Re-chamber a Buffalo Classic?

[mattri]

This may have been covered before, May be a stupid question etc but here it goes:
 
Suppose someone liked the look/idea of a BC but didnt want a 45/70.  How would you turn a BC into a 45 LC, a 44 Mag, a 357 etc? 
 
There are companies that re-barrel and re-chamber rifles, would this be the way to go? 
 
Could you send a BC receiver back to H&R to put a long (32") barrel in another chambering on it? 
 
 

[teamnelson]

There was a .45 LC long barrel octagonal made, Target Classic I think? Probably not a rechamber project, more like a custom barrel if you want a 32" in 357 or 44.

[quickdtoo]

This may have been covered before, May be a stupid question etc but here it goes:
 
Suppose someone liked the look/idea of a BC but didnt want a 45/70.  How would you turn a BC into a 45 LC, a 44 Mag, a 357 etc? 
 
There are companies that re-barrel and re-chamber rifles, would this be the way to go? 
 
Could you send a BC receiver back to H&R to put a long (32") barrel in another chambering on it?

H&R Made the 45 Colt Buffalo Classic Carbine for 2yrs before it was dropped from production in 2008, H&R doesn't do custom barrel lengths, just what's listed on the accessory barrel page of their website and maybe those listed in the new accessory barrel sticky if you're lucky, no one makes barrels for H&R rifles except H&R, although a good gunsmith can do a stub, or rebore which are the only ways you get there with a long barrel, the 45-70 BC barrel can't be made into a 45 Colt, the Colt bore is smaller. H&R may still have some 45 Colt accessory barrels, the BC frame is just a faux case colored SB2 frame, they'll refinish an SB2 frame that way for $30 plus shipping if you can't find one, the short BC Carbine forend is no longer available I think, so you'd be stuck with a long BC forend, stocks are still available tho, so you can add a stock set to any frame and barrel you can come up with.

 

There was a .45 LC long barrel octagonal made, Target Classic I think? Probably not a rechamber project, more like a custom barrel if you want a 32" in 357 or 44.

The Target Classic was only available in a 28" 38-55, and never a octagon barrel that I've ever seen or heard of, but anyone with a mill can make their own, I've done two of them myself, a 24" 405 Win and a 20" 444 Marlin.

Tim

[mattri]

Excellent replies.  So if have an SB2 receiver and the stock/forend of my choice I'm most of the way to a BC correct?  i'd just need a barrel?  if I had a 32" 45-70 barrel is there any reason it couldn't be re-bored to another cartridge?

[quickdtoo]

You can rechamber a 45-70 to 45-90 thru 45-120, 450 AK, 450 Nitro Express #2, or rebore it to something with a larger bore like a 500S&W, 50-70 thru 50-140 or 50 AK, but you can't make anything with a smaller bore out of it like the 45 Colt, 44mag or 357 Mag, a rebore makes the bore bigger, the 45-70 has a bigger bore than those to begin with.

Tim

[knight0334]

Excellent replies.  So if have an SB2 receiver and the stock/forend of my choice I'm most of the way to a BC correct?  i'd just need a barrel?  if I had a 32" 45-70 barrel is there any reason it couldn't be re-bored to another cartridge?

So long as the rebore doesn't make the metal to thin to withstand the explosion and it is larger than the groove diameter - you can do pretty much anything.  You cannot make a hole smaller without sleaving it.  So you cannot make a .41mag out of a 45-70 barrel(as an example).

Another thing to consider it the present chamber.  Whatever you make has to either work with existing reamed out dimension or clean it up completely when rechambered.

I personnally wouldn't rebore a BC barrel any bigger than .50cal.