Rifle Barrels For Revolver Boolits

[Good Cheer]

Just thought I'd ask, any yall have rifle barrels made to shoot revolver boolits?
.357, .41, .44, .45 or 476?
For sure we have some discussions about the .50's. Any of the others?

[54bore]

Just thought I'd ask, any yall have rifle barrels made to shoot revolver boolits?
.357, .41, .44, .45 or 476?
For sure we have some discussions about the .50's. Any of the others?

Good Cheer, I am just about to do this, my original .36 Seneca has a rough bore, i tried to shoot some Maxi's in it the other day and they load way to easy! I went ahead and shot it but accuracy wasn't much, i could stay on a piece of writing paper but that was about as good as she was gonna get. When I drop a bore light down it i can see riflings all the way thru, its just rough and pitted in areas, after this last outing i have it cleaned really good, oiled up, and stripped down of the under rib and sights. My plan is to send it to Hoyt and have him rebore it to ??? I haven't made up my mind yet? Since its a Seneca i don't want to shoot anything real heavy, nothing much over 200 grains anyway, i am thinking .40 Cal, maybe .41 and definitely a faster twist to shoot paper patched pistol bullets. I will likely have a custom mold made from Accurate to whatever i end up doing. Any Cal recommendations and Rate of Twist? What about .380-.390 and a Custom mold? Whatever it takes to clean the bore up i guess

[bob208]

I would say if you are going to get it rebored to shoot bullets. have some one make and install a false muzzle so it an be clamped and rifled with the barrel.

[Good Cheer]

Good Cheer, I am just about to do this, my original .36 Seneca has a rough bore, i tried to shoot some Maxi's in it the other day and they load way to easy! I went ahead and shot it but accuracy wasn't much, i could stay on a piece of writing paper but that was about as good as she was gonna get. When I drop a bore light down it i can see riflings all the way thru, its just rough and pitted in areas, after this last outing i have it cleaned really good, oiled up, and stripped down of the under rib and sights. My plan is to send it to Hoyt and have him rebore it to ??? I haven't made up my mind yet? Since its a Seneca i don't want to shoot anything real heavy, nothing much over 200 grains anyway, i am thinking .40 Cal, maybe .41 and definitely a faster twist to shoot paper patched pistol bullets. I will likely have a custom mold made from Accurate to whatever i end up doing. Any Cal recommendations and Rate of Twist? What about .380-.390 and a Custom mold? Whatever it takes to clean the bore up i guess

I tend to lean towards what I've already got, which is .41. And I'm not real sure about what twist would work best but I've been wanting to make it a reality for quite a while. And I've got more testing to do with the .40 bore before I go get another.

About the Seneca, TC made the Seneca in .36 and .45. Wouldn't the maxi ball loads for the .45 barrel be your guide to go by for how hot to load it? That Seneca and the TC Cherokee could be loaded about equal to a .44 mag.
For twist rates, the '73 and '92 Winchesters are what I've been looking at as examples.
There's a huge amount of history to draw upon.
Right now I'm fixing to see how well the RCBS 250 grain round nose .45Colt mold will work paper patched in the .458 bore New Englander. I want a plinker that's good enough for tomato cans instead of having to shoot the longer ones. The RCBS .45-255 SWC works pretty good so I'm just seeing what else kind of fun I can get into.

[54bore]

Good Cheer, I agree on the load data from TC for the Maxi's in the Seneca and Cherokee, its a good reference for sure! That being said i have a friend that cracked his Seneca stock shooting Maxi balls from his .45 Cal barrel, i think his load was 60 Grains of 3F which is well in range of TC's load data for the Seneca/Cherokee and stil cracked his stock (TC claims 80 Grains Max for the Seneca/Cherokee with their Maxi balls, ranging in weight from 200-320 Grains) maybe there was a weak spot in the grain of his stock? Maybe the side screw was to tight? If you know the Seneca/Cherokee they are a very slim/trim little rifle, I believe you are asking for problems if you push the envelope to hard with these little rifles. This is my reasoning for wanting to stay 200 Grain Max bullet weight, i am leaning more toward a .40 Re bore, Then have Accurate cut me a paper patch diameter mold for it, which would be .392-.393

[Saxtonyoung]

A 40 caliber would give you some extra weight compared to a 45 which would help with less recoil and be friendlier on the stock.

