Rebore idea for 38-55 target.

[gstanfield]

I have a BC that I rechambered to 45-120 and I just love it. I was thinking of a partner gun for it. I got to thinking about the 38-55 and since I've heard not so great thigns about using cast bullets in it I had an idea. What about reboring it and chambering it to 40-90? Has anyone looked into this? Is there enough material to remove and re-rifle it to 40 caliber?

So, whatya think? Am I totally crazy to want to make a 38-55 a 40-90? I'm sure I am, but tell me why. I think I could do this and have about half the money in it total of a foriegn made sharps, and an American sharps in not in the budget this year.

George

[cowboyup453]

Quick made a 405 Winchester out of his so it can be done Im sure he will reply as well.

[quickdtoo]

Shouldn't be any problem at all, like Cowboy said, I had one switched to a .405 Winchester, works very well, shoots 300gr Hornady SPs at 2435fps with a nice load of Benchmark. Reboring to .40-90 will probably be a lot easier than finding .40-90 brass tho!!!

Tim

[wcf3030]

Don't think, just do it.

[gstanfield]

I'm very familiar with sourcing odd brass . The same place I bought my 45-120 brass has brass for the 40-90, at the same great price of $2.50 each (a little less with a quantity discount of course)

I'll have to see how the toy fund does in the next couple months, then find a 38-55 target to convert over. This should be another fun project.

Thanks,
George

[quickdtoo]

I hear ya on the brass price, I got my Bell 45 basic brass from Mast just before they were sold out on it, got it for $178 a hundred.

Tim

[gstanfield]

That's pretty good, I bought 40 cases of 45 basic and paid $48/20 each time (bought 20 to start with, then 20 more later)

I just re-checked the price of the 40-90 and it's going for $3.17 each for bell or $213/100 for bertram  OH well, it will be fun and you gotta spend it somewhere.

George

[quickdtoo]

It's just money!!! If that's from Buffalo Arms, I hope they have it for ya, I've checked on several different items from them that they list but don't carry in stock, have been real disappointed more than once.  

Tim

[gstanfield]

I an get it from Buffalo arms as well as Grafs, although I did not check avaliability at either place. I may put this project on the back burner indefinately though. I just looked at dies I don't mind as much paying for the brass for some reason, but $235 for a set of dies ain't gonna happen. I'll have to see if I can find them cheaper, otherwise I'll save money and buy a Ruger #1 in 416 Rigby (another dream of mine) and come out cheaper after brass and die savings are factored in.

Oh well, I'll be sure to keep a post of the progress if I do decide to go down this road.

Thanks,
George

[Smokin Joe]

You might have better luck finding .40-82 brass; or, if you want to go totally nuts.............how about the 450/400 Nitro Express by Hornady?

 

[Lone Star]

Realize that any time you re-bore an existing barrel there is risk of a poor result.  This does not depend on the re-bore company - I had an M94 re-bared to .38-55 by P.O. Ackley himself, and there was a flaw in the rifling near the muzzle.  The rifle does shoot pretty well, but I know there is a flaw and it does collect lead.  Existing barrels may be work hardened when sights are installed, etc., and the boring cutter can gouge a nice piece of steel from where it shouldn't.  Too, the re-bore will not fix a barrel which has been straightened.  I own an old H&R Shikari and I years ago cut the 28" barrel down to 22".  The 'new' muzzle looks terrible because the bore is not centered in the barrel.  This happens often with lower-quality barrel blanks like H&R uses.  YMMV, just be aware of the risks.


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[quickdtoo]

H&R 1871 uses Green Mountain blanks for most of their barrels, so I don't think barrel quality is an issue any more than any other factory firearm, a bunch of us have had barrels rebored, all have been very happy with superb accuracy the result, myself included. What the old H&R used for barrels is irrelative to the current company owned by Marlin.

Tim

[Big Blue]

H&R 1871 uses Green Mountain blanks for most of their barrels, so I don't think barrel quality is an issue any more than any other factory firearm
Tim

Tim,
How then can the variations, from .430" to .433", in the .44 mag's bore be justified? I'd love to own a .44 mag. barrel for a Handi, but not with that sort of quality control standard.
Don

[quickdtoo]

Good ol' H&R NEF quality control!! They do their own rifling in house, what can I say.  Same reason they're making the new 444Marlin with a 1:38" twist instead of 1:20" like the Marlin, take your best guess.

Tim

[Lone Star]

So you area saying that there is no problem with the blanks, but the barrels can suck after H&R gets through with them?  Hardly a ringing endorsement!   


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[quickdtoo]

I'm afraid there's no other excuse in the 44mag's case, it's been overbored too long. If it wasn't for being overbore, the obsolete twist rate wouldn't be so bad, but being both makes for a bunch of unhappy or Ex 44mag owners.

Tim

[Lone Star]

It is a shame that barrel issues are still a problem after all these years.   Odd dimensions are not an NEF issue alone of course, Ruger and S&W used to use huge diameters on their cylinder throats, guaranteeing poor revolver accuracy.  I once owned a Model 25 which would allow .458" rifle bullets to fall through its cylinder throats.      But I sent it back to S&W and they replaced the cylinder with one having the correct dimensions.   

BTW, just because a gun makers uses blanks from a reputable barrel company does not mean that their barrels are of the same quality as that barrel company's top-of-the-line products.  Ruger formerly used Wilson blanks, and their rifles were noted for spotty accuracy results.  Yet I personally owned two contemporary Wilson custom  barrels which gave near-benchrest accuracy.  Just because NEF uses low-bid blanks from Green Mountain is no guarantee of high quality.   It is ALL about the NEF specifications. 


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