Custom making a rifle in .38 S&W

[H. K. Uriah, SASS #74619]

 

A question for the gunsmiths here.

How much trouble would it take to create a Main Match rifle in .38 S&W?

Which rifle would be the easiest to do it for?   73, 92 or Lightning?  I'd guess the 73 would take the lease amount of action work, you could probably use that carrier that lets you run .38 Short Colt, and the other two might need a lot more work to make it function with such a short cartridge.   I'd assume that some work to the bolt face might also be needed.

But the biggest question would, I think, be the barrel.   The needed .360 bore just doesn't exist on any rifles I know of.  So I assume it would need an all new barrel that would have to be drilled out for the purpose.

I doubt very much that any of the makers of rifles for our game would ever create one in this caliber, so I am just wondering if it's even possible to have one custom made/modified.

Yeah, anything can be done with enough money, and if it's prohibitively expensive, never mind, but I just don't know if it would be.
 

[watab kid]

it sounds like a labor of love , as i think it would be way more trouble than its worth , why might i ask - would you want that ? i know of no main match revolvers chambered for the 38S&W , 

[Rip Snorter]

Don't know about this one, there are probably more practical options if you are looking for a particular kind of performance.  I have had two rifles made in unique rifle calibers and bought two that others had made.  I don't use them often, and do load for them, they are good fun.  Not an inexpensive or usually fast process .  I had thought you might find a proper liner at Brownells. but apparently bygone days.  Good luck!

[Abilene Slim SASS 81783]

What’s the motivation? I’m not aware of any long gun chambered in that cartridge. There’s a reason it fell out of favor for pistols and never made the jump to rifles. Sounds like a lot of $$$ for a frankengun. JMHO. 

[Reverend P. Babcock Chase]

howdy H.K.

 

I'm not going to ask why you want to do this. If you want it, that's good enough. Now, from what folks here are saying, It sounds like it might be a bit pricey. So, no half measures. Get someone to make you a Volcanic repro for the .38 S&W. It might put you in the poorhouse but it would top the charts in style points. I want the second one.

 

Rev. Chase

[Sedalia Dave]

A 38 special Marlin would be the easiest action to make work..  You would have to do the Widder mod to the carrier so that it would feed the short cases.

 

As for the barrel, the easiest is to have it rebored. Trick will be finding someone that has the tools to do that caliber. 

 

 

Would be an awfully expensive white elephant.

[Abilene, SASS # 27489]

37 minutes ago, Reverend P. Babcock Chase said:

...I'm not going to ask why you want to do this....

You forget you are talking to H.K. Uriah. 

[Dilli GaHoot Galoot]

I see no reason not to do this if you can afford it and it makes you happy 

[Rooster Ron Wayne]

That will get fun when Spotters are trying to dance around that brass and not squash it lol 

 

[Widder, SASS #59054]

11 hours ago, Sedalia Dave said:

A 38 special Marlin would be the easiest action to make work..  You would have to do the Widder mod to the carrier so that it would feed the short cases.

 

As for the barrel, the easiest is to have it rebored. Trick will be finding someone that has the tools to do that caliber. 

 

 

Would be an awfully expensive white elephant.

 

The Marlin 1894 might be a reasonable choice to also consider and here are my initial thoughts on it.

 

You WON'T need to do any mods to the bolt or bolt face that I'm aware of.

The CARRIER should be modified for proper positioning of the shorter cartridge AND..... the timing should be advanced

a few .000's on the timing ramp to prevent the 'Marlin Jam'.

 

Either a new barrel with correct chamber size and bore will be needed, OR... a competent smith SHORTEN and OPEN UP

the chamber and barrel to proper dimensions.   The Case body size is slightly bigger than the .38 Special brass.

 

The EJECTOR would need to be moved forward..... or atleast I would highly advise it.

 

NOW for the meat of my thinking:  If you proceed with this project, you might want to talk with Cowboy Carty and get

him to set you up with a short stroked 1894 to complete this job.   Or maybe, have him build it for you.   He's good with

short strokes and he understands the timing issues you will encounter going to such a short cartridge in the 1894.

More than that, he might also know of some things that would prevent it becoming a reality.

