I got a fever...and the only cure is a new rifle!

[Ian]

Only problem is what I want has to be made. Help me out here.

I want a lever or pump action repeater.
.30 Badger.
Short, 16.5" barrel.
Suppressible.
Lightweight.
Blued steel/wood, nothing plastic or aluminum.
Receiver-mounted aperture sight (Williams or Skinner)
8-10 cartridge capacity.
Since I'll have to rebarrel and chamber it myself and thread he muzzle, I don't mind a beater project.

Being a Marlin fan the obvious starting point would be an 1894. Being a Henry rifle fan as well, the BB 357 might also appear a good choice but the magazine tube interferes with the suppressor. I might want to hot-rod it a little so I think toggle-link systems are out.

What would you do?

 

[Will]

Would a 336 action be too large? I think my 336’s are much smoother than my 1894’s.

You can usually pick up a 336 pretty cheap. Especially if you look for a Glenfield.

 

[popper]

I thought of cutting a 30/30 case to 1 3/8 with shoulder at 1", necked to 357. 357 barrel with short 30/30 chamber cut. Same H2O cap ( like 32/20.) Guess you'd have to go Henry 357 with 30/30 bolt? Else you find a Marlin 357 (not cheap) and Marlin 30/30 barrel (357 bolt is different than 336)? Obvious choice would be 30/30 with shorten'd chamber & change carrier. Could be anything from bunny gun to hogs. Without tools or funds I decided to make the BO pistol suffice.

 

[JWFilips]

Ian are you sure it is not Covid -19

 

[waco]

This 30 Badger is just a .38spl case necked down to 30cal right?

 

[358156 hp]

This 30 Badger is just a .38spl case necked down to 30cal right?

Yes. The version on a 357 mag case is called the 30 Paxton or 30-357 Paxton. A friend has one built on a rechambered 30 carbine Blackhawk. Another friend wanted to build one too so we started tearing gun shows apart looking for a donor 30 carbine BH. I finally found one, an original unconverted three screw with about 95% bluing. By friend bought it, but we won't cut up an all original 3 screw, regardless of caliber. So 30 carbine is pretty cool too. The hunt for a 30 carbine we won't mind cutting up will continue when the gun shows restart.

 

[Ian]

Ian are you sure it is not Covid -19

Maybe, I did pay $40/lb for powder a couple days ago.

The .30 Badger is Edd Badgely's brainchild as far as I remember, a bunch of people got on the bandwagon and wrung it out pretty well to prove it is not only a practical but a very useful, versatile, and trouble-free wildcat. It uses .38 Special brass, 7.62 Tokarev loading dies, and a .38/.357 shellholder. Basically a modern .32-20 with plenty of room to grow power-wise in a strong action. The reamer has been standardized by Dave Manson. (I'll have to double-check my facts but I think that's it). I've always wanted one but short of being able to make it on a medium-frame Remington rolling block or Browning/Winchester 1886 low wall pattern I would want a repeater that's light, short, quiet, classy, and deadly enough for anything that needs killing on the ranchette...mainly rocks, cans, golf balls, tree knots, and the occasional varmint.

I've been shopping Marlin 1894s and about died of sticker shock. Turns out I have about $4,000 worth of JM Marlin 336s and 20 years ago I could buy a good used one for $250. Was at my LGS and the cheapest centerfire Remlin they had was over $800 and that was about 10% below MSRP!!! Tough to buy a new one at that price and then go ripping the barrel off. The used JM 1894s are going for more than that on-line. Got two more gun stores locally to check out for used stuff but they are both notorious for very high prices. I bought my Henry BB from one of them and got a good price but only after I told the salesman that if he didn't give me Cabela's price on it I was walking out, getting in my truck, and driving two hours to Buda.

John Browning was one of the greatest firearms geniuses who ever lived, but the one design of his that I just can't warm up to is his lever-action design. If a '92 Winchester fell in my lap I'd go with it but that's probably not gonna happen. A Colt Lightning clone would be cool and they're super-easy to rebarrel, but talk about sticker shock....yeeeesh. What I need is a rusty boat gun to fall in my lap.

 

[Ian]

Yes. The version on a 357 mag case is called the 30 Paxton or 30-357 Paxton. A friend has one built on a rechambered 30 carbine Blackhawk. Another friend wanted to build one too so we started tearing gun shows apart looking for a donor 30 carbine BH. I finally found one, an original unconverted three screw with about 95% bluing. By friend bought it, but we won't cut up an all original 3 screw, regardless of caliber. So 30 carbine is pretty cool too. The hunt for a 30 carbine we won't mind cutting up will continue when the gun shows restart.

I hadn't thought of that.

 

[RicinYakima]

Ian, Consider a Remington 580 series 22 LR converted to 7.65 by 25. This conversion has been done for years, but limited to about 36,000 psi.

