Low Wall Winchester in .357Magnum

JohnS4570

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Does anyone know if .357Magnum is a suitable calibre for rebarreling an original Low Wall Winchester ? Has anyone done this and what was the source of the barrel?
 
Any custom riflesmith will be able to answer your question.

Many small M-H actions were rebarelled to .357, so the low wall actions ought not to present any problems. Sleeving an original barrel is also an option and preserves the markings.
 
I would hesitate to put it in that caliber. I think the action would stand up to the pressure but I suspect that over time you would develop head space problems from the breach block rocking backwards since the top half is not supported. I think the problem is not so much how would you load it (assuming you shot moderate loads) but is some future owner going to try shooting lots of hot loads through the gun

cheers mooncoon
 
I would hesitate to put it in that caliber. I think the action would stand up to the pressure but I suspect that over time you would develop head space problems from the breach block rocking backwards since the top half is not supported. I think the problem is not so much how would you load it (assuming you shot moderate loads) but is some future owner going to try shooting lots of hot loads through the gun

cheers mooncoon

Heed this ^^. You are going to a "over 40,000 lb "cartridge in an action designed for cartridges less than 20,000 built out of 1880's metal. It may last one or a thousand firings but pressure stress on metal is cumulative with no formula for the amount of damage being done in this case.

I have an 1889 Marlin in my shop at this moment that somebody bored the original barrel out to .357 Mag (it started it's life as a 32-20). The owner wanted it "fixed" so it would feed the bigger cartridge, I balked at fixing it so we are now in the process of returning it to the original caliber with a liner. Nothing wrong with the 1889 action it is a strong design, it is still used to this day for the modern 1894 actions but with modern quality steel, not 1880's stuff.
 
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