M1 Carbine conversion
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rcmodel
Member in memoriam
I think you would have all kinds of magazine & feeding problems with the rimmed case.
Not to mention it is over a 1/4" too long to work through the action or fit in the magazine.
A .357 Maximum empty case is almost as long as a .30 Carbine loaded round.
.30 Carbine loaded round OAL = 1.680".
.357 Max empty case = 1.605".
.357 Max loaded round OAL = 1.990".
rc
Not to mention it is over a 1/4" too long to work through the action or fit in the magazine.
A .357 Maximum empty case is almost as long as a .30 Carbine loaded round.
.30 Carbine loaded round OAL = 1.680".
.357 Max empty case = 1.605".
.357 Max loaded round OAL = 1.990".
rc
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Flip85
Member
That's not crazy. Just very, very difficult. Ive been thinking of finding a way to change my 30. carbine to look like a Thompson. Its not crazy, just difficult.
Badger Arms
Member
You could load wadcutters... OR you could try conversion to .351 Winchester.
351 WINCHESTER
Member
Now you're talking.
Badger Arms
Member
.351 Winchester... a dead and somewhat outdated concept, but a good one. I think the M1 Carbine should have been made in a rimless .401 WSL... a REAL compromise between .45 and 30-06. How many complaints do you think we'd have had from the field with ole' thumper mowing down Nazis!? I believe, in the end, necking down the .401 to .22, .243, or .25 caliber would have produced a PERFECT assault rifle.
Where did I leave my time machine?
Where did I leave my time machine?
351 WINCHESTER
Member
It may be dead and outdated, but the 07 winchesters were known to be as relaible as any gun made and had enough power to get the job done. What worked 100 years ago is still working. About the only thing that breaks on them is the wood.
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Carbines have been converted to .357 Magnum, but it is not easy. Not only is feeding a problem, but the gas system is balanced for one cartridge and one pressure level.
From the point of view of the recipient, I doubt that the .357 would be much different from the .30 Carbine.
Those kind of projects are interesting until one has to take out a second mortgage to pay the gunsmith bills.
Jim
From the point of view of the recipient, I doubt that the .357 would be much different from the .30 Carbine.
Those kind of projects are interesting until one has to take out a second mortgage to pay the gunsmith bills.
Jim
rcmodel
Member in memoriam
Perhaps the best & easiest M-1 Carbine conversion was the 5.7mm Johnson Spitfire.
It's simply a .30 Carbine case necked down to .224".
Feeds, Fires, and Functions Freely in standard actions & magazines.
And it puts the much ballyhooed FN 5.7 cartridge to shame!
40 grain bullet @ 3,000 FPS.
rc
It's simply a .30 Carbine case necked down to .224".
Feeds, Fires, and Functions Freely in standard actions & magazines.
And it puts the much ballyhooed FN 5.7 cartridge to shame!
40 grain bullet @ 3,000 FPS.
rc
Badger Arms
Member
351 WINCHESTER said:
Not biased are you? Never owned or handled the '07. Now I'm going to have to do the research. Why get a Winchester '07 in the anemic and obsolete .351 when you can get a Remington Model 8 (yeah, 8 is really better than 7) in .35 Remington! Now that's a real 35!
351 WINCHESTER
Member
Just a little. I had a rem 81 in .300 and it looked brand new. It was a jam o matic and kicked like a mule. I've shot my share of game with the .351 and believe me it's just fine under 100 yds. or so. As a matter of fact it bloodies more meat on a deer than my .30-30 or .243. The only fault I can find with the 07's is they are on the sloppy side and they aren't very accurate, but they do go bang everytime you pull the trigger and I've never had nor have I heard about 1 jamming. Their magazines are absolutely the finest I have ever seen on any gun.
I was talking to a guy in our local gunshop and he knew of an older gentlemen that took his fair share of moose with his .351. Apparentely he didn't know it was underpowered. We tested one of my 07's in ballistic gel. Go to www.brassfetcher.com for the results under his old website. Not too bad for an old girl. I like my guns made from steel and wood.
Ammo is a problem and it throws the brass into the next county but you can still get brass and bullets and can use .357 dies to reload it. Cabellas has a delux 07 and they are asking over $6K which is quite excessive.
The 07 was used by our troops during the Mexican campaign, by the Brits. in WWI, by the French, Russians and Serbs too. They loved them. There is actually quite a bit of history behind the 07 and it's probably well deserved.