 

[fiver]

talk Ben out of his cowboy limited in 38 special..

I'd go order one of the few 357 model 92's being imported right now from Brazil and re-work it with a green mountain [they make octagon barrels] or Bergara 30 cal. blank.

 

[Ian]

Ric, neat idea but I'm a southpaw and this is a bumming in the woods/ranch chores rifle. I really don't like bolt-action rifles that much, not even ones with the bolts on the "correct" side.

I wonder how difficult it would be to engineer a loading gate for a BB 357. No, seriously, I'm considering it at this point. Maybe I could work out the engineering to a production level and convince Mr. Imperato to make me SN 00001 as a gift....goodness knows such a model would sell like hotcakes. Probably a better chance of that than talking Ben out of his CS!

Where are you seeing the Brazilian '92s right now?

 

[Brad]

What would I do? Reach in the safe and grab my Marlin 1894 in 32-20 and call it good.

 

[462]

A left-sided loaded gate would make it much easier for a right-handed bench shooter to load.

Ah, ha, loading gates on both sides of the receiver. Problem solved.

 

[RicinYakima]

Like Colt Single Action Army's, Mason was a lefty and everything is made for a left handed person. Think about it! Everything can be done with your left hand in firing position.

 

[Ian]

Sam Colt was indeed left-handed, though he was dead before 1873. The capping cutout in the recoil shield of all of his percussion revolvers was on the right side so we can assume it was the obvious place for him and every one out of seven of his customers.

I just found some plans for a falling block rifle action fhat I think I can build without a mill....

 

[RicinYakima]

I have DeHass books if you need them.

 

[Spindrift]

Have you considered the Henry big boy carabine in .327 fed mag? The magazine tube om the carabine version is short enough to accomodate a suppressor. 7 round capacity. I don't know how the ballistics compare to the Badger, but it should be in the same ballpark?

 

[fiver]

I just looked at a blued 357 at the C.A.L. ranch store down in Pokey.
for some reason they seem to have a pipeline of them.
the only 454 Casull and 480 Rugers I ever seen were at those stores too.
I talked myself out of both of those calibers by remembering I had a 45-70 and a 348 [at that time]
still wish I'd have got the 480.

you could probably make a 336 left handed.
but to do a model 92 you'd have to flip all of the lower internals, and the ejector would still flip cases onto your hat brim.

I know my 336 in 375 Winchester will feed and fire the 375 super-mag round just fine.
it's like .10 longer than a magnum length case.
you'd probably have to modify the 30-30 bolt to 357, and weld in a cartridge stop on the lifter.
other than having an overly long throw I see nothing else stopping a 336 from becoming a 38 or 357.


so what is it again the Badger does that the 300 B.O. don't with lighter bullets?

 

[popper]

plans for a falling block rifle action - interesting. One I saw was 3k$ and yr delivery. Cost of 357 marlin is what got me turned onto BO and then thinking a 30/30 with a chamber insert cut to make a 'shortie' 30/30 interested me. Barrel liners are 'glued' in so why not an insert with small 'woodriff' key to prevent turning? Probably have to rifle part of the insert but then you could get a decent throat too. Wonder what the threading is on AR barrels without the extension? BO barrel chambered in 30 badger? Xtreme will make what twist you desire. Hmm. Cut for extractor and rim? Change the cartridge stop on 30/30 marlin for shorter case? Dang, mind is spinning again. 40 yrs younger with some $ - what fun I could have.
Down here last time I went to a big gun store, racks of used 45/70 marlins.

 

[Ian]

I have two 336 30-30 and one wears a suppressor mount. 100 to 240 grain bullets loaded subsonic perform wonderfully with Titegroup powder, no need to alter anything at all with the rifle itself and no advantage to changing cartridges.

Why the .30 Badger? Because a lot more of them will fit in a tube magazine and that's important when chopping down the barrel and mag tube to minimum legal length to make room for a suppressor. The 1894s and 1892s are shorter and lighter than their rifle-cartridge counterparts and need no action mods to cycle the Badger.

I have two break-action .30-30s but am not going to modify either one of them due to collector value.

What would be the berries would be an 1899 Savage with modified lifter and magazine spool. A little tweak to the extractor claw would be all the flat bolt face would need to feed and extract the .38 rim. A featherweight take down version would be soooooo sweet, weigh nothing, and not be overly bulky with a 10" suppressor and 16" barrel.

I'm getting more and more serious consideration to an ultralight falling block carbine, with 14" barrel and pinned suppressor-mount brake, and 13-3/4" LOP, it could be made just over the legal minimum rifle OAL and be super-handy even as a single-shot.

Ric, I may just take you up on your generous offer if you can do without the books for a few months, but let me mull it over some more and make sure this what I want to do.