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In addition to the .357 Magnum Automatic, Coonan Inc. also makes a full range of FAL receivers and machines a wide range of high-precision gun and other parts at www.CoonanInc.com.
Coonan to introduce
357 Magnum automatic pistol
January 6, 2012
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(GunReports.com) – Coonan Inc. will introduce its .357 Magnum automatic pistol at the NSSF Shot Show, January 17-20 in Las Vegas. The 1911-style semiautomatic pistol is manufactured from stainless steel and fires standard .357 Magnum ammunition as well as .38 +P rounds.
The gun is a revision of gun designer Dan Coonan's original fabrication of his .357 Magnum automatic.
Coonan says that he and his company are often asked how his .357 auto compares to a run-of-the-mill 1911-style pistol. “Our .357 is very similar to the 1911,” Coonan says. “In fact, there are a bunch of parts that are fully interchangeable. Obviously, our magazine and handgrip are a little bigger to accommodate the Magnum round, but it's a very similar experience in terms of holding and firing the 1911.”
But of course, you're wondering, What's it like to shoot? Is it hard to handle? Is there a big recoil? Coonan explains with a laugh. “On our company website, coonaninc.com, we have a picture showing my three daughters each shooting the .357 auto on the range. They're not very big girls.”
The Coonan .357 Magnum Automatic has recently been featured on the cover of Shotgun News as well as in American Handgunner, Guns & Ammo's Complete Book of the Model 1911, and Special Weapons for Military and Police.
Are we talking 357 sig or what? If you can fire 38 cal. ammo in it are we seating on the rim or what? KEN The reference is to .38 Special Plus P ammo. It has been a long time since I first read about the Coonan pistol. Never saw one until 1987(approximately). Before that date I had the privilege to read about the gun in a few of the most reputable gun magazines and yearly publications, but in fairness to the truth, it was a “gun shop dream” like the Bren Ten. On this particular day, I received a call from a dear friend, telling me that his gun shop received a pair of the unseen pistols. He wanted me to look them before the person that ordered the desirable items took both home. I went ballistic, and arrived to the shop in no time. The guns still were inside the mailing boxes, so carefully I took one of them out. If I’m not wrong, it was made out of stainless steel, brushed in the flats of the slide, bead blasted on the top of the slide, under the frame, front and back of the grip. It looked like one of Les Baer Monolith Comanche pistol, with the regular size slide and long dust cover, but remember, Baer came a few years later. Slide fit felt good, and the trigger broke clean and crisply. Grip size was long, trigger reach short. I liked the gun a lot, so much that I told my friend, just in case, that if the buyer had second thoughts, to call me immediately, that I would buy both. And believe me; on that time those guns were about $750.00 a piece, so for 1987 prices, they were pretty expensive. But in my case, when we are dealing with guns I like, my piggy bank is always in fear of sudden demolition. It’s a pity I never had a chance to fire a few shots. I was impressed by the writers’ findings about the velocity generated by the .357Mag. in the gapless barrels (a good portion of pressure is lost through the gap between the barrel and the cylinder of the revolvers). That made in my mind the idea that the best, and most balanced all around defense cartridge in a handgun was going to be better. I have been playing with the .357Mag. since I was a kid. A S&W Mod.28 was my first, latter came a Mod.66, followed by a Ruger GA36 Security Six, that was converted to a PPC gun by Clark Custom Guns and recently I have a Beretta Stampede single action and a Mod. 627 from the S&W Performance Center. The .357Mag. is still the best all around defense cartridge, and ammo manufacturers have never come out with the perfect pistol facsimile. The resurrection of the Coonan is great news, at least for me. I thought this was interesting enough, but having read your comments Firemouth, now I'm really interested. I need to get more info. Ok, Firemouth, my remarks still haven't been addressed. Revolver ammo in an auto? How many auto's shoot rim type ammo? Ken Colt 1911 Match Target Gun, circa 1970 and S&W Mod. 52 both shoot . 38 Special WC ammo. I went to Coonan's website. This pistol is just flat out neat. At over $1200 a copy (probably closer to $1500 out the door) you get a big auto pistol shooting the incomparable .357 round (not .357 Sig) that can easily be found AND .38s for lower cost shooting. Whether they managed to get a rimmed cartridge into this pistol by engineering or voodoo I neither know nor care. Apparently it works and works well. I think Firemouth's piggy bank is in serious danger, so is mine. Mine too. There's nothing new to firing rimmed ammo from a stacked magazine. The trick to make it work is no secret. All rimfire ammo is rimmed and the inmense mayority of .22 rimfire pistols work fine; give the magazine some angle and problem solved. In pistols shooting rimmed ammo the back of the last round rests on the front of the rim of the previous cartidge. In that way is solved the possibility of a jam. On this times ammo in 9mm, .40S&W and .45 ACP is loaded with superior bullets and screaming velocities. The .357 SIG cartridge has nothing to be ashamed of. But, when we are talking about the venerable .357MAG we are talking about a very different thing. It is the most balanced defense cartridge ever made. It has speed, penetration, range, accuracy and stopping power without the fierce recoil of the 10mm, the .41MAG or the .44RemMag. Now we are in the age of the auto pistol. The "wonder nines" paved the road to the auto pistol mania. If Coonan is well backed economically , they are in the best of time to take their product