One way to come up with a "legal gun" for those states with such regulations is to modify a Mosin Nagant. Make an 11.63X45R.

What is that?

You chamber a 458 barrel for a 45-70 with the reamer ground to cut only 1.8" deep, and re-sharpened to give the same case mouth at 1.80" as it did at 2.10" . Reamer will cost about $185, and sometines you can get 2-3 men to all throw in for it, if everyone of them wants to have a gun.

You turn off about .030" from the rim diameter of the 45-70 cases and bevel like the rim on the 7.62X54R. One cut on a lathe per shell, takes about 10 seconds per shell to make from standard 45-70. Nothing needs to be done to the receiver or bolt The shortened shell is easy to make and feeds from the magazine of a Mosin Nagant with some easy modification to the box. Load any bullet from 300 to 500 grains and getting velocities over 1500 FPS is easy with a 400 grain. Accuracy is very good. You need a ring-crimper (like the old Lee-Loaders used,) but that is very easy and fast to make on a lathe. All the rest of the loading can be done is standard 45-70 dies and a 7.62X54R shell holder.

For me personally I would not see any real advantage for such a gun over a 44 mag for killing deer. But for those that may want to hunt moose, or even those that just like using powerful guns, the MN modification is not horribly expensive to do.

You can do only the gunsmithing above and the gun is not all that costly, or pull out the stops and use a side-mount scope, New bolt handle, Timney Trigger, new stock with fancy wood, classic sights, tip,cap, barrel banded swivel mount, and all the bells and whistles that you might get from a custom shop in Europe around 1910. So if it's a do-it-yourself job the cost can be as low as about $550 after you have the Mosin Nagant. And go clear up to about $1800-$2000 if you want something that looks like it was made for a sportsman in Austria in the years before WW1.

If the warden checks your gun you show him the cartridge and tell him it's an 11.63X45R. Then act as if you are surprised he has never heard of it. Heck everyone knows about the old classic 11.63X45R..................right?

laugh


Last edited by szihn; 05/02/20.