357 to 35 remington?

[Goat]

Would it be possible to re-chamber a 357 magnum barrel to 35 Remington and then change the extracter and make this work? I really like the 35 Remington cartridge and would like to have a really short and light rifle  like this. What do you think?
                                                                                                                              Goat

[burntmuch]

Couple guys here, have done it & are real happy they did it. They LL answer up. Ive got a 357 max handi & love it,but The 35 rem would be a great round in a handi.

[quickdtoo]

MSP Ret and I both have 35 Rem Handis, it's one of our favorites!! Mine was a 357Mag that someone else rechambered to Max before I bought it, then I sent it to Oregunsmithing for rechambering to 35 Rem. It was an ejector barrel, but I converted it to a modified factory style extractor, see the FAQs for modifiying the rimmed ejector to rimless if you're working with an ejector barrel, extractor barrels won't make any difference.

Tim

[AJMD429]

I've seen comments that the .357 Max has a higher SAAMI pressure than the .357 Mag, so conversion is a bad idea, and I know the .35 Rem is not as high a pressure. 

On the other hand, the .35 Rem case makes a bigger hole in the metal, with less wall thickness at the chamber.  Look at all the HUGE cartridges which the Handi-Rifle comes set up for.  So, unless they make some barrels out of barely-adequate steel vs. others out of tougher steel (I'd think that would be unlikely given realities of inventory and production?) then surely either .35 Rem or .357 Max would be fine conversions from .357 Mag, right? 

[quickdtoo]

All centerfire H&R rifle barrels are 4140 alloy except the stainless barrels, they all have 1.1XX" diameter chambers, the 270 Win is a factory available chambering with a SAAMI MAP of 65kpsi, so the 357mag can be safely rechambered to any suitable non-magnum rifle chambering as long as it's on an SB2 rifle frame, 358 Win and 35 Whelen would be a couple high pressure options. H&R started just this year offering 357mag and 44mag rifles on SB1 shotgun frames, neither of those would be safe rechambers to higher pressure rounds. The 357mag has a SAAMI MAP of 35kpsi, the 357Maximum's SAAMI MAP is 40kpsi. The Max may work fine, but many here that have tried the Max on SB1 frames had perforated primer issues due to the larger firing pin and surrounding hole in the SB1 frame.

Tim

[MSP Ret]

I really like my .35 Remington Handi. I have had .357 Mag's and Max's and now have both a .357 Max and a .35 Remington. I was going to have a .357 Max rechambered to a .35 Remington (my all time oldie but goodie whitetail and black bear cartridge for Maine) but another member here was inquiring about getting a .357 Max. We swapped barrels with me getting his .357 Mag and I sent him a .357 Max. I then sent the .357 Mag out to Wayne to work his magic and make it a .35 Remington. I  drilled the underlug and installed a lifter button and spring before sending it to Wayne so it would have an ejector. The .357 Mag/Max are straight cartridges and did not come with nor need lifter buttons or springs to properly engage the rim for ejection. With the new extractor only barrels that MAY be a moot point however. I prefer an ejector for hunting. If you want a .35 Remington I say go for it, it is a near perfect caliber for deer, black bear, and hog hunting that kills all out of proportion to it's stats on paper. I prefer an ejector for hunting with these fine single shots....<><....