Law enforcement loved them too. I know the Border Patrol still had some back in the 70's and were used in the D.C. riots of the 60's by the feds. Heck the FBI liked em so much they have a bullet on display that killed a bad guy who was wearing a bullet proof vest.
I may be a little biased.
I was talking to a guy in our local gunshop and he knew of an older gentlemen that took his fair share of moose with his .351. Apparentely he didn't know it was underpowered. We tested one of my 07's in ballistic gel. Go to www.brassfetcher.com for the results under his old website. Not too bad for an old girl. I like my guns made from steel and wood.
Ammo is a problem and it throws the brass into the next county but you can still get brass and bullets and can use .357 dies to reload it. Cabellas has a delux 07 and they are asking over $6K which is quite excessive.
The 07 was used by our troops during the Mexican campaign, by the Brits. in WWI, by the French, Russians and Serbs too. They loved them. There is actually quite a bit of history behind the 07 and it's probably well deserved.
Law enforcement loved them too. I know the Border Patrol still had some back in the 70's and were used in the D.C. riots of the 60's by the feds. Heck the FBI liked em so much they have a bullet on display that killed a bad guy who was wearing a bullet proof vest.
I may be a little biased.
I was working in Arlington for a gov't agency in the 60's when things started to look bad. I saw one of our GSA guards with an armload of 1907's. I offered to buy them, but got a dirty look. I doubt they were ever fired and probably were scrapped.
The remark about the wood is true; for the .351 and .401 they had to make the foreend weight so big and heavy that the wood is paper thin and cracks easily.
FWIW, the .30 Carbine cartridge is almost a copy of the .32 WSL; in fact the earliest carbine ammo was marked using the .32 WSL bunter and is a collector's item. The main difference is that the .32 WSL is semi-rimmed while the carbine round is supported on the case mouth.
Jim
The remark about the wood is true; for the .351 and .401 they had to make the foreend weight so big and heavy that the wood is paper thin and cracks easily.
FWIW, the .30 Carbine cartridge is almost a copy of the .32 WSL; in fact the earliest carbine ammo was marked using the .32 WSL bunter and is a collector's item. The main difference is that the .32 WSL is semi-rimmed while the carbine round is supported on the case mouth.
Jim
greyling22
Member
another idea for a 357 maxi? my first thoughis to ream out a marlin 1894 to take the cartridge, but them I came across this in about .07 seconds of google search http://www.thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=234613
basically it says don't bother in a lever gun. I know it is a popular mod for the NEF handi-rifle crowd.
basically it says don't bother in a lever gun. I know it is a popular mod for the NEF handi-rifle crowd.
I recently found a Universal Ferret .256 Win Mag M1 in my attic. It seems to be very hard to find .256WM so I was wondering how difficult it would be to convert this gun to fire something more common. It seems like it could be a fun little target/varmint rifle but only if ammo for it were cheap and readily available.
I don't know a whole lot about firearms, never done any modifications on one. I've never fired this Universal so I don't know much of anything about the .256 round, and don't even have one to look at. Would it be worth the effort to maybe convert the gun to shoot something like .223 or am I even close to something reasonable? I think the gun has been in the family for a good while and wouldn't mind keeping it around, especially as a working and fun to shoot firearm. I don't really have any rifle that is good for target shooting and have been looking for something to fill that role(AR-15s and the like) but really don't have the money to shell out for a gun just for this purpose.
I have a Remington M700BDL that my grandfather had since probably mid-70's that was in good condition. I pulled the original wood stock(was in great condition) and found what I think is a synthetic stock from a SPS model. Put a Nikon Prostaff 3-9x40 BDC scope, Harris Bipod on. I removed some surface rust from it with micromesh and tried some blue oil. It's a very good gun, lightweight, accurate(can shoot 100,200,300,400 and 500m with the BDC reticle reliably) but it kicks like a MULE! I also have my best results shooting Hornady 130gr SST which is far from cheap enough to do target shooting with. It's my deer/hog/whatever rifle.
I also have a Ruger .22 and my Springfield XD-45 5" which are suitable for target shooting I guess, but the .22 doesn't have great range and .45ACP is simply too scarce and/or expensive right now. My dad has a pair of Enfield 30-06 rifles, one being his main hunting rifle and the other being basically a sister gun to it. So basically that's all I've got to shoot when I spend a day at the range.
