anyone ever seen a carbine re chambered for a 357magnum

[pelago]

would that even be possible?
I have a winchester carbine that had to be barreled due to a swelling (yup a swelling) at the chamber, gunsmith was surprised it had not blown
seems to me that sometime in the past i read about someone doing that??

[raymeketa]

I'm sure you mean re-barreled. The cost would be as much, or more, than a replacement Cal .30 barrel.

Ray

[RCS]

other calibers

Years ago there were a few that tried the 30 Kurz in the carbine, required a new barrel too, the cartridge would just fit the magazine.

There were a few 22/30 cal wildcats too

some still wildcat the carbine with 9mm on a short 223 case too

Kind of a waste of time and money

[Johnny P]

I believe it was Universal that marketed a carbine converted to a pump action .44 Magnum. May have been called the Vulcan. Seemed to work fine, but some of the other auto conversions didn't work reliably.

[pelago]

i miss spoke, yes i meant re barrel to 357 magnum, would think that this could be potent and also work in magazines

[RCS]

other carbine cartridges

photo shows a standard M1 carbine 15 rd magazine loaded with 35 WSL cartridges, which is a 38 Special case with the rim turned-off and an extractor groove lathe cut into the cartridge (much like the 38 AMU case) The longer 357 case would not have a lot of length to accommodate the standard factory bullet, also the rim on the 357 cartridge case is both difficult to load into the magazine and feed. The bolt would also have to be opened up. This type of action would be more reliable with a rimless cartridge

[Tuna]

Can it be done? Yes it can BUT is it worth it? It is more headaches then it's worth. The biggest problem is getting it to feed from any form of magazine. It's a rimmed case and it doesn't feed well at all. The rim catches on the magazine and jams. It's been tried before but not much in the way of success. The cost for the conversion will be quite high with no guarantee of it working. And what you have in the end is a carbine that performs the same as the original chambering so no gain there. The Universal Vulcan was not a success as there were few sales and problems with the rifles so it was another Universal flop. There was a guy who advertised converting carbines into other chambering's including the Winchester 45 Magnum. He was only in business for about a year before he closed up as the carbines were reported as coming apart. The only good conversions have been the likes of the Johnson Spitfire and several other wildcats all based on a .22 caliber bullet. But they also never sold very well even with Johnson offering loaded ammo and brass for them. If you do decide to try this I wish you luck and deep pockets.

[jimb]

Not much of a gunsmith if he wondered why it hadn't blown! The carbine operates at much higher pressures than the .357 mag. Why would it blow?

[GA-Dave]

I have seen a carbine chambered in .256 Winchester (.357 magnum necked down). I think it was made by universal as a factory option back in the '80s.The owner kept bringing it into the gun shop because it came apart each time he shot it. Finally we quit fixing it.

[emmagee1917]

Marlin model 62 Levermatic was made in 30 carbine and 256 Win.
I used to want one to go with a Ruger Blackhawk .
Chris

[Art]

This comes up every now and again. To me its a very expensive solution to a non existent problem. .30 Carbine and .357 Magnum are pretty much ballistic equivalents when fired from a rifle. The only possible reason I can fathom would be the heavier bullets available in .357 Magnum.

[RCS]

Heavier 357 mag bullets might be too long to fit the magazine. Expect a reduced capacity when using 357 mag in a carbine magazine (five to seven rounds at best)after it has been reworked (magazine lips) to work plus the opened-up bolt face provides little support if any to the cartridge. Semi auto pistols that use the 357 mag cartridge have special magazines designed for the 357 mag.

[GBA]

Bolt action and break open rifles are more adaptable to cartridge changes, especially break opens. Semi-auto military rifles were designed around a specific cartridge, evaluated, tested, refined and tested again, before ordnance would open the purse strings to produce the weapon. Generally speaking, the Garand will work best in 30.06, almost as good in 7.62x51, and pretty well in .35 Whelen, in part because the case body is very similar to 30.06. The carbine was designed for the cartridge, or vice versa, but they were designed to work together for maximum effectiveness. The mags, the mag well, ramp, gas system, slide weight, spring, etc. were all tuned for that cartridge. If you want more bang than that, you might want to buy a commercial rifle.

[oldtirediron]

I have seen carbines modified for 44 Automag? and 357 automag! Also I saw them because both were damaged during fring because of the bolt face modification-- The bolt face was opened up and the extractor had been thinned out extensively-- The extractors broke on both of these regualarily!! The guy that had these was a gunsmith in the Chciagoland area and he had a bunch of odd ball rebuilt rifles etc!! He also had a 6.5 type 99 ?? Jap Rifle that some moron reamed the chamber out to 30-06 spec's!! He thought it was a 7.7 ! Actually he fired the rifle one time and the rifle did not explode because they were using a lead bullet reload in it!! If I remember correctly the case head still melted but the rifle looked undamaged ! So who knows?? That rifle may be floating out and around somewhere right now!!

[RCS]

Best caliber is the original one !