.125" at 26.5 feet. A mandril that is about

10" long slides down the barrel so I can only think this thing is drilled off center. Between the milling for sights and staples, my only option is bending the darn thing unless I want to fill in staples and sight slots.

But back to the original question, where is there a good place for batteries in that size?

Wes

eBay! I bought 50 for $10 delivered not too long ago.

Wouldn't bending it make it sensitive to things like the size of the load and perhaps even the temperature?

Not that I know squat about guns, just the dangers of introducing 2nd- order effects into a system when you calibrate it by means other than just making it right.

I don't even WANT to know what you needed 50 batteries for!! ;-)

Dollar store!

Steve R.

Almost every little electronic widget I own uses 357's, so I shopped around a while back. You can get deals off eBay, but I'd stay with brand name batteries with stated expiration dates well off in the future. There are lots of cheap batteries around that aren't nearly as good as the top brands. I did extensive testing a while back on some smaller coin cells at work, and Maxells were the best. Eveready and Duracell were OK, followed closely by Panasonic, Sony, Toshiba & Varta. I'd avoid Rayovac.

For my own needs, I typically buy 357's from McMaster Carr. They seem to carry Varta. In quantities of 10, they run a little over a buck a piece. Radio Shack & drug stores charge nearly 3 times that. I also seme to recall that Home Depot used to have pretty good prices on coin cells.

6" at 50 yards is a small sighting error. For a 10 inch sight radius, you only need to move one of the sights a 32nd of an inch to be dead on.

Doug White

Others have covered this above better than I can. I do presume that this is far from a modern firearm for several reasons -- so how much accuracy do you *expect* from it? :-) What kind of ignition? Rimfire? Separate ball, powder, and caps? Otherwise, I can't quite see how an underhammer would work. :-)

Also -- are you sure that the laser points truly parallel to the OD? Try chucking it in a lathe chuck or collet, setting up for a very slow spindle speed, turn on the LED, and start the spindle rotating. Then carry a white piece of paper or cardboard as far away as you can manage, and note how big a circle it draws on the paper while rotating. Only if it produces a stationary dot can you trust it to show where your bore is pointing.

Note that there are SR357 batteries (Silver Oxide) which have a

*lot* longer life than no-name 357 batteries, and cost proportionally.

Another battery number which is interchangeable with the 357 is the 44 -- both common magnum calibers. :-)

I will always buy the SR357 batteries -- even though they cost more. I don't have to replace them nearly as often. (I've gotten as much as ten years of life in an HP 15C calculator as an example -- but it does not draw much, of course. :-)

Where I go locally for *good* batteries is Batteries Plus. If I need them when I'm putting together an order from MSC, I'll add them to the order.

Enjoy, DoN.

There are a number of online sources. Google it, because the best prices move around. Go with name-brand, not off-brand. There are some cheap 357's that are junk.

Wal-Mart is actually pretty good for 3-packs. For a dozen or more it's cheaper buying online.

Advice in this regard tends to be mistaken. Most 357 button cells are phony alkaline types, not silver oxide.

Mousers had them at 1.96 each a couple of years ago (when I bought a bunch of them for a tiny multi-meter.

Also check jewlrysupply.com at 79 cents each???

Richard

I couldn't find qty 10 pricing on batteries on mcmaster.

Hope that didn't wrap in your news reader. $1.55 which as long as I slip it in with my periodic donation to McMaster won't cost me for shipping ;)

The radius is 34.5" and on a tapered octagon barrel, it just doesn't look right. When I bought the barrel, I had the seller fit the breach plug since I didn't have access to a milling machine to cut the sight dovetail and didn't feel like filing one it. I guess like all things, if you want it done right, do it yourself. I've since corrected the lack of milling machine problem.

I may just remove the breach and clock it, fill in the front sight with a piece of steel and solder over the staples.

Thanks,

Wes

I'll end up buying from mcmaster as suggested.

Wes

An underhammer is a cap lock with the hammer underneath. AKA a muzzleloader. I'm not predjudiced, I've got an inline, sidelock and underhammer. Maybe someday I'll try a flinchlock.

The laser is crooked but stuck to a steel mandril and rotated will illuminate an arc around bore center of mandril. In the case of this laser it makes a 30" circle at 26.5 feet but it doesn't matter. You measure the circle and determine center then look through the sights and have your assistant mark point of aim.

Yeah Baby!

I noticed the capacity ratings on McMaster. More is better if the price fits.

I'll end up using McMasters since they are on my normal donation schedule.

Thanks,

Wes

That's weird. I've bought them twice in the last 4 or 5 years, and both times they had a quantity discount. There's no sign of it now, even if you put a quantity of 10 in your basket. $1.55 still beats the pants off the usual retail price, but it's annoying they don't have the discount anymore. Out of curiosity, I checked MSC, and they want $1.25 each, with no discount. Enco has rebranded LR44 Maxell's for $1.77.

If you want to try eBay, there are a couple of folks who basically have store fronts that specialize in batteries. "mdbattery" is one I've dealt with, and they have fresh Energizers for $.99.

Personally, I'll probably switch to tossing a few into an MSC order when I use up my current supply.

Doug White

The alkalines are the same as the LR44s, a very common size. Used for laser pointers just about everywhere. I've seen them on the peg in novelty stores 3 for a buck. Bud K had them 50 for $8 a little while back,

Guess they're now $5/50. Even if they only last a couple of hours @, you're still money ahead!

I use this for bore sighting,

they also have batteries cheaper. Your bore is about 20 ga, so the slug gun adapter would probably work. Regular laser pointers aren't set up for boresighting, no adjustment setscrews in the laser module to get the beam parallel with the axis of the thing. You can get the Laserlytes from Wal-Mart for cheap and no more messing around. Order the slug gun adapter from they regularly have the boresighters on sale, too.

Stan

Doesn't Tom have a battrery powered vibrator?

:-)

Harold

One that needs FIFTY batteries? I hope that sucker is for concrete work!!!