GUNS Magazine January 1956

.* .
THE TWO~JN'MAN COMES BACK
. ,. - >--.
(Continued from page 39j
greater killing power than ballistic tables
indicate. It is a wicked killer at more than
100 yards.
I don't want to go on record as claiming
-
powder, the Magnum case is almost filled,
giving excellent loading density a d performance
that is as good as some rifles-so
why not use it in rifles? The -3.57 Magnm
cartridge could begin commercial revival of
the old time combination outfit, teamed up
with a rifle like an improved Model 1892
Winchester carbine.
Modern Magnum fodder is a pretty stiff
load-the listed velocity in a 8%'' barrel is
1450 f.p.s. Our test of one lot of Western
Super-X indicates the actual instrumental
figure at 1350 f.p.s., while another lot in a
3%" barrel recorded only 1175 f.p.s. Remington
ammo in a slightly shorter case registered
only 1050 f.p.s., which is still a good
heavy load in the short barrel gun. All makes
now use small pistol primers that are hotter
and give better ignition than they did 20
years ago. Now Western cartridges are
loaded with their new ball powder, which,
like the old 2400 type, seems to he efficient
in either revolver or rifle.
In a short, lightweight carbine the -357
cartridge is one of the best for inexpensive
plinking or moderate range hunting. Accuracy
is "built in" while 2400 powder
comes into its own in the long barrels. Most
of the strong European or other single shots
like the Hi-Wall or light Martini rifles can be
113 the pressure of the -3.57 original, but the
old guns had quite a margin of safety. The
guns we converted, and others, have been
proofed with excessive loads, and fired hundreds
of rounds of commercial and heavy
handloads with no sign of strain. All '92 barrels
were made of soft steel and the old guns
are as good as the new ones with serial numbers
around 1,000,000. It is important for
safety that actions should be tight and in
good condition. Worn parts must be replaced.
The action alteration is not a job
for "hobby gunsmiths.'' It should be attempted
only by a competent mechanic familiar
with the problems involved. Even
skilled workers will find some problems can
only be solved by experience with several
actions.
Several shops will do the conversion work.
Ward 0. Koozer of Douglas, Arizona, is a
careful workman and has done exceptionally
nice work for us. He guarantees his work
and the last report we had, he did the complete
job for $35 on guns in good condition.
The '92 actions were designed for bottle
neck cartridges. In order to make straight
revolver cases feed properly, the cartridge
guides must he built up, and the sides of the
bolt must be milled to clear the guides. The
magazine port in the receiver must be enthat
the .357 Magnum revolver cartridge is
the "ideal" big game caliber, but I have
taken deer with the revolver without difficulty
and the carbine with the longer barrel
has considerably more punch. Heavy handloads
with hollow point bullets will explode
small varmints, with more destruction of tissue
than more powerful rifle cartridges that
use jacketed soft point bullets. All the bullets
and loads I have tried gave good hunting
accuracy, with groups as small as 2 inches
and an average of about 3 inches at 100
yards.
One of the main variables in handloading
this -3.57 stuff for both pistol and rifle is the
bullet design. Hollow points used in handloads
include the Sharpe, Keith, Harvey
Protoxbore, Thompson Gas Check, and a
bullet of my own design with a very large
hollowpoint.
Sort of a take-off on the popular idea of a
"dum dum" bullet, I had Hensley & Gibhs
make a cruciform nose punch to fit my bullet
sizer. When I size cast hullets they automatically
have a cross cut about .025" deep
on the nose. This increased the expansion of
plain hollow point bullets at low velocity in
revolver loads.
In developing new loads to work okay in
the revolver, and ~erform well in the carhine,
rebored and chambered for Magnum car- larged, as well as the bolt face, to accept the
tridges. Some actions have a long, slow hammer
fall that is not desirable, hut can be
improved by a good gunsmith. Practically
larger case heads. The firing pin hole is
bushed. The barrel is rebored, reamed, rifled
and chambered. Koozer has a s~ecial method
all have an oversize firing pin hole for low of adjustinq head space. In addition to the
pressure loads and of course it must be usual conversion work, the gunsmith may
bushed. The firing pin must be fitted to hit have to "fiddle" with each individual rifle to
the primer dead center and prevent erratic
ignition with modem primers. This detail is
insure perfect feeding. Straight cases simply
do not chamber as easily as the bottle-neck
necessary if good results are to be obtained variety.
from the inherently accurate .357 "light rifle" Almost any rifling twist can be ordered in
loads.
