1894 in 357 to 357 Maximum?

[BattleRifleG3]

I'm basically wondering if it can be done and if it's safe.  Ie is the action long enough for the extra length and can the barrel and bolt lockup hold the higher powered round?

Considering buying one for $320.  Hoping to use for plinking (38 Spec), home defense (357 Rem Mag) and hunting (357 Maximum).

Feasible, safe, yay or nay?

Thanks!

[Sixgun]

A 357 Max is too long to go through a Marlin 94 or a Winchester 92 action.  Neither one of them will even handle long bullets in a 357 mag case.

It may work in a Win 94 action but you need to find that out from a gunsmith or someone may post here who knows.

Sixgun

[BattleRifleG3]

Good to know, I'll look into the Win 94 then...

Looks very nice, think this would be my first choice:
[/img]

[RollTide]

I tried to find a way to do that by turning a 44mag into a 445supermag.  Basically the same principle, except in 44 caliber as opposed to 357.  I could never find a way to do that, that I thought would work.  I did talk to someone who did the 357mag to 357max on a Winchester (92 I believe, but I am not sure) but it took a long time and he had a lot of trouble with it (kept breaking the lifter because so much metal had to be cut to allow for the longer round).  Finally the light came on.  Instead of going from a shorter round to a longer one, I decided going from a longer round to a shorter one would work better.  So I took a Marlin 444 and had a gunsmith set back the barrel at the reciver end.  When you set back a barrel on the threaded end, you of course remove part or all of the chamber.  I then had the gunsmith rechamber the gun for the 445supermag.  I modified the cartridge lifter myself by adding a short steel block to the cartridge stop on  the lifter to fit the shorter round.  I have thought of doing the same thing with a 35 Remington and converting it to 357max, but I don't know it that would work since there is so much difference in the diameter of the case rim between the 357mag and the 35rem.  It may require the bolt face to be reworked which would be a lot more expensive process.

Hope that helps,

Roll Tide

[marlinman93]

To rebarrel a Win. 94 to .357 max, or even a 336 to .357 Max would work, and cycle through the action, but that's only the beginning of your work!
 Both actions would need the bolt face heavily reworked to handle the small rim size. They would both also need the carriers reworked to accomodate smooth feeding into the chamber.
 Lots of things to think about, before rebarreling or reboring to .357 Max.

[BattleRifleG3]

The more I think about it, the more it looks like having a gun in 35 Rem and a gun in 357 Rem Mag look like the best ideas.  For all that trouble, the amount I'd use a 357 Max simply wouldn't be worth it.  The idea was to be able to take all three 357 rounds and have one gun that can plink with 38s and hunt deer with Maxes.  For the price I'd have in the one, I could probably have the best of both worlds in two guns instead of one.  Besides, I already have plenty of hunting-capable rifles.

[doghouse95]

I've seen this done a couple of times, and both times the investment in money and time was not worth the result.  Both of the gunsmiths who did the conversion started with a longer action and had to rebarrel, rework the feed system and rework the bolt face.  Both of them told me they would never do it again.  I talked to both of them on the phone in an effort to get information so I could attempt this conversion myself.  After talking to them I changed my mind.
The best bet for this cartridge is to try and get marlin to do yearly special runs of different calibers like Remington does with the mdl 700.  The 357 max would be a great cartridge for deer hunting in the brush and it would also make a great little saddle gun.