Any one have info on a .357 rifle?

Status
Not open for further replies.
My thoughts parallel yours on the Brooklyn New York Henry. (Not to be confused with the original Henry design). I don't like the lack of a loading gate on a modern centerfire lever action. Especially on one as large as a .45-70. They just look plain stupid feeding the cartridges through the tube. One centerfire pistol caliber rifle I'm interested in is the Ruger bolt action in both .357 Magnum, as well as .44 Magnum.

I was shooting at my club range a while back, and one of the members showed up with one in .357. Along with 2 extra rotary magazines. I have to tell you that thing was a blast to shoot. The bolt action was butter smooth, feeding most any type of ammo through that rotary magazine. It's very similar in nature to the Ruger 10/22 rotary magazine only larger. He even fed some old lead .38 Special wadcutters through it. These guns aren't cheap, but after shooting his, I'm thinking about getting one.
 
Look for an IMI Timber Wolf. These were chambered in .357 and .44 Mag.
These are pump action rifles. The .357 carries 10 rounds in a tubular magazine.
The Timber Wolf is a shoot'n fool!
smile.gif
 
Am I the only one that thinks an M1 Carbine-style rifle chambered in .357 magnum would be fun, a reasonable self defense rifle, and a sweet deer rifle?

The old Ruger .44 semi-auto needs to come back into production, too.
 
94JeepCherokee said:
Am I the only one that thinks an M1 Carbine-style rifle chambered in .357 magnum would be fun, a reasonable self defense rifle, and a sweet deer rifle?

The old Ruger .44 semi-auto needs to come back into production, too. [/quote

No,you're NOT the only one to like the idea of a 357 mag/M1 carbine. Main issues that worked against it are the rims on the 357 making feeding an issue, and the gas port sizing is another issue, before you talk about machining the bolt to take the rim. Just a hairball. Either find a good used Marlin, an IAI Lightning (pump) or a Rossi and then slick it up. There are speed loaders for the tube mag guns from this place http://www.woodenworkswest.com/
Of course, one could go in a completely different direction and get a tarted up Hi-Point Carbine for around $350 in 40 S&W.
Click to expand...
 
Originally Posted By: 2cool

No,you're NOT the only one to like the idea of a 357 mag/M1 carbine. Main issues that worked against it are the rims on the 357 making feeding an issue, and the gas port sizing is another issue, before you talk about machining the bolt to take the rim.


You say "worked" in the past tense? Is there a rifle that was prototyped and tested in .357? I don't know, I'd think that the number of semi-automatic firearms chambered in rimmed cartridges proves out any feeding issues that one might experience in the revolver cartridge. The IMI Desert Eagle, Coonan .357 1911-style pistol, all the 7.62x54R rifles that feed from a magazine, and every .22 semi-auto in existence that uses single- or double-column staggered magazines run perfectly fine. A bit of fine tuning with an adjustable gas block could easily give you a good working baseline for .357 or .38 Special. Heck, many people run their ARs with adjustable gas blocks anyway to tune for light and heavy loads. The bolt would be another issue, but I imagine that the receiver would need re-engineered to some degree. I don't think taking an existing .30-caliber M1 Carbine and turning it into a .357 Magnum would be the best course of action.
eek.gif


Originally Posted By: 2cool
Just a hairball. Either find a good used Marlin, an IAI Lightning (pump) or a Rossi and then slick it up.


But I want a semi-auto! Lever guns are a dime a dozen!

Originally Posted By: 2cool
Of course, one could go in a completely different direction and get a tarted up Hi-Point Carbine for around $350 in 40 S&W.


Unfortunately the .40 S&W Hi-Point is ugly and suffers from a lack of build quality. Many people run them without issue, but it's just not something I would consider. Life is too short for cheaply-built guns.
 
Originally Posted By: 94JeepCherokee
....The IMI Desert Eagle, Coonan .357 1911-style pistol, all the 7.62x54R rifles that feed from a magazine, and every .22 semi-auto in existence that uses single- or double-column staggered magazines run perfectly fine.....


Don't forget the Lee Enfield. It was one of the best battle rifles ever designed. The .303 British is a rimmed cartridge. It's known for having an extremely smooth bolt action..... Rimmed cartridges and all.
 
