Pistol caliber carbines Plusses and Minuses--your opinion?

[Earlwb]

(QUOTE) I like the look of the Henry Big Boy Steel in .327 Fed Mag. But I bet it won't cycle my little .32sw longs. So it turns it into a 900$ single shot.

FWIW, My .327 Henry cycles .32 S&W longs just fine. Henry will tell you point blank your not supposed too, but do not explain as to why.

I suspect it has to do with lead or brass ringing the chamber at the end of the case mouth. When you fire a gun, there can be a buildup of lead or bullet jacket residue at where the case mouth ends in the chamber. A ring of the stuff can build up right there and prevent cartridges from chambering properly. I remember seeing it happen with my .357 mag revolver when I fired a lot of .38 specials through it. Then later when I tried using .357 mag rounds, the cartridges wouldn't chamber. It was a real PITA to clean out the chambers too. With jacketed bullets, some of the jacket might get sloughed off building up a even more difficult ring to remove. Sort of like having a piece of the cartridge case getting stuck in the chamber.

But yes, I keep looking at the lever action rifles chambered in .327 Federal myself too.

[GhostHawk]

(QUOTE) I like the look of the Henry Big Boy Steel in .327 Fed Mag. But I bet it won't cycle my little .32sw longs. So it turns it into a 900$ single shot.

FWIW, My .327 Henry cycles .32 S&W longs just fine. Henry will tell you point blank your not supposed too, but do not explain as to why.

Thank you very much sir, you might have just talked me into a Henry!

[Baltimoreed]

[QUOTE=Texas by God;4540568]The semi pointed, hard FMJ bullets in 9mm and .45 auto cartridges may set off a mag tube detonation in a traditional lever gun. .40/10mm have always had FPJ as a rule. I'm just surmising. They would be fun in a lever but no more so than a .38 Special or .45 LC already is.[/QUO
CAS requires the use of lead bullets which have to be flat pointed to be safe in tubular magazine rifles. No round point jacketed bullets are safe as you pointed out. But in reality I would rather have lead bullets in my sd gun than fmj if those were my only choices.

[Jeff Michel]

Perhaps chamber buildup might be the reasoning although they, Henry encourage the interchangeability of the .327 and the .32 mag in spite of the case length difference. I believe it might of resulted in inconsistency with chambering of the shorter cartridges. Yes, mine feeds just fine but yours may not may be the case. Reduce the amount a variables and the consumer complaints are proportionately reduced. Just my opinion, others will surely differ.

[GhostHawk]

Well I am not going to bite without a chance to pick up and feel.

Was at the right store yesterday when all heck broke loose. I was burping like a toliet hooked to an air line not a water hose, stomach cramps. I threw money at my wife to buy the pants we'd look at trotted to the little boys room. Time I got out I was ready for home.

Not like I really NEED another gun anyway.

Found a guy on Gun Broker, he's 250 miles away in St Paul, has 23 of em for sale at just under 700$.

Maybe I'll wait and hit one of those big city sporting goods stores.

Next week the Wife and I are off on adventure #2. New Orleans, then the gulf coast I'm thinking Galveston ish area. Spend a couple of weeks laying on the beach during the worst of the North Dakota Winter. Take that you bugger!

[tazman]

Perhaps chamber buildup might be the reasoning although they, Henry encourage the interchangeability of the .327 and the .32 mag in spite of the case length difference. I believe it might of resulted in inconsistency with chambering of the shorter cartridges. Yes, mine feeds just fine but yours may not may be the case. Reduce the amount a variables and the consumer complaints are proportionately reduced. Just my opinion, others will surely differ.

They also make mention of using 38 special in the 357 mag rifles. The same possibility for buildup is there for any combination of cartridges that have different lengths but will fit in the chamber.
I really don't consider that a deal breaker. I do the same thing in my handguns and just clean the chamber after each range trip.

[rbuck351]

I have two pistol/rifle caliber carbines, a 32/20 and a 454 casull but no pistols for these rounds. If carrying the 454, I have no need for a pistol. Same goes for the 32/20 as it is only used for small game or plinking. The 454 with a 318 gr cast and a case full of lil gun runs 1950 fps and is good enough for anything I will encounter to about 200 yds. With a 200gr cast and a few grs of unique it is a 22 on steroids. I have no use for a rifle/pistol combo but I really like the M92 type carbine. If hunting when a 300yd + is probable then I will use a real rifle and have no need for a handgun. The carbines with pistol rounds are just plain fun and that alone makes them worth while.

[Outpost75]

...there can be a buildup of lead or bullet jacket residue at where the case mouth ends in the chamber. A ring of the stuff can build up right there and prevent cartridges from chambering properly...