[jjarrell]

I've seen a few .45 Senecas crack stocks with the added recoil of maxi balls. Small thin stocks. It's not uncommon. I've never seen a .36 with a cracked stock though. I've also heard that the tang or wedge pin plates being a little loose will cause the Seneca to crack the stock quickly.

[54bore]

I've seen a few .45 Senecas crack stocks with the added recoil of maxi balls. Small thin stocks. It's not uncommon. I've never seen a .36 with a cracked stock though. I've also heard that the tang or wedge pin plates being a little loose will cause the Seneca to crack the stock quickly.

I've never seen or heard of a cracked .36 Cal either, The .36 Cal is an AWESOME little Caliber! I wish this .36 Bore was good (i'd NEVER mess with it) but since its not i need to have it re bored.

I call the .36 Cal 'The little Caliber that could' it is very underestimated by a lot of folks! I just ran a few 130 Grain Maxi's over my Chronograph and was pushing an 1800 FPS average with 50 Grains of 3F, the Maximum load is 60 Grains and TC claims 2000 FPS, im gonna say they are right on, or really close with that number. Take this into perspective, a .22 Magnum is 1800 FPS with a 40 grain bullet, that is generating 288 Ft lbs of muzzle energy. The .36 Cal with a 130 Grain bullet running at 1800 FPS is Generating 935 Ft lbs of muzzle energy, it is eating a .22 Magnum alive, its not even close. The most common gun used to butcher beef and hogs is a .22 Magnum. I would not hesitate a second to shoot a deer inside of 100 yards with a .36 Cal. if it were legal to do so.

198042

[725]

54bore,
I'm thinking the 10mm / 40 cal is a great idea. Several existing molds to choose from right in your weight target area. No doubt Hoyt would do it right and a discussion with him about twist rate would be interesting. I was just up in his shop the other day. Picked up a .50 rebore to .54 and he did a wonderful job. 1 /60 round bottom rifling for a round ball.
725

[Good Cheer]

TC's design and their manufacturing tolerances created a weak point in that the thinnest area of the stock opposite the lock is put in tension (perpendicular to the grain) when the tolerances don't add up in a friendly manner: The act of inserting the barrel and camming it down into position. How the tolerances add up determines if there is tension and if so how much.

198051
Old abused Renegade being repaired, after the compression bindings have been removed.

[jjarrell]

I've never seen or heard of a cracked .36 Cal either, The .36 Cal is an AWESOME little Caliber! I wish this .36 Bore was good (i'd NEVER mess with it) but since its not i need to have it re bored.

I call the .36 Cal 'The little Caliber that could' it is very underestimated by a lot of folks! I just ran a few 130 Grain Maxi's over my Chronograph and was pushing an 1800 FPS average with 50 Grains of 3F, the Maximum load is 60 Grains and TC claims 2000 FPS, im gonna say they are right on, or really close with that number. Take this into perspective, a .22 Magnum is 1800 FPS with a 40 grain bullet, that is generating 288 Ft lbs of muzzle energy. The .36 Cal with a 130 Grain bullet running at 1800 FPS is Generating 935 Ft lbs of muzzle energy, it is eating a .22 Magnum alive, its not even close. The most common gun used to butcher beef and hogs is a .22 Magnum. I would not hesitate a second to shoot a deer inside of 100 yards with a .36 Cal. if it were legal to do so.

198042

Check with Bob Hoyt about having it relined and keep it as a .36 caliber. Or check with The Gun Works to see what Joe would build you a drop in barrel for. Maybe add a few inches to the short barrel and increase the velocity a bit. The factory barrel is short enough that you could go longer and still keep the balance. He does great work. Also I've taken 5 hogs with mine. They have all been 50yds or less but the maxi had complete penetration on all 5. 3 dropped where they stood and 2 went maybe 30yds. The biggest was just shy of 200lbs on the hoof(it was one that dropped where it stood).

