.348 Wildcats

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t.r.
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.348 Wildcats

Post by t.r. »

I know that a 30-30 or 32 Special levergun can be reamed to .358 to clean up corroded rifling. Then it's simply a matter of neck sizing the parent case to accept 35 caliber bullets. But I'm wondering if a 30-30 has ever been bored for .348 bullets. Seems like an easy way to shoot 250 grain bullets from a handy carbine such as the 336 Marlin.

I recently handled a Mosin Nagant that had been bored to accept 8mm bullets. The owner stated to me that it was quite accurate, indeed. But I'm wondering if the same rifle would do just as well bored to .348. Yes, I'm attracted to the notion of owning a wildcat rifle that shoots .348 bullets. An original Winchester 71 in .348 is too costly for me to consider.

Please share any comments or input. Thank you.

TR
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JimT
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Re: .348 Wildcats

Post by JimT »

I've not heard of it being done. That doesn't mean anything. There are a lot of things I have never heard of. Most wildcat calibers have a little more bullet weight options than the .348 does. It could be done. You possibly could have a one-of-a-kind!
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Re: .348 Wildcats

Post by Jay Bird »

In addition to Jims wisdom I'd like to add that it would probably be cheaper to buy a model 71 as my guess it that there are probably 2 gunsmiths in the country who have the tooling to rebore to 348....in other words you'd most likely have to pay to have the necessary tooling to be made......never heard of a 348 reline either.....

Unless your casting, bullets are another expensive proposition and the ones that are available are thick skinned.

That's why the 35 is a popular redo.......cheap...---6
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DocRock
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Re: .348 Wildcats

Post by DocRock »

The 348 Win has a significantly larger rim diameter than the 30-30 (.610 vs .506), is significantly longer (2.95 vs 2.55) and delivers considerably more bolt thrust than the 30-30. Even if you could bore out to 348, it would need a new mag tube, opening up the mag tube portal to the receiver, mods to the carrier, if you could even get it to feed the longer case, and widening the ejection port.

But you could just get a 444 Marlin and call it close enough for government work...
JFE
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Re: .348 Wildcats

Post by JFE »

Turnbull developed the 348 Turnbull which I believe is based on the 45/70 case. It was designed to fit Marlin 1895 rifles.

As an alternative to reboring, occasionally you come across 348 take-off barrels that could possibly be re-purposed. Something like the 338 RCM case could be necked up to 348 and might work in a 336. By the time you did all that though you could probably buy a Browning 71 and be done.

However if you have an itch for a wildcat life is too short not to have a crack.
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GunnyMack
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Re: .348 Wildcats

Post by GunnyMack »

I see no reason why a 30/30 case couldn't be blown out to create a new 348/30 . However if the donor barrel is too far gone you might not get the rebore to clean everything up, the extra material removed by going out to 358 could be reason enough most go that large. Don't forget you are only removing .050+/-" . Now if your heart is set on .348 I would suggest a new barrel BUT as the all knowing infamous Sixgun said bullet selection is not great !
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4t5
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Re: .348 Wildcats

Post by 4t5 »

Having JES ,ream the barrel to .348,
and LEE make a set of dies .348/30,
seems relatively simple, with no alteration to the chamber seems cheap enough, and kind of neat.
long enough case neck, can be trimmed to maintain C.O.L. if needed, I like the idea too.
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Bill in Oregon
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Re: .348 Wildcats

Post by Bill in Oregon »

Very cool wildcat idea. I enjoyed owning a 94 that had been rebored and chambered to .35-30 Ackley.
Leverluver
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Re: .348 Wildcats

Post by Leverluver »

I recall an article of a Siamese mauser (meant for rimmed) chambered for 348. They were often rebarreled for 45-70 so a 348 seems possible if not practical. Of course that is going to be a whole new barrel and not a ream job.
Yodar
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Re: .348 Wildcats

Post by Yodar »

What is wrong with a regular .348 WCF? I think a lot of us gun guys just like wildcatting as a form of entertainment. What will a wildcatted .348 kill that a .348 WCF won't?

Ruger will scream but I had one of their single shot Number Ones re-barreled to .348 WCF. The extractor was replaced with one of a .45/70 and few thousandths was machined off the top of the breech block so as to not interfere with the ejected cartridge case. Topped with a quality low powered scope, it shoots nice groups with the proper handloads and is handy to carry. Of course, one is limited to one round at a time but that should not be a problem for an experienced and well practiced rifleman. I have been shooting it for 20 years with no problems.
t.r.
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Re: .348 Wildcats

Post by t.r. »

I am convinced that a .348 Wildcat is too limited by bullet selection to be much fun.
- a Marlin 336 in 35 Remington can be purchased for a fair price and with good selection of bullets for reloading.
- my Mosin Nagant can be re-bored to .358 or 9.3mm to clean up the rifling; cases can be formed without much fuss.

Thanks for all the input!

