.357 Mag Rifle

[Zeke]

I'm having an antique Remington rolling block rifle from about 1872 relined and rechambered to .357 mag. The rifle belonged to my great grandfather, was rescued from a cabin fire, and had a bore that looked like a sewer pipe. I've looked at it sitting in various gun cabinets and such since I was old enough to know what a rifle was (about 4 years old) and I always wanted to try restoring it and shooting it someday. Well, here we are about 55 years later and the rifle is right now up at Jim Dubell's getting the metal work done. When that's complete I'll fit new reporduction walnut stocks to it, then ship it back to Jim for bluing and heat treating.

The rifle started out in life as a .38 Long rimfire. About 1920 it was converted to center fire. So it was a natural choice when deciding on what to chamber it for to pick .38 Special/.357 mag.

What I'm interested in is comments from those of you who have shot a .357 Mag rifle. I never have, but it seems like it would be a particularly sweet setup in this single shot rifle:

[scottishsetter]

The Bbl. appears to be about 26" or less; I have a 45 Colt with a 18.5" or so and it's fun. I've shot lever action silhouette with it and I feel it is mild. So yours' would be really mild. If you want to do the stockwork; feel free to contact me for help, I'll show you the Browning '92 I did.

[Zeke]

Originally Posted by scottishsetter

The Bbl. appears to be about 26" or less; I have a 45 Colt with a 18.5" or so and it's fun. I've shot lever action silhouette with it and I feel it is mild. So yours' would be really mild. If you want to do the stockwork; feel free to contact me for help, I'll show you the Browning '92 I did.

My barrel is actually 30". It'll certainly take advantage of all the powder in a .357 Mag cartridge. I doubt it'll be much good beyond 100 yards though.

I'm sure I'm going to get the absolute best craftsmanship on the metal work. Some of Jim Dubell's work is here:

http://www.deltagunshop.com/photopage.html

I would really appreciate some tips on fitting the new wood. The old wood was badly scorched from the fire in about 1925, but it's still got all the hardware attached and it's still a good template. I got 90% inletted wood from Treebone Carving. It's quarter-sawn American walnut.