Speaking of rimmed semi-autos, don't forget the Russian SVT-40 chambered in 7.62x54R. A friend of mine briefly owned one, and it worked so well that it would unload a magazine with one pull of the trigger when it was hot. I think he owned it for a total of three days-he took it to the range once, took it home and cleaned it from one end to another, tried it again at the range, and then returned it to the store. He didn't want to have an "unregistered machine gun."

BTW, I currently own two semi-auto handguns. One is chambered in a semi-rimmed caliber that has always been a semi-auto caliber-38 Super. The other is chambered in 38 Special.
 
In regards to rimmed cartridges in boxes mags....no one said they were unreliable, simply that they can be less so. The problem is known as "Rim Lock". And id I recall on the Hickok45 You Tube channel, he gets an Enfield to rim lock in a video. The famous Mosin Nagant rifle also has a cartridge interrupter to prevent such a thing, so it was a concern at the time. Rim lock does not happen often, but it can. It was apparently not such a problem that the Brits, the French (used a rimmed 8mm in WW1, but dumped it before WW2), and the Ruskies did not soldier on with rimmed cartridges in the world wars.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: Robenstein
In regards to rimmed cartridges in boxes mags....no one said they were unreliable, simply that they can be less so. The problem is known as "Rim Lock". And id I recall on the Hickok45 You Tube channel, he gets an Enfield to rim lock in a video. The famous Mosin Nagant rifle also has a cartridge interrupter to prevent such a thing, so it was a concern at the time. Rim lock does not happen often, but it can. It was apparently not such a problem that the Brits, the French (used a rimmed 8mm in WW1, but dumped it before WW2), and the Ruskies did not soldier on with rimmed cartridges in the world wars.


Yes, rim lock can be an issue if care is not taken when loading the magazine. The cartridge interrupter in the Mosin Nagant actually does nothing to really mitigate rim lock, because if the magazine is not loaded correctly the rims will still lock on each other. The cartridge interrupter simply prevents the magazine from attempting to feed more than one cartridge at a time, preventing double-feed malfunctions.

Rim lock in something like a single- or double-column magazine built for .357 Magnum really shouldn't be much of an issue, considering that magazine design can easily mitigate any rim lock concern.
 
Originally Posted By: 94JeepCherokee
Originally Posted By: Robenstein
In regards to rimmed cartridges in boxes mags....no one said they were unreliable, simply that they can be less so. The problem is known as "Rim Lock". And id I recall on the Hickok45 You Tube channel, he gets an Enfield to rim lock in a video. The famous Mosin Nagant rifle also has a cartridge interrupter to prevent such a thing, so it was a concern at the time. Rim lock does not happen often, but it can. It was apparently not such a problem that the Brits, the French (used a rimmed 8mm in WW1, but dumped it before WW2), and the Ruskies did not soldier on with rimmed cartridges in the world wars.


Yes, rim lock can be an issue if care is not taken when loading the magazine. The cartridge interrupter in the Mosin Nagant actually does nothing to really mitigate rim lock, because if the magazine is not loaded correctly the rims will still lock on each other. The cartridge interrupter simply prevents the magazine from attempting to feed more than one cartridge at a time, preventing double-feed malfunctions.

Rim lock in something like a single- or double-column magazine built for .357 Magnum really shouldn't be much of an issue, considering that magazine design can easily mitigate any rim lock concern.


I'm at work so needless to say don't have any guns with me, much less my much-valued S&W 52. With that said, I'm pretty sure the magazines have a fairly tight "lip" at the back that keeps the rim in place until it's in until it gets to the top of the magazine.

38 special, of course, has a fairly prominent rim.

And, again, it's not an issue in 38 Super, although admittedly the rim is small. I actually have some rimless Super cases(Starline, and stamped "38 Super +P Comp.") but tend to not use them at public ranges since the rim makes it easy for me to separate my Super cases by sight or feel from all the 9mm and 40 S&W cases usually on the floor. I don't notice any difference in function of the gun between regular and "comp" cases. 38 Super was, at least at one time, a popular competition caliber and the "comp"(competition) cases were supposedly developed to promote better feeding. As I said, I haven't had any issues with my dirt cheap RIA 1911 in 38 super(Super was developed specifically to work in the 1911), but then I'm also not shooting hundreds of rounds rapidly in a session.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: 94JeepCherokee
Originally Posted By: Robenstein
In regards to rimmed cartridges in boxes mags....no one said they were unreliable, simply that they can be less so. The problem is known as "Rim Lock". And id I recall on the Hickok45 You Tube channel, he gets an Enfield to rim lock in a video. The famous Mosin Nagant rifle also has a cartridge interrupter to prevent such a thing, so it was a concern at the time. Rim lock does not happen often, but it can. It was apparently not such a problem that the Brits, the French (used a rimmed 8mm in WW1, but dumped it before WW2), and the Ruskies did not soldier on with rimmed cartridges in the world wars.