 

BUT...in my opinion, the modification might be possible and work well in the 1894, with or without a short stroke mod.

 

A few years back, I modified an 1894 Marlin for Randy St. Eagle to feed the .357, .38 Special and .38 Long in the same

rifle with good results.   But I really don't know if he used it enough to know if it was a good mod or not.

 

Good Luck.

 

P.S. - I would love to hear some Pro's and Cons from LongHunter.  He's got as much experience with the 1894's as

anyone.

 

..........Widder

 

[Lucky R. K.]

Check out Rice Barrel Company in North Carolina. They are noted for muzzleloading barrels, but they should be able to cut a barrel to your specifications. You might also check out Green Mountain barrels.

Lucky 

 

[Bailey Creek,5759]

If you want it done, do it.

[H. K. Uriah, SASS #74619]

15 hours ago, watab kid said:

it sounds like a labor of love , as i think it would be way more trouble than its worth , why might i ask - would you want that ? i know of no main match revolvers chambered for the 38S&W , 

 

Why? 

 

Because I really, REALLY like the caliber.   At the moment, I do have 1 main match pistol chambered for it, a S&W New Model 3.  Colt also chambered the SAA and Bisley in the caliber back in the day, but in very limited numbers, making them uber expensive.

 

Having a rifle in the caliber would just be really nifty.

[H. K. Uriah, SASS #74619]

13 hours ago, Reverend P. Babcock Chase said:

howdy H.K.

 

I'm not going to ask why you want to do this. If you want it, that's good enough. Now, from what folks here are saying, It sounds like it might be a bit pricey. So, no half measures. Get someone to make you a Volcanic repro for the .38 S&W. It might put you in the poorhouse but it would top the charts in style points. I want the second one.

 

Rev. Chase

 

Well, that's a dream too.  That someone would do this, in that caliber for both the rifle and pistol versions of the Volcanic. 

 

[watab kid]

8 hours ago, H. K. Uriah, SASS #74619 said:

 

Why? 

 

Because I really, REALLY like the caliber.   At the moment, I do have 1 main match pistol chambered for it, a S&W New Model 3.  Colt also chambered the SAA and Bisley in the caliber back in the day, but in very limited numbers, making them uber expensive.

 

Having a rifle in the caliber would just be really nifty.

i did not know of those - ive learned my new thing for today , i cant disagree with either the premise nor the desire under that info , having a full set of guns would be my goal if i would contemplate that effort - i do shoot it in my webleys so i understand your interest but i think we are in the minority here , might have to be one of those custom things we sometimes do "JUST BECAUSE" ?

[H. K. Uriah, SASS #74619]

49 minutes ago, watab kid said:

might have to be one of those custom things we sometimes do "JUST BECAUSE" ?

 

You do know about my "Big Iron," right?

[Duffield, SASS #23454]

If you use 9mm Luger dies you can reload with 357 bullets and use the factory barrel. Mark it "9 mm Rimmed" so that someone doesn't  try resizing .360 bullets by firing them in it, that would cause a pressure spike! The .357 bullets will  work OK in your other guns for our game.

[H. K. Uriah, SASS #74619]

5 hours ago, Duffield, SASS #23454 said:

If you use 9mm Luger dies you can reload with 357 bullets and use the factory barrel. Mark it "9 mm Rimmed" so that someone doesn't  try resizing .360 bullets by firing them in it, that would cause a pressure spike! The .357 bullets will  work OK in your other guns for our game.

 

Well, if we're gonna go this way, I could just go with .38 Short Colt.  No mods needed except getting it to work with the short cartridge.

[watab kid]

On 2/24/2024 at 8:08 PM, H. K. Uriah, SASS #74619 said:

 

You do know about my "Big Iron," right?

i remember that , yes , i understand the need , i had an M1903 and a M1903A3 thati wanted converted to 22cal , the 03A3 was easy as i found one of the conversion units made to do that but the 03 i decided to custom convert with my own unit ...it turned out perfect but took my two years to complete , i GET IT < 

[DeaconKC]

What about using .38 Super brass as your basis? Semi-rimmed, so it might be legal.

[watab kid]

somehow i dont think 38 super would fall in the league category cut down or not , i could well be wrong as i have been before but i don't think so