A Rossi .357 project

[Buckshot Bill]

I have a factory made .357 Rossi single shot, I wanted another that would be as short and compact as possible. I had a beater Rossi youth 410 that patterned horrible I picked up for $50 early this year. I ordered a .357 barrel blank from T.J's liners. He had a 21" piece in 1-16 twist the diameter I needed which simplified things a little. I hung it on the lug from the .410 barrel, chambered it, cut and crowned to 16.5" and D&T for a scope base. This barrel is not tapered like the factory rossi .357 barrel, so it's more of a bull barrel which is nice, keeps the gun from being too light and whippy. Still light enough to carry all day but just enough weight to make it easy to shoot. Not sure if the scope will stay or not, put it on to test groups, balances nice, but am still kicking around the idea of a ghost ring or red dot to drop weight and the extra 4-5" of scope hanging over the breech when the rifle is disassembled and put in a pack.


This is the initial group I shot with my standard .357 game loads which is a 158 LSWC over enough unique to push it right at 1000 fps or so. I forgot to write it on the target but it is a 5 shot group that measures .441" CTC. They group this well from my Rossi with the factory .357 barrel that is 22 or 23" also and still keeps them in about 2 1/2" @ 100 yds. I think this carbine will do nearly as well.

[beechbum444]

any worries about the rossi receiver being for a 410 and using a 357 barrel.....pressure

[Buckshot Bill]

No, the older .357, .44, 45/410, 410, 22 lr, 22 wmr all share the same receivers. I have swapped barrels back and forth between receivers for going on 15 years now with no issues. Besides that I'm loading more in the realm of .38 spec or .38 spec +p loadings, not magnums. More of a .357 special. The .357 chamber allows me to utilize a greater variety of components, though I have no worries of it holding up to true .357 mag loads if I ever chose to go that direction.

[newton]

I have always wanted to do something like this. Very nice. What do you mean by “hung it” on the 410 barrel lug?

Got any close up pictures of it?

[Buckshot Bill]

I have always wanted to do something like this. Very nice. What do you mean by “hung it” on the 410 barrel lug?

Got any close up pictures of it?

I cut the welds that held the lug to the .410 barrel and welded the lug to the .357 barrel

[Wagnerwerks]

Very nice. I have 2 18" barrels to do the same. I'm thinking about a 9mm and a 38sp. I'm just waiting for the 410.....

[Buckshot Bill]

Very nice. I have 2 18" barrels to do the same. I'm thinking about a 9mm and a 38sp. I'm just waiting for the 410.....

I did one in .45 ACP (still needs some finish work, but shoots great), fun gun. I'm debating whether to shorten the barrel up a bit as it is 23" right now. I built it off of a.45LC/.410 action.

Rebarreling these things can be come addictive fast. Already thinking about the next project.


Dick's and other sporting goods outlets usually run the rossi youth matched pairs on sale around this time of the year. Pick one up and you have 2 lugs to build both your 9mm and 38sp barrels, they are usually under $160.

I'm looking for one of the matched pair pistols to play with next.

[Wagnerwerks]

Very nice. I have 2 18" barrels to do the same. I'm thinking about a 9mm and a 38sp. I'm just waiting for the 410.....

Can you talk about how you welded the lug and maybe add a pic?

[Buckshot Bill]

Very nice. I have 2 18" barrels to do the same. I'm thinking about a 9mm and a 38sp. I'm just waiting for the 410.....

Can you talk about how you welded the lug and maybe add a pic?

I don't have any in progress photos but it's pretty straight forward, I cut the original welds with a cut off disk on an angle grinder (cutting into the old barrel if I had to, to avoid taking material off the lug). Clamped it up on a barrel blank of the same OD as the breech of the original barrel, there should be a chamfered area where you severed the welds, if not just grind one on either side so you have plenty of room to get penetration on the weld (standard welding procedure, nothing new). I tacked it at all 4 corners then ran a bead the length of the lug just like they did at the factory. Then I smoothed it down to make it look better and so as not to interfere with the action closing. I let the chamber end of the barrel stick past the lug a smidge when I welded everything up, so I could slowly work it down until it locked up perfect. Then I cut the ejector recess, fit the ejector, welded it up and machined it down to the proper dimension once the chamber was cut. If you do a rimless case like a 9mm or 45 acp a couple additional mods will be required to the ejector so the ejector will push out of the way as you chamber a round but spring up to grab the rim once it is seated so it will extract/eject properly.

I remounted the stud for forend attachment the same way as the lug.

I was very intimidated the first time I did one, I thought there was some special black magic involved in being able to do a rebarrel. It's pretty straight forward if you have the tools and patience to make it happen.

I found virtually no info on doing this when I searched online, a few threads on stubbing barrels but not replacing the barrel entirely, so I figured it out myself. This method does not necessarily require a lathe to do it (though it may be handy in some cases), unless the OD on your blank is not close enough to factory spec to get a centered primer strike. If the barrel is too skinny it will strike high, if it is too fat it will strike low because center line of the bore will sit higher or lower in relation to the firing pin based on the OD of the blank.

I'm no expert by any stretch of the imagination, my methods may be unorthodox but what I do works for me.

If you choose to duplicate my project in any way you do so at your own risk.

Liability is likely the reason I could find no "how to" info on rebarreling break action guns. Too many variables for anyone to stick their neck out and say "This is how you do it" . That, and the folks that do know how and do it for a living aren't willing to share their methods, and I don't blame them.

[Wagnerwerks]

You sir, are a gem! Thank you so much for typing that all out! That's the thing, it seems intimidating, but so simple at the same time. What welder did you use? All the ones I've looked at look like they were just migged on. I actually have a lathe and I'm not afraid to hack and mend, but I just feel like the blank will move/distort a bit when I weld it on.

[Buckshot Bill]

I used a fluxcore MIG. TIG would be a little cleaner but I roll with what I have.

[rondog]

Awesomeness! I want one!