.38/.357 Rifle practical for a first rifle?

[76shuvlinoff]

I have a 79 Marlin carbine version, (1894c) in .357. I enjoy it more than my AR. Nothing brings out the 10 year old cowboy in you like a well built lever.

It's sweet nestled in there with my two 39As. I really ought to look into the 45-70 thing.


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[Manny]

I think a .357 rifle would be an outstanding choice. They are capable of performance all out of proportion to the diminuative size of the cartridge. Able to be used on indoor or pistol ranges they are great for those who might not have access to traditional rifle range and are extrordinarily versatile using .38 special loads to full house .357's.

I'm hoping to get a .357 rifle myself and am drawn to the Ruger 77/357 bolt, but I don't think you can make a bad choice. The fact you reload for .38/.357 already makes it a no-brainer in my book and it'll be a wonderful companion piece to the firearms you already have.

 

[Dirty Bob]

I have an H&R single shot in .38/.357, that I recently reamed to .357 Max. I also brought the barrel length down to 16.5" and added a NoDakSpud rear sight with a homemade front. I haven't had the chance to try out the Max, but it's a heckuva fun little carbine with .38 and .357 Mag.

Here's the sight picture with the NDS ghost ring and the Dirty Bob front sight.

The front blade is high and still needs to be trimmed. The yellow blade is plastic from a tent peg.

As you can see, the spacers are thin, blackened steel. The next time I make a sight, I'll use Kydex (plastic) spacers. Much less work! If this design is used with a rear sight with limited adjustment, elevation can be handled with taller or shorter front blades.

All my best,
Dirty Bob

 

[shiftyer1]

I've never regreated my marlin........and 38/357 is all I can find looking for ammo.

 

[luvit]

I'll be buying private sale at gun shows, so no chance to shoot before purchase. Your rifles are hot!
I'll be choosing wood stock, etc, on any rifle i choose.
Dirty Bob, I really dig your modifications & that sight! I think metal looks great, but understand fabrication difficulties with small pieces like that, depending on the tools on hand..

 

[JShirley]

The .357 is a fine carbine round, so long as you don't need to put real power down past 150 meters.

if you go through the hoops needed to set up a Contender with a rifle rear stock. I believe that option is an SBR in the US.

No, that was taken to the Supreme Court in 1992.

...we conclude that the Contender pistol and carbine kit when packaged together by Thompson/Center have not been "made" into a short-barreled rifle for purposes of the NFA.

 

[MCgunner]

Wasn't the 92 court cast to do with .410 in a pistol? SBRs are still class three firearms, but there are legal length rifle barrels in .357 available for the Contender, I believe. Might even still be some .357 max barrels around. If not, you can get one made special order I'll bet.

edit, read the link, or the first bit of it. I remember now, the BATF was trying to say anyone that owned a stock, whether they had it on a pistol or not, was in violation or something like that. Well, if you put the stock on the gun, you have to put a legal length rifle barrel on it, too. Pretty simple, really.

 

[The_Armed_Therapist]

I think it's a great choice. You won't have much fun past 150 yards, and I wouldn't use it on Moose; but other than that, it's a great little carbine.

 

[BullfrogKen]

I think you'll like it very much.

 

[Sam1911]

No, that was taken to the Supreme Court in 1992.

...we conclude that the Contender pistol and carbine kit when packaged together by Thompson/Center have not been "made" into a short-barreled rifle for purposes of the NFA.

Unfortunately, that decision was interpreted by the BATFE to ONLY apply to those Contenders that were actually sold as kits, which was very few.

It wasn't until 2011 that the ATF finally reversed that opinion with the 2011-4 ruling: http://www.atf.gov/regulations-rulings/rulings/atf-rulings/atf-ruling-2011-4.pdf