Either ammo is too expensive, or the gun is not something that can be shot enjoyably. I had the opportunity to shoot a friend's Colt AR-15 and really enjoyed the .223 round a lot, I could see that being a fun round to play with at the range and shoot rabbits with. It really didn't seem to have much recoil, something I'm looking for! Would the .256 be similar in performance to the .223?
Any advice on what I could do with this gun would be greatly appreciated.
I don't know a whole lot about firearms, never done any modifications on one. I've never fired this Universal so I don't know much of anything about the .256 round, and don't even have one to look at. Would it be worth the effort to maybe convert the gun to shoot something like .223 or am I even close to something reasonable? I think the gun has been in the family for a good while and wouldn't mind keeping it around, especially as a working and fun to shoot firearm. I don't really have any rifle that is good for target shooting and have been looking for something to fill that role(AR-15s and the like) but really don't have the money to shell out for a gun just for this purpose.
I have a Remington M700BDL that my grandfather had since probably mid-70's that was in good condition. I pulled the original wood stock(was in great condition) and found what I think is a synthetic stock from a SPS model. Put a Nikon Prostaff 3-9x40 BDC scope, Harris Bipod on. I removed some surface rust from it with micromesh and tried some blue oil. It's a very good gun, lightweight, accurate(can shoot 100,200,300,400 and 500m with the BDC reticle reliably) but it kicks like a MULE! I also have my best results shooting Hornady 130gr SST which is far from cheap enough to do target shooting with. It's my deer/hog/whatever rifle.
I also have a Ruger .22 and my Springfield XD-45 5" which are suitable for target shooting I guess, but the .22 doesn't have great range and .45ACP is simply too scarce and/or expensive right now. My dad has a pair of Enfield 30-06 rifles, one being his main hunting rifle and the other being basically a sister gun to it. So basically that's all I've got to shoot when I spend a day at the range.
Either ammo is too expensive, or the gun is not something that can be shot enjoyably. I had the opportunity to shoot a friend's Colt AR-15 and really enjoyed the .223 round a lot, I could see that being a fun round to play with at the range and shoot rabbits with. It really didn't seem to have much recoil, something I'm looking for! Would the .256 be similar in performance to the .223?
Any advice on what I could do with this gun would be greatly appreciated.
rcmodel
Member in memoriam
There is no possible way to convert your gun to .223.
The action is too short, not strong enough, and a multitude of other reasons.
The .256 Win Mag was simply a .357 Magnum revolver cartridge necked down to .257 caliber. You are limited to cartridges of similar length and pressure.
Winchester has discontued the caliber and no longer offers ammo or brass. The only way to get it is make it yourself out of .357 MAgnum brass.
Perhaps if you are unable to reload for it, trading it for a more common caliber might be the smartest move.
Or have the barrel & bolt replaced and make it a .30 Carbine again.
rc
The action is too short, not strong enough, and a multitude of other reasons.
The .256 Win Mag was simply a .357 Magnum revolver cartridge necked down to .257 caliber. You are limited to cartridges of similar length and pressure.
Winchester has discontued the caliber and no longer offers ammo or brass. The only way to get it is make it yourself out of .357 MAgnum brass.
Perhaps if you are unable to reload for it, trading it for a more common caliber might be the smartest move.
Or have the barrel & bolt replaced and make it a .30 Carbine again.
rc
Hebrew Battle Rifle
Member
- Joined
- Jun 17, 2008
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Have you considered converting it to shoot 7.62X25 TOK?
Sunray
Member
The .351 Winchester is too long too. 1.900" OAL. Almost impossible to get .351" jacketed bullets too. Not that I disagree with you. Always wondered why the .351 or .401 wasn't used.
texasborn902
Member
Sunray, et.al,
i can answer your questions:
1. Huntington has both the bullets in JSP for the .401WSL (200 grain) & for the .351WSL (180grain) in stock
(they aren't cheap, but what is these days?)
and
2. Winchester offered the .351WSL design/copyright to the military (for free), according to the USAQM Museum at Ft Lee. the army wanted a .30 cal, so they used a version of the .32WSL = BIG mistake, imVho.
yours, texasborn902
i can answer your questions:
1. Huntington has both the bullets in JSP for the .401WSL (200 grain) & for the .351WSL (180grain) in stock
(they aren't cheap, but what is these days?)
and
2. Winchester offered the .351WSL design/copyright to the military (for free), according to the USAQM Museum at Ft Lee. the army wanted a .30 cal, so they used a version of the .32WSL = BIG mistake, imVho.
yours, texasborn902
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