[Good Cheer]

If the rifling is configured to make it work then a .36 bore will be friendly towards using .38 caliber revolver molds either lubed or patched. And .358-.359 sizers are there to be had, right off the shelf.

[Good Cheer]

Good Cheer, I am just about to do this, my original .36 Seneca has a rough bore, i tried to shoot some Maxi's in it the other day and they load way to easy! I went ahead and shot it but accuracy wasn't much, i could stay on a piece of writing paper but that was about as good as she was gonna get. When I drop a bore light down it i can see riflings all the way thru, its just rough and pitted in areas, after this last outing i have it cleaned really good, oiled up, and stripped down of the under rib and sights. My plan is to send it to Hoyt and have him rebore it to ??? I haven't made up my mind yet? Since its a Seneca i don't want to shoot anything real heavy, nothing much over 200 grains anyway, i am thinking .40 Cal, maybe .41 and definitely a faster twist to shoot paper patched pistol bullets. I will likely have a custom mold made from Accurate to whatever i end up doing. Any Cal recommendations and Rate of Twist? What about .380-.390 and a Custom mold? Whatever it takes to clean the bore up i guess

I've decided upon using .41 revolver molds.
The ones on hand are:
Lee 195SWC, 238 RN, 240SWC
Lyman 41026, 41027, 41028, 410426, 410610
NEI 185-41RN and this v v v set of .41 designs.
198172

So if the minimum boolit diameter falling out with soft lead is about .410-.411 and my batch of 25% cotton paper patches to .007 for two wraps then my base line diameter is going to be .417. That would be for the molds producing the smallest diameters. If the boolits with the smallest diameter were used with a thicker paper then that could easily be shifted upwards to .418-.419 diameter. Molds casting at .412-.413 diameter plus the .007 wrap would produce .419-.420 diameter before sizing. Looking over all the numbers it would seem that a .418 bore and a .417 Lee sizer would be a workable combination. Maybe I could hunt up an old Lyman .410 round ball mold to boot. The Lyman 410426 mold is about .82 long and the .41 mag Rivet 295 grain WCGC design is .86. So for rifling twist, 30 twist would probably be enough but why not err on the side of caution and make it one turn in 28? For the rifling geometry... better scratch my head over that one.

[54bore]

If the rifling is configured to make it work then a .36 bore will be friendly towards using .38 caliber revolver molds either lubed or patched. And .358-.359 sizers are there to be had, right off the shelf.

I have both of those sizers

[Multigunner]

Would a .38 hollow base Wadcutter bullet work like a mini ball in these .36 rifles?

[Good Cheer]

It can and some folks have guns set up for it. Getting the grooves to seal off can be difficult.

[Good Cheer]

By the way, for a blast from the past here's a 9mm bunny slayer set up for .38 molds sized to .35.

198705

And some 9mm "maxis".

198706

[Good Cheer]

More blasts from the past...

Packed everything up for relocation 2 1/2 years ago. Still unpacking and unwrapping stuff.
It's like having a nightmare about a Christmas morning that never ends.
:roll:

So in amongst the stuff from yesteryear are 1970's-1980's TC scope mounts to fit a New Englander and another to fit their octagonal barrel Hawken and Renegade. But the mounts use the proprietary mounting system that TC built into their early scopes (that don't use scope rings). The scope mounts are made to use the same screw holes as the rear sights. Great system right? Except that I only have one of their extended eye relief pistol scopes and the rear sight mounting holes are too far back to use the scope!
I wonder if anyone ever produced an adapter. Oh well. They're about like having a proprietary handle extension manufactured by the ACME Buggy Whip Company but maybe some day I'll have a flash of insight on what to use them on. One thing for sure is I'm not drilling and tapping holes half way down a New Englander's barrel to give that one and only TC scope (could be the last one NIB in the milky way galaxy without a replacement) the right eye relief.
Last night unwrapped the like new in box .54 New Englander (without QLA, yippee!!), the New Englander and Renegade still in package peep sights. Fixing to unwrap the .40 Green Mountain drop-in. It's Christmas for the 4th of July.