doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com 25-36 sleeve

So when you say "light weight" you are not talking about the barrel size or weight of gun, you are referring to the light weight charge in the bullet, right? Cause this rifle is not a light weight. It has a tapered barrel but it's like a modified bull barrel. Anyway, I do think I will mess with existing modifications first and see how things work out. Thanks for your thoughts.
Carl

Carl,
Now it seems you have a bullet mold with your rifle. Do you have loading dies also? It is a lot easier for us to help if we have all the information. My cousin has a Martini type Rook rifle on 380 Rook. We tried the HBWC trick, but it didn't work at all, it seems smokeless powder doesn't obturate the skirts very well. However, I had a bullet mold for a 36-caliber percussion revolver(.375"+diameter) conical bullet. This bullet has a very short "heel" section and no lubrication grooves, but by lubricating the bullets with ALOX and handling the loaded cartridges carefully the accuracy was very acceptable. A proper heeled bullet mold would allow normal handling of the cartridges.
Mike

Mike, I’m a novice at reloading. No, I’m not even at novice level. I did reload my 12 ga SKB a very long time ago but when I said I’d mess with various options with existing, I am talking of having my smith advise me on my best possible substitution, not doing it myself.
If it’s going to be tough to get ammo to work with gun, I will most likely have existing barrel sleeved for 25-20 or 32-20, which ever is most available?
Sorry if I mislead you.
Carl

Carl,
As an owner of both 25-20 and 32-20 guns I can testify that ammo and components for neither are especially available now, in fact if I were not a packrat and hoarder of old cartridge cases I could not shoot a lot of my guns. My best advice is to shoot it like it is, but it is your rifle, and you can do with it as you will, if you insist on modifying a useable original rifle, my second-best advice is to have it lined to 38 S&W Special and shoot abundantly available target ammunition loaded with 148 grain hollow-base bullets. Be sure to save your spent cases, against the day you decide to load your own.
Mike

Good advice, thank you.
Carl

Projects are interesting to me, but all these cartridges will be more advanced reloading exercises, that will get pricey and likely have learning curves. Why not go back to the smith that requested pictures? Explain you'd prefer easy, maybe something available off the self? That smith has probably done the conversion countless times, including minimizing extractor work?

That is what I intend to do. After a thorough check, I’m leaning towards .357 if the rolling block is strong enough. If so, I will have my smith sleeve it.
Thanks,
Carl