the rehored harrel, but one turn in 18 inches
The handiest, most useful arm for rework- is about right for most factorv ammunition
ing to be a comuanion rifle to the Smith & or reloads. The commercial Magnum car-
Wesson, Colt, Ru~er or Great Weqtern .357 tridge in a 20" barrel gives an instrumental
revolvers is the little Model 92 Winchester velocity of 1670 f.p.s. with 977 foot pounds of
b
c;
:-N
5'
carbine in 25/20 or 32/20 caliber. Of course,
other light "semi-obsolete" rifles such as the
BSA Martini "cadet rifle" can be successfully
reworked if in a caliber smaller than
energy. The 20" barrel burns 24QO powder to
perfection.
Reloaders will find the -38 Special chamher
and case is fully as efficient as the comthe
357, but the Winchester has the ad- mercial Mamum load, as bullets can be
vantage of being a repeater, instead of just seated out. With Magnum cases for revolver
a ~ingle shot.
use. bullets must be seated deep. or the car-
The 92's were discontinued in 1937, but tridge will he longer than the cylinder. Exgood
used ones may be bought from as low
as $20 up to $50 or so. component parts are
available. as thousands of the Model 92 were
tremely hot loads can he made especially for
the Maenum carbine, hv seatinq the bullets
out. Such cartridges will not be accidentally
made, and many are still in use. The carhine used in the revolver h~cau~e of their greater
has a 20" barrel. while rifles have a 24" length. Flat no-e bullets should be used in
round or octagon harrel. The carhine has the all tube ma~azineq.
desirable solid frame, weighs 5% pounds, Pointed or met31 uenetratinq bullets might
and holds 12 rounds in the magazine, ~1us exulode a cartrid~e in the magazine tnhe
one in the chamber. Rifles in either solid when the arm is fired. Thev are ~erfectlv
frame or takedown models weigh seven safe if loaded directlv into the chamber. or
pounds, and barrels are longer and heavier with one in the chamber and onlv one in the
than necessary, which causes a less perfect magazine. We have used factory round nose
balance. The carbine makes the neatest gun. 38 Special lead bullets without trouble, and
Accuracy is fully as good as in the rifle with the recoil with this ammunition is verv mild.
the several we have tried.
It has a sliehtly different center of imnact
Winchester advises against converting 92's. than -357 loads. hut it is dandy for plinking
No gun maker will assume any responsibilitv or short range hunting.
for accidents with altered guns. or with Most gun experts would not rate the conhandloaded
ammunition. The black-powder
32/20 and 25/20 calibers developed ahout
version as powerful enough for deer. but we
.have proved that the lead bullets have far
I expect to get still higher velocity and better
killing power with a new bullet not yet on
the market. Named the "Harvey Jugular
Xpress," it uses a jacket to cover the bearing
surface to prevent stripping or leadin?, and a
soft lead hollow mint nose. Lakeville Arms
Co., Lakeville, Conn.. the makers, sent me
five test bullets which were loaded with 17
grains of 2400 and fired in the carbine. There
was no sign of high pressure. Lakeville also
makes the "Protoxbore," a soft lead bullet
with a zinc gas check washer base. It is shot
dry, without lubricant, and has better killing
Dower than any factory bullet I have tried.
It did give some leading in the carbine at
maximum velocity, and this could prnbablv
be avoided hv reducing the velocity sliqhtly
or nutting a little lubricant on the base.
On all other bullets a graphite tme lubri-
cant is recommended for high sueed. Don't
mix extra-larre cross cut hollowpoints in
with yoilr rifle loadings, the huce hollow-
point will sometimes onen UD in flight from
air nressure alone and fly wild on the target.
Not everyone wants to run right out and
buy an expensive .357 revolver, even if the
idea of cutting out a carbine seems reason.
able. Two choices are left: cut the carbine 4
to .357 and carry extra .38 Specials for your
revolver, or make both guns use the -38
Suecial. In the carbine barrel. the .38
Special is a potent load and you will be sur-
prised at the powerful nerformance of the
relatively mild commercial revolver cartridge
when fired in the carhine. The easy-to-handle
'92 is fine for aerial targets such as clav
hirds or tin cans. On sauirrels and small
game, the big bullets are far superior to .22s.
Winchester's old lever action rifles were
not designed with scope mounting in mind,
and the stock comb is entirely too low for
conventional side mounts. I've solved this by
putting the mount on the right side, the
reverse of the usual instructions. Because of