Question about Winchester 1907 .351

[levallois]

Saw one yesterday at a pawnshop and became enamored with it - this fits in with my anoying obsession with guns that that are chambered in really expensive and hard-to-find ammo. Anyway, there doesn't seem to be much info out there on the web and my library doesn't help one bit. Is there anybody who can direct me to some reading material, articles, etc. I guess there was a book written by Henwood? but none are for sale on the www right now. Thanking you in advance for you time.

John

[Hillbilly]

Those are cool rifles... I saw one about a month ago that had been Kansas Deptartment of Corrections Property. I see one or two a year...usually in very good condition.

The 351 Winchester was one of the first cartridges that could reliably disable a car... and was pretty popular back in the 20-30's on both sides of the law

[BenT]

I beleive it takes a .351 diameter bullet not .357. So even finding reloading components is tough, unless you cast your own. I also thought that the 1910 version was more robust than the earlier ones . So no hot rodding. Your best bet is to get a .401 then you can get more components. I beleive handloader or rifle mag had an article on them not long ago. They mentioned that they wouldn't be that good on deer size game. But I could be wrong on this. I don't have any reference stuff handy right now.

[TNBigBore]

They are cool little rifles. The ammo is not common and is expensive. I had one once and about a box of ammo. I had my fun burning through the ammo and then realized that it would cost me a fortune to shoot it often. I sold it a week later. It always seemed like a very heavy gun for a carbine anyway.

[airedaleman]

Go to http://vintagesemiautorifle.proboards.com for some info on a lot of early autoloaders, including all the Winchester blowback guns...

[levallois]

I appreciate the replies and advice to go to the Vintage Remingtons and other semis site. I guess my best bet is to look at as many of these as I can and keep looking for a copy of Henwood's book.

John

[65bee]

My Dad killed the biggest buck of his life in 1940 with a Winchester 1907 .351 SL. It was a 10-pointer and weighed 254 pounds! Buck stood up at 50 yards broadside and when the 180 grain bullet struck him my Dad said it was like someone pulled all four legs out from under him. These guns were popular here in New England and are frequently encountered - mostly showing heavy use. If you plan on acquiring one, check out the forearm carefully, as they were notorious for cracking and splitting on this model. Recoil is controlled by a heavy weight housed in the forearm, and it slams back and forth with great force. In my opinion, they were an unbalanced and heavy gun for their size and power range. I like old Winchesters, but the Remington model 8 really was a better semi-auto for hunting.

[Pete44ru]

There's plenty of references available, if you google "winchester 1907 .351 rifle"

http://sangamoncorifleassociation.org/p ... oader.html

They were VERY popular in their day, and somewhat beyond - but today, there's many better choices available.

.

[Leverluver]

I agree with 65bee, I think they are a clunk. Way too much weight for the cartridge power due to the blow back design. Look real neat until you pick one up.