Marlin .45 Colt

[Doughty]

Just in case you've ever wandered... I mean wondered, by single loading you can successfully shoot .45 ACP ammo in a Marlin leveraction that's chambered for .45 Colt. Just close the bolt part way, until the ejector is covered, then hook the rim of the ACP round under the extractor, and finish closing the bolt.

At the range yesterday, I found that these shoot surprisingly well out to 100 yards, with POI very near that of my CAS loads. Not something I'd want to do a lot of, but, in a time of need it would work.

Got me to wandering about 9mm in a .357???

[Pepe Ray]

Old Vic
Yeah, I've wandered a lot lately, but they always bring me back.
Re; the experiment.
I realize that the chamber must be appropriate to stop the ctg. before it gets too deep. (HS). In light of this, have you tried to feed the ACP's from the mag?
I'm determined to find an economical way to get a .45ACP/LA. I've talked to a gunsmith who did this back before the .45Colt was an available chambering. His expenses were high , I believe, because he didn't have available this benefit.
The time spent in remaking a bolt face to fit, was outrageous.
Pepe Ray

[Doughty]

Pepe Ray,

I too have had the desire for a .45 ACP leveraction for sometime now. I had thought of re-barreling a 336 in .35 Rem. However, Ed Harris recommended starting with a Marlin in .44 Mag. Then either re-bore or re-barrel. Apparently the cartridge stop must be modified by silver sodering or by screws to fix the feeding.

I have a Mech-Tech conversion and a break action single shot, both in .45 ACP. They both give improved ballistics, more practical accuracy, and are fun to shoot, but, they aren't leveractions, so......?

[Pepe Ray]

Old Vic.
Do you have/have you read the art. by Robert J.Snapp, American Rifleman,
July 1983? My understanding of the art. is that ed Harris had Snapp build a
.45ACP in a Mar. .44mag.
I spoke with Mr. Snapp by phone this winter. His memory was pretty foggy about the project (You remember stuff 24 years ago?). After he reviewed his records we spoke again. We concluded that because of all the new/other cartridges and chamberings that could be used for the conversion, the whole project should be reevaluated.
Subsequently in March '07 a gent posting on another forum indicated he had a conversion coming from a John Taylor, based on a Mar. .45Colt. (I have copies of this post etc.).
This posting elicited responses from an ED Harris who told of having a conversion made for him by a Wayne Schwartz "about 25 years ago".
BOY!! I'm busting with questions. I feel like an idiot standing on a busy street corner babbling questions at passers by who haven't a clue.:roll:
How many ED Harris's do you know of? Just how interested in this as a project, are you? Pepe Ray

[Baron von Trollwhack]

If its any help, my .356 W lever would feed and extract and eject .358 W ammo. Maybe the concept works in your case on the Marlin with .45 ACP. BvT

[ktw]

Strikes me that a conversion to 45 Auto Rim might easier, although I understand that this wouldn't let you take advantage of the cheaper 45 acp brass and ammo out there.

-ktw

[Doughty]

Pepe Ray,

Only the one Ed Harris that I know of. I'm pretty interested in making one of these eventually. Problem is, I'm so far behind in shop work, and I won't know until June 13th if I'll need another surgery or not. Too much thinking and not enough doing.

BvT,

I think most 1911 pistols actually headspace on the extractor hook, so I thought that since the Marlin had a similar extractor, that it might work if it had enough "arc of spring." Mine has enough to allow it to fire, but not enough to extract. I have to point the muzzle up and tap the action, causing the fired case to fall out. I think both the .356 and the .358 can be headspaced off the shoulder. Sounds as though your .356 has enough spring to catch the .358 for extraction.

ktw,

I think that if a guy was shooting a lot of Auto Rim in a revolver that it might be fun to get it to shoot in a leveraction. Should be fairly simple to do.

[Pepe Ray]

Old Vic,
Are you familiar with the Am/Riflmn art. that I spoke off? It's quite descriptive of the procedure used in the conversion. I can send it to you if you can receive JPG pictures.
I'd dearly love to converse with Ed Harris. Guess I'll have to join the CBA in order to find a link to him. All the evidence in my possession says he's playing with his 3rd
.45ACP Marlin. One each from Bob Snapp, Wayne Schwatz and John Taylor.
TTYL, Pepe Ray

[Scrounger]

There's Ed Harris the actor.

[Pepe Ray]

Scrounger;
My informants tell me that the actor (Ed Harris) is a left winger, associated
with some very undesirable types. ( Good actor tho.) Pepe Ray

[Scrounger]

I don't know beans about any of their politics, and I don't want to know. I just watch the movies, get entertainment from it, end of story. I don't know what they do after work, that's their business and their right, it's still America, right? I don't have any heroes to look up to or anti-heroes to look down at; they're just people like me, no more, no less.

[Doughty]

Pepe Ray,

I don't have that article but would sure like to see it. You could e-mail it to me at doughty@blackfoot.net .

Scounger,

I'm sure there are thousands of Ed Harrises out there, just no others in the shooting world that I'm aware of.

[Baron von Trollwhack]

Doesn't the ACP headspace off the chamber mouth and the extractor equally. That's why short cases misfire? On my big bore the extractor hook was long enough and the extractor cut deep enough to work without a hitch. BvT

[Doughty]

BvT,

They could headspace off either or both. If the extractor is worn and/or the case rim is worn or "thin", and the case is short then there could be misfires. Most of the semi-autos that I have dealt with would reliably fire cases that were much too short to touch the mouth. Some are set up to headspace by the bullet touching the rifling. In my Ruger Vaquero's .45 ACP cylinder, the case must be fairly close to the correct length and not have much of a taper crimp.

Just for fun, you might try firing an empty, but primed, .45 ACP case in your .356. If it fires, that would support the "headspace on the extractor" position.