Rebore .351 to .357

[rcathey]

A couple fellow gun guys from work live out in the country. I’ll have to see if they have a place I can do this. Maybe this weekend so I can get moving on the next steps.

[Sunray]

.38 Super uses a .355" bullet. The .351 is not. It's a .352".
Then you get to convert from rimless to rimmed.
Graf's wants $42.99 per 20 for Bertram .351 SL brass.

[rcathey]

.38 Super uses a .355" bullet. The .351 is not. It's a .352".
Then you get to convert from rimless to rimmed.
Graf's wants $42.99 per 20 for Bertram .351 SL brass.

1. Thank you. This has been discussed previously in the thread.
2. In fact, that's incorrect. One could say that 38 Super is less rimmed than .351 Winchester. See the attached images.
3. As discussed previously in the thread, I want nothing to do with reloading.

[browningautorifle]

I think the 38 super will function it just fine. The slight swage we have happening will help function...

[Lee Enfield]

Hey all,

I have a “money pit” project in mind and was curious if anyone has any experience with reboring.
The tricky part of this project is the small amount I need cut away.

One site I found said they needed to cut a minimum of .030” away to get a clean cut. Perhaps that was just with their tooling though.

So is boring out a .351 bore to .357, cleanly, possible?

A Winchester 1907 in 38 Super would be pretty cool! But yes, an expensive project

I believe that groove depth is 356-358 already.

I know a number of people who rechambered Win .351 to .357 magnum.
I believe it's a simple rechambering job followed by some feeding cleanup.

http://vintagesemiautorifle.proboards.com/thread/645/ammo-351-win

[browningautorifle]

Quite a bit there on this one...here's the guys that say they have the ammo on hand... http://www.loadxammo.com/

Here's the link live... http://vintagesemiautorifle.proboard...5/ammo-351-win

[rcathey]

Alright folks, here's the results!

It fires just fine but it does not cycle the action. Most of the time I'd get stovepipes but if it was ever able to get a casing out of the action, the bolt did not go back far enough to pick up the second round.
All of this was expected and fixable with reducing the weight of the bolt.
So far, so good!

I have attached some pictures of the casings. I was concerned I'd see some pressure signs due to the bullet being a slightly larger diameter but I'm not seeing anything that concerns me greatly.



I do see some ringing of the cases about a quarter inch up from the head. I'm not concerned about this since I won't be reloading anyway but it was unexpected.

Diameter wise, the 38 Super is larger than the .351 Winchester. I wouldn't have expected there to be room for this to happen.

I have purchased a 15 round 1911 38 Super magazine for the next steps. Total project cost = $185 so far.

Any thoughts/comments?

[Doco overboard]

Primers still look inwards from the firing pin indent instead of being flattened back against the bolt face. Not sure if that is good , bad or non relevant for what your working on.

[browningautorifle]

The primers look to me to be about right considering the bolt face, look at it you'll see. It's likely not beautiful itself. If they were FLAT, it would be because of high pressures.

The swelling isn't a problem, look at your .45 cases sometime... As for case shape, it's still different from the .351 by just a bit.

Won't cycle because of bolt weight...yes...needs large transverse holes in the slide up front. Mine ejected 9mm completely. Also if you can polish the chamber a bit with fine machine paper and oil you'll be gold. There's a bit of roughness on the cases...I think.

You'll want that mag fixed forward so the cases are controlled into the feed...

[rcathey]

You'll want that mag fixed forward so the cases are controlled into the feed...

My plan as of now is to take just the top off of the current (aftermarket) magazine and fit it onto the top of the 1911 magazine. Basically I’d be using the width and the magazine latch as a fixture for holding the new magazine.

I’ll be working on the bolt weight first though.