Fix for this is to use a ball-end chamfer tool from Brownell's to break the wire edge inside the stop surface at the end of the chamber mouth. The 3/8" chamfer tool used on .22 and .32 revolver forcing cones will enter a 9mm chamber, and can be turned by hand using Brownell's Do-Drill and a light touch to break the corner. On the .30 Carbine Ruger use an 8mm end mill cutter the same way.

3/8 REVOLVER DEBURRING CUTTER ONLY
080-623-003WB
3/8" Revolver Deburring Cutter, only

[Gunslinger1911]

Had a Marlin 357 when younger - prob one of the "funnest" guns I ever had. Have a couple 45 Colt levers now, Win Trapper and an Uberti Henry (a REAL Henry copy - no forearm, loads from the front). Both a hoot !

Only issue I have run into is levers don't seem to like the SWC profile. Polishing parts, getting the length perfect helps a lot.

Son in law has a 9mm AR so I had to get a 45 acp AR - both also a hoot !

Start buyin' Taz !

[Kimber1911]

I have a blackhawk in 44 and I'm so wanting to find a lever in 44, however I have read mixed reviews on the 94 as far as twist.

[frogleg]

I have to say my 44mag Redhawk and 77/44 bolt are just Fun. I load 240 gr semi wadcutters to what should be 900fps from the revolver and they work well from the carbine and with a peepsight 75yrds in the woods here. it is just right. and did I say Fun.

[tenx]

I have a Ruger Blackhawk in 30 carbine,a Weigand scope mount and ultradot 30 mm matchdot, accuracy is amazing, shoots really flat, it never fails to please me, it's almost in a class on it's own. Get chance to try one don't pass it up, you will be hooked.

[MOA]

One of the other main reasons I like a pistol caliber carbine is when you find yourself in a confined space and the range of the shot is limited to a known distance like in a shooting house overlooking a green space. This is where my carbine in 44 mag shines.

[tazman]

I have a Henry Big Boy steel rifle in 357 mag coming. The shop had to order it in so it may take a couple of weeks for it to get here.

[Texas by God]

Good choice. All you really need for the category and so much fun with .38 Special. It'll hunt, too.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

[Silvercreek Farmer]

Enjoy!

[blackbahart]

little Lee Enfield in 45acp fun little carbine

[RobsTV]

Never could get good accuracy with Ruger Blackhawk revolver in 30 Carbine even at 10 yards. Maybe 4" groups? But the M1 30 carbine rifle is a tack driver at 50 yards (rail and pistol scope added).

Started shooting with a tight original lever action Winchester 1873 in 38-40 black powder only, and with iron sights always hit a quarter at 50 yards. Later picked up colt revolver to share cartridges with, and like the Ruger Blackhawk, very bad accuracy, even at 10 yards.

Later added the modern version, Hi-Point pistol and Carbine in 40 S&W, using same 180gr mold as the 38-40's. Both have good accuracy, with 1" groups from pistol at 10 yards, and 1" groups from the scoped carbine at 50 yards.

How do I rank these?
Of course '73 38-40 best.
M1 30 carbine easily the second best, and one of the most fun to shoot guns I own.
Colt 38-40 revolver is a keeper but hate to shoot due to bad accuracy.
Ended up getting rid of the Blackhawk 30 carbine revolver since after a year of testing everything, could not get acceptable accuracy.

The hi-points are good dependable accurate shooters, but boring and do not think they will be here much longer. However, they make the best case for having both a pistol and carbine that share the same mags. But also to me, why bother if the excitement is not there?

I do not see any advantage to owning both pistol and rifle simply because they shoot the same round.

Left out some important details... While same round might be shot in both pistol and rifle, actual slugged barrel size or throat may be different. I ended up sizing boolits or seating different for all the combos except hi-point, due to accuracy being more important that interchangeability. So ended up having to separate cartridges anyway. The hi-points were the only guns that were identical and could share the same rounds.

[Digger]

It's another gun!
That all the reason I need.

Fully agree , the fun factor sets in also ...
Have had a couple of Keltec P-11's for quite a while , one in 9 and the other in 40 ..
Picked up a SU-2000 in 40 a while back and the accuracy in the SU is most impressive at 100.
Loading my cast MP hp's 135 gr's , the 40 is cheaper than 22's .
Let the occasional new shooter use the SU in forty and they love it as it is a huge difference in effect ..much softer than the snappy pistol.
most fun.

[tazman]

little Lee Enfield in 45acp fun little carbine

That is a very interesting conversion. If you did it yourself or had it done, I would like to hear the story about it. How well does it function and what issues did you need to overcome to get it to work properly?