358 Winchester Future Build

[x101airborne]

Good morning, all.
I have a small ring mauser that I am wanting to rebarrel to 358 Winchester. Question is....
1. I need a gunsmith to do the build. Apparently my old one is out of business.
2. I need a barrel. What brand of barrels have others use? Is there an difference relative to cast boolits?
3. I would like a new stock. Are there any cheap ones out there? I dont need 400.00 worth of walnut for a light hunting rifle.

I am also going to contact Goodsteel to get his weigh in on this, but I would like to hear from everyone.

[Hamish]

There was a recent thread with goodsteel and Nobade among the contributors, discussing Adams and Bennett barrels. Confirmed all I had ever heard on their quality.

[white eagle]

I built one on a win mod 70 action
used a pac-nor barrel
check out their site it was a prefit barrel very little in the way of gunsmithing needed
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v730/kempobb/PDR_0860.jpg

[runfiverun]

airc i ordered my A&B barell from midway. [it was on close out or clearance]
you can browse their websight,the bbls will usually come threaded to your rifle and short chambered.
brownells should have the finish reamer.
i was into my bbl and reamer about 200.00
if you have a 308 on the rifle now a re-bore could be quite economical,i think that's how Ben did one of his.

[Gee_Wizz01]

What type of small ring Mauser action are you planning on using? Make sure it's up to handling 358 pressures. I have rebarreled a Turk 98, which is a large ring with a small ring barrel thread. I have had good luck with a couple of K Kale Turks. For barrels I have used Shaw and A&B (from) Midway. Both brands have been very accurate, and I have heard that Shaw makes A&B for Midway. I rebarreled most my actions myself, and have been very pleased with the results. My 257 Roberts was rebarreled with an A&B lightweight small ring barrel on a Turk action and is a decent shooter, it is the least accurate of my re barreling efforts and will shoot 1 1/2" 5 shot groups at 100 yds. It will place the first 2 shots touching each other and then opens up as the barrel heats. It is a pencil thin barrel and makes a great carry rifle. I built a 220 Swift on a standard 98 action using an A&B heavyweight stainless steel barrel. This rifle will place 5 shots into a 5/8" group at 100 yds, on demand. It shoots 5 shot groups that hover around 1 1/4" at 200 yds. I have a 30-06 that Shaw rebarreled for me years ago, and it is a tack driver! My 30-06 is built on a 1909 Argentine action with a Timney trigger, Redfield JR mount and rings, and an old Japanese Bushnell 3X9 scope. It is mounted in a deluxe grade walnut stock from Bishop. This is my go to hunting rifle and has accounted for at least 30 deer, 8 coyotes, and at least a dozen hogs. This 30-06 shoots cast boolits with accuracy equal to the J words and in weights from 115 gr to 200 gr. This rifle just seems to shoot cast boolits well with little load development, I wish all my rifles were this easy with cast. My dad has an old custom Mauser in 257 Roberts made by the old Alamo Gun Shop in San Antonio that is a an amazingly accurate rifle. This rifle has killed over 100 deer and countless coyotes. As for cheap stocks, I used a $60 synthetic Fajen stock from Midway for my 220 Swift, and it does the job. Its not pretty, but it works. I have been eyeing a couple of the Boyd stocks for my current 338-06 build. The Boyds stocks look nice and they are not expensive. Most of my rifles are hunting rifles and see hard use on the ranch, so I am more concerned with functionality than aesthetics. I have used a couple the Boyds stocks on my .22's and they are nice looking and fit nicely with little fitting required. I also used one of the Optima triggers on my Swift and I am very pleased with it. Good luck with your build.

G

[Larry Gibson]

Suggest a pre-threaded Shilen barrel for SR Mausers from Brownell's chambered in 35 Rem. Barrels are easy to insall and if your action can handle the .358W psi's then it is easily chambered, if not then leaving it at 35 Rem will make for an excellent cast bulet rifle. The barrels are 26" long and have 14" twists. They are excelent and I rebarreled my M91 Mauser with one and it is an excellent shooter in 35 Rem. I intended to rechamber to a 35x57 using a 35 Whelen finis reamer but it performs so well as a 35 Rem I've left it that way.

BTW; I have an excellent 35 Rem finish reamer if you go that way. I'm also in Lake Havasu City, AZ now and will have my shop set up and could install the barrel in a couple three months if you can get over this way(?).

Larry Gibson

[x101airborne]

Thanks Guys.
The donor is a 1910 mexican mauser I got for cheap origional in 7x57 mauser, so it should handle standard 358, I think (that is my idea of a disclaimer).
I have 6 rifles that have used A&B barrels and I have been happy with all of them. I see midway has 358 blanks for 92.00 and Boyd's stocks for about 70.00. Sounds like a good deal if I can find someone to machine and chamber the barrel.

[x101airborne]

Larry, Thank you for the offer! I will have to look at the 35 remington. I have never loaded it and dont have dies, but will research the cartrige with much interest.
Larry, if you can do the machining and have the reamer, what would you charge me to set the barrel? I would love to have a Gibson Machine Origional!