Yes, rim lock can be an issue if care is not taken when loading the magazine. The cartridge interrupter in the Mosin Nagant actually does nothing to really mitigate rim lock, because if the magazine is not loaded correctly the rims will still lock on each other. The cartridge interrupter simply prevents the magazine from attempting to feed more than one cartridge at a time, preventing double-feed malfunctions.


Rim lock in something like a single- or double-column magazine built for .357 Magnum really shouldn't be much of an issue, considering that magazine design can easily mitigate any rim lock concern.


Actually, a well made Mosin with a properly functioning interrupter will do what you say AND mitigate rim lock. It keeps the the top cartridge and the one below it from overlapping, preventing the rims from biding. I have owned many Mosins and the ones that usually fail in the rim lock category are beat to hades or ones built in the SHTF days of of WW2.
 
Originally Posted By: 94JeepCherokee
2cool said:
Unfortunately the .40 S&W Hi-Point is ugly and suffers from a lack of build quality. Many people run them without issue, but it's just not something I would consider. Life is too short for cheaply-built guns.


As to ugly...they eye of the beholder. Can you please cite your source for the "lack of build quality". I'd really consider any credible information before buying another one. I kept a rough round count based on my component consumption, and I am sure I put not less than 1K rounds through my carbine before I moved on to a friend ( yes, he's STILL a friend, so spare the snark).

The issues in converting an M1 carbine to 357 magnum have been discussed in great detail on other fora, from which I base my observations that it hasn't been done successfully or well. Believe me, I feel that Mr. Coonan is leaving a big pile of money on the table by not bringing out a magazine fed 357 carbine.
Click to expand...
 
The internet would shut down with all the complaints if someone came out with a semi auto .357 carbine. "I bought this .38 wadcutter ammo and the stupid gun doesn't even work."

We need some 10mm carbines.
 
Originally Posted By: hatt
The internet would shut down with all the complaints if someone came out with a semi auto .357 carbine. "I bought this .38 wadcutter ammo and the stupid gun doesn't even work."

We need some 10mm carbines.


To be fair, the same thing happens in a 92 type action, although I think people tend to be a lot more careful with lever guns.

Semi-autos can be made to feed wadcutters, but it comes at the expense of even being able to chamber any other type of ammo.
 
Originally Posted By: bunnspecial
Originally Posted By: hatt
The internet would shut down with all the complaints if someone came out with a semi auto .357 carbine. "I bought this .38 wadcutter ammo and the stupid gun doesn't even work."

We need some 10mm carbines.


To be fair, the same thing happens in a 92 type action, although I think people tend to be a lot more careful with lever guns.

Semi-autos can be made to feed wadcutters, but it comes at the expense of even being able to chamber any other type of ammo.
I was just using WC as an example. There's a lot of .357 ammo that doesn't look autoloader friendly. I have an 1894 .357. I don't see any advantage to having an autoloader for the mission statement of this combo. There do happen to be a lot of negatives. One of the nice things about a .357 carbine is going all the way from .38 mouse [censored] loads to full power .357 loads that get close to the .30-30. You lose that with an auto. My gun will feed almost any bullet shape including WFN profile cast. Have never tried WC. It's a fun, utility gun. Making it semi isn't going to do anything but limit it's utility.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

Vil_Riker
Selling ammunition and rifles online, things to watch out for.
2
Replies
21
Views
1K
tc1446
Nuclear_42
Henry Homesteader 9mm Review
Replies
17
Views
5K
Revving2Redline
W
45 Super
2
Replies
24
Views
3K
mr_boring
S
Which pistols etc should I select to shoot at the range?
2 3
Replies
49
Views
4K
Revving2Redline
billt460
New CZ 612 Target / Trap
Replies
5
Views
4K
billt460
Back
Top