to the front. I hope that this time they stay. An auto pistol in .357 MAG is a dream come true. Very nice pistols! I almost bought one back in 1986 or 87. It was sort of expensive, but not overly unreasonable. It was priced in the same neighborhood as the Glock 21. Now, I wish I had bought it. Well, Colonel, if you wish you'd bought one, I guess I'm going to need to do just that. Thanks for your input. I have one of the newer one i bought in novemember, LOVE IT, Its a 1911 fans dream, it shoots and handles very well, easy maintained just all around fun!!!! jb If you don't mind, skeet61, how much did you have to pay for your Coonan .357? Anyone can make a good expensive pistol!!!!! The challenge is to make a good pistol for $150, as hi point has done! Yes in 9mm, .40, .45 etc in handgun and neat carbine. I have 9 mm, getting the .45's. Interchangeable carbine/pistol mags, too. Hi Point has a lot going for it. They do produce a robust product with a lifetime guarantee to boot. Personally, however, I am a bit put off with the clunky feel and appearance of their pistols. I do have one of the very first 9x19mm carbines that I purchased back in 1996. It is a great piece to carry in the car, and when ATI came out with an aftermarket stock set for it, I bought the set, and the carbine looks and acts a lot nicer than it did when I originally got it. I like that my .45 is cheap, sturdy and dependable. I can afford to hide it and claim I sold it to buy the Coonan. Last time I saw my piggy bank it was sweating. I'm waiting the gun shop owner to return from the Shot Show at Las Vegas. Already have my hammer on hand... I'm sorta scared that I'm going to run into one of these Coonan .357s at a gun show, because the last time I saw one (like 1987) I made the wrong choice and bought a Glock 21 instead. I really wanted the Coonan, but at that time we were into "Glock Fever", and I screwed up royally by buying the Glock instead of the Coonan. every time you comment on this gun, canovack, I feel like I should move it up on my 'wannabuy' list. Is it really good enough to get high priority? Well, david b, I figure that this is such a neat pistol, that I just might have to pay more than I should for one. While I have a number of "favorite" handgun cartridges, including all of the .44s, .45s and .357 SIGs, I think my all time favorite is the .357 Magnum. It is still a very good combat load, and it is quite versatile as well. To simply own and be able to stroke an autopistol in .357 Magnum would be sort of like Nirvana. Yeah, I was afraid you'd say something like that. So it's going to the top of the hand-gun list. I always kind of liked the idea of a .357 mag pistol myself. I just didn't expect to ever see one, and now - I can own one. Heck, I could own TWO! You go guy! I was up in the 'big city' (hartford) yesterday, went to three gun stores and not one had the Coonan yet. Guess I'll have to wait. One did have the KSG-12 I've been looking at, and I fondled it like it was my first girlfriend all over again. But the MSRP on the website is "around $800", and these guys wanted $2000 for it, so I'm waiting until most of the back-orders are filled and prices drop. Now, I only told that story as preparation for saying I hope the Coonan doesn't have the same 'demand price inflation' the KSG-12 currently has, or else I'll be buying mine in 2013 - and honestly, I'm afraid I'll need it sooner. Yeah, there seems to be a tendency for price gouging on any new firearm that hits the market place. A couple of months ago, I bought a Kel-Tec PMR-30 .22 WRM. I knew that the MSRP was about $450.00, and the dealer from whom I usually purchase had one for $499.00. I grumbled a bit, but he assured me that he couldn't cut the price, like he usually does for me, because the demand for the gun is so intense. Anyway, I paid the $499.00, and when I got home, I checked online in a few places and found that the going price for the piece is $525.00 to $575.00. I'm leaving the house for a gun show, in about 10 minutes, and I'm scared to death that I'll find the Coonan .357..... I have one of the newer one i bought in novemember, LOVE IT, Its a 1911 fans dream, it shoots and handles very well, easy maintained just all around fun!!!! jb Well, I'm back from the gun show, and I didn't see any Coonan .357s. I bought some AR tools, and then I ran across an FMK 9C1. I had seen it in the gun magazines, and I was sort of interested in it, because of the patriotic inscriptions it has on it. If fit my hand very nicely, and it came with two 14-round magazines. It also comes with a plethora of front and rear sights that can be changed out to suit your particular ammunition. It also has a couple of booklets.....all of them in patriotic prose. So, I bought it. I paid $300.00 for it, and it is like a small sized S&W Sigma. I don't know what I'm going to do with it, but ya gotta love a gun that has the Bill of Rights engraved on the slide, along with lots of other patriotic quotations and condemnations of BHO, etc. The KSG is neat. I'd buy one EXCEPT the safety is on the wrong side of the rifle. Pot Metal Hi-Power is junk, nobody should count on it to save a life. If you want it for the range, more power to ya. Who cares about a lifetime warranty if it spends more time getting fixed than in your house...plus the shipping costs, time, etc... You have made some excellent points there.pandora silver charms|| pandora watches uk|| gold pandora bracelet|| Used to do they’re certified inside subject and barely found any specific info other websites, but great in order to be here, seriously, thanks. pandora bracelets charms|| pandora earings|| pandora heart charm|| An Important Note for GunReports.Com Readers: Our goal on this website is to foster a free expression of views while reining in language that crosses the line of civil discourse. Accordingly, the comments areas are intended to expand the knowledge of all users of this site. 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