[runfiverun]

the 35 rem would be more in line pressure wise to that mauser action.
the 358 is saami specced about 5-k higher.

[MBTcustom]

the 35 rem would be more in line pressure wise to that mauser action.
the 358 is saami specced about 5-k higher.

If you build this rifle into a 358W you will have to keep away from max pressure loads. Honestly, it could probably handle it, but why take the chance? .35 Remington is a better choice just for the fact that you might not be the last guy to own this rifle.
The problem with the 35Remington is that the boltface is just a little too big for it, and a new extractor might need to be fit, and the boltface bushed.
That's just a guess, I have never built a 35Rem bolt gun so take it with a grain of salt. Sure as shootin the next guy to post will have built 5 of them without a single issue. :roll:
All I know is that the rim diameter of the 35 Rem is .016 smaller than the 7X57.

[geargnasher]

Personally, I'd get a Lee Soupcan mould from Midsouth and shoot it the way it is, the 7x57 is a ton of fun and brass is still plentiful, unlike .35 Remington. Pick up a cheapo Savage short action in the .308 series (or buy the correct bolt head if it isn't) and have a .35 blank shipped directly to Tim so he can make it right for cast boolits and then he can ship it to you and you can screw it on yourself. For a few extra dollars you might consider a chamber reamer with a tight neck.

Gear

[BruceB]

At Christmas '07 I found myself with a new-to-me Marlin 336 in .35 Remington, and no brass to fit.

After some minor finagling, I came up with a method of converting .308 WCF cases to .35 Remingtons, and proceeded to make up about 150 cases.

All of those cases are still serving well after the five intervening years. so the system works satisfactorily.

A search for ".35 Remington reform" will find the process described on December 26 2007.

With a few common tools and a supply of .308 brass, one need never worry about a lack of cases for a .35 rifle.

[EMC45]

Let me know if anyone of you find a .35 caliber barrel by A&B. Seems they are out of the barrel biz and that can be found are closeouts in calibers that aren't interesting to me.

[geargnasher]

I made a set of 50 out of .30-'06, personally I liked it better because there's no neck/shoulder crease in the middle of the neck. They do require a bit of turning to fit the chamber, though, and I used a series of Lee push-through dies to swage the head after filing the rim down a bit. They worked fine, but if I were to do it again I'd buy the neck reamer for the Forster tool and ream them to size rather than turn the outside.

Gear

[felix]

Outside turning is for only truing up the inside turn, Ian. Inside turn to make clearance for 0.001 total, then shoot hard, and then do the outside thingie to make final adjustments. Make darn sure the mandrel WON'T slop during the outside turning. Outside turning: Tighter mandrel than you would think for BR quality; use your best slickies to prevent sticky grabbing! Do final turning after load is set in concrete. Then turn 0.0003 at a time making the group shrink without enlonging the neck by firing the load. If no change, then turning is DONE done. ... felix

This critical work will not be appreciated by any gun not shooting in the 5's at least. ... felix

[tomme boy]

As long as the rec does not have any lug set back, it will handle max pressure fine. I have done a few in 308win and they worked great. The problem with the ones that had lug set back was the heat treat was not right on them. If it still concerns you, send the receiver out to have it heat treated. Then you will know for sure that it will handle it. If they can handle a 270win, they will handle the 358win.

[geargnasher]

Outside turning is for only truing up the inside turn, Ian. Inside turn to make clearance for 0.001 total, then shoot hard, and then do the outside thingie to make final adjustments. Make darn sure the mandrel WON'T slop during the outside turning. Outside turning: Tighter mandrel than you would think for BR quality; use your best slickies to prevent sticky grabbing! Do final turning after load is set in concrete. Then turn 0.0003 at a time making the group shrink without enlonging the neck by firing the load. If no change, then turning is DONE done. ... felix

This critical work will not be appreciated by any gun not shooting in the 5's at least. ... felix

Yes, Sir! I was making do with what I had at the time in that instance, impatient to shoot my new rifle. When working with drastically reformed (shortened) brass with necks in the upper teens/low 20s, I prefer to bushing size OD to chamber neck middle dimension, ream to boolit dimension (removes doughnuts and rings), do initial outside true with .0005" interference-fit turning mandrel and full synthetic ATF, and resize neck to .0015" under chamber neck for first loading. A VLD inside chamfer is used. Loaded, the neck usually runs .0003-5" total clearance, and is plenty hard due to using the body of the case for the new neck (no annealing allowed!). After that no resizing is necessary for five firings at 75-85% max pressure. A light draw, trim, rechamfer, and bushing-size has been good for me after five when accuracy starts to fall off a bit from erratic tension (I assume). If I had any sense I'd show up at your place with an armload of gifts and beg you to spend a day coaching me at the bench and range with me, but alas, life makes so many things impractical!

Gear