TR
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yooper2
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Re: .348 Wildcats

Post by yooper2 »

I handled a 348/444 encore barrel, guy made it up as a test bed before making a Marlin levergun for the cartridge. No clue who made it or if he went through with the marlin plan.
For me the allure of the .348" caliber is the 348 WCF and Model 71. Nothing a 348/30-30 could do that the available 35/30 can't along with better availability of cast or jacketed bullets.

Eric
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fordwannabe
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Re: .348 Wildcats

Post by fordwannabe »

TR Inhave the 35/30-30(as marked on the barrel) I experimented with bullets of 180, 200, 220, 230, and 250 grains. I also have an original 71 and yes it has very limited bullet selection.
The 35/30-30does work though.
F8E0CEA6-B2C8-4307-B428-2EC36B152E29.jpeg
Ask him.
My main question is would you have enough metal in a 336 barrel to be able to bore out the 30-30 and have sufficient to have rifling at .348?
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308magtip
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Re: .348 Wildcats

Post by 308magtip »

Nice buck.I have not hunted since jan and that was above Robbie at the shooting preserve.I worked for PPL out of Sinking Springs and the area we covered was from W.reading line to above Schafferstown on 419 and 897.Saw a lot of great bucks working storm repair on the Texter Mt area as well as South Mt and around Blue Marsh. I* have a Win 64 in .32 spcl equipped witg Redfield peepsights and with factory ammo and my eyes it will shoot under 2" at 50 plus yds. Same with my Win 88 in 308.All good enough to win at running deer shoots.I think the 32's were for one shot hunters who made a box of ammo last 10 years.
Merry Christmas from me at Stevens,here in Northern Lancaster Co.
coyote nose
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Re: .348 Wildcats

Post by coyote nose »

Some of you seemed to miss the point of this wildcat. This was not to rechamber a 94 30-30 to 348 Winchester cartridge, it was to take the 30-30 case and open it up to accept .348 bullets. Then ream/rifle the barrel to accept this bullet diameter. Sounds neat to me! I have played around with projects like this and may in the future attempt it. Occasionally come across take off .348 Win barrels at gun shows, I could cut off the chamber end and thread to fit the 94 action, then rechamber, assuming the barrel is still long enough. Right now though...too many irons in the fire (currently rebuilding a small ring mauser to 250-3000, a 1903 Sprg, a 1876 Win in 45-75, an 1890 Win in 22 short, and a Ruger Blackhawk into 41 Long Colt). Guess it will be awhile. Let me know what happens if you do this TR.
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vancelw
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Re: .348 Wildcats

Post by vancelw »

It makes no sense. The only reason we use .348 bullets is because we have .348 Winchester rifles. There are very few choices for .348 bullets.
It would be cheaper to sell your .30-30 and add the cost of reboring to the pile and buy a clean Browning 71.

The reality is you would probably have to special order the equipment to rebore to .348. Then pay to have it done.
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earlmck
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Re: .348 Wildcats

Post by earlmck »

Seems like a nifty idea to me. I checked JES and he doesn't offer .348 as an option, so there goes that quick and easy strategy. Some other re-borer may very well offer .348 but I don't know. At present state of knowledge it seems like the 35-30/30 (or 38/55) would be the way to go if you have a crusty barrel on a 30/30 that needs cleaning up.

But as far as bullet selection goes, us old bullet casters face no particular limitations. If I had a .348 of some sort I'd have Accurate moulds build me a multi-cavity mould in whatever weight and shape my little heart desired.
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MingoKid
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Re: .348 Wildcats

Post by MingoKid »

I have a 348 wildcat... Wild West Arms 50 Alaskan. Started as an 1895 Marlin. Love it. MK
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vancelw
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Re: .348 Wildcats

Post by vancelw »

MingoKid wrote: Wed Dec 25, 2019 3:07 pm I have a 348 wildcat... Wild West Arms 50 Alaskan. Started as an 1895 Marlin. Love it. MK
That's a wildcat based on a 348. Not what the OP is talking about
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Marlin32
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Re: .348 Wildcats

Post by Marlin32 »

I asked this similar question a few years back. The wildcat you are thinking about be roughly the same as 356win, maybe bit less velocity. I played around on QuickLoad with it, but forget the ballistics. Could convert 356 neck down to 348 but have same barrel/reamer issue.
I then discussed with Nooneman about converting my 338ME to 348, said he didn't have reamer but could buy one. SO more expensive than a 358 coversion, but he would do it or in my case I was going to use a new barrel. If I bought reamer he would be willing to give her a try.

I too wanted something "different" and better than the ME, depending on what you plan to hunt, 348 bullets about as much selection if not more than the 358.
In my looking into it, there were couple of 200gr 358 bullets for deer, and the two speer bullets. In 348 you have the two barnes bullets, Northfork bullet and a 200grain swift A frame, plus Hawk bullets that I think would work on deer.

In my 338ME case I was approaching 2500fps with the 220gr Barnes bullet, be plenty for elk/moose out to 250yds, maybe more. The swift bullet was in the QUickload software I have, but guessing pushing 2600fps and be just as good as the above barnes to same distances.

If you are after mostly deer, or elk at "timber" ranges, I think your conversion just as good as 35-30/30, just a longer road and few more hurdles to jump through.
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