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If I wanted to have my Mod. 71 Win. rechambered to a .348 Ack. Imp. could I have it bored out to a .35-348 later and just expand the neck and use the .348 Imp. cases that are already fire formed?

I have a .356 Win. and would like to use the .35 caliber bullets from Alaska Bullet Works and the cheap 220 grain Speers.

Do you guys think the .348 or .35-348 Imp. has plenty of potential velocity to expand.the 220 grain Speer FP at reasonable hunting ranges, I hear it is a tough bullet?

I'm and old Alaskan who only hunts here for moose and caribou in the fall and once in awhile a bear.

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I'd venture to guess the 35-348 would clock 2400-2500 with the 220's since that is about what my 358 does with the 220 Speers and they work plenty good on deer.

348 Ackley would be a beast though. I have a plain old 348 Win carbine and 250's at 2300 are very accurate and plow through stuff real nice. Be a cool conversion though, no idea if 348 would leave enough meat for a rebore though.


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I'm going to contact Jess and see what he thinks about the 35-348 re bore. One thing that bugs me about this Mod. 71 is the loading of ammo in the magazine after a round is chambered. It will not accept another round if one is in the chamber. The loading gate must be hitting the rim of the next cartridge in the magazine tube.

It is a pain as my Marlin 1895 In 45-70 and my Mod. 94 in 44. mag. does not do this. They both allow rounds to be loaded when one is chambered. Which is a good thing if one ever had the need to feed more rounds into the magazine while keeping the chamber loaded.

Do any of you Model 71 shooters have this issue?

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Mine loads loaded, no problem.


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Got the rifle feeding ok now, had to come in straighter on the loading gate latch and push harder. I got a call into Jess about turning my 71 into a 35-348 Ackley Improved. Lots of info on the web about the case tossing 250 grain bullets at over 2,500 fps mv with a 24" barrel.

Any one know where I can get an extended magazine tube for my Mod. 71? Both my Win. Big Bore .356 and Marlin 1895 have them and hold 7 rounds. I like storing extra ammo in the gun!

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Talked to Jess the Oregon re bore guy. He will have to rent a reamer and the cost to re bore and re chamber my .348 Win. to a 35-348 Ackley Improved will be $325.00. It is going to be 3 groove and 1-12 twist as I will only shoot 220 to 250 grain bonded bullets from Alaska Bullet Works, except for some practice with 220 grain Speers. I am thinking seriously about cutting the 24" barrel back to 22". But, I will get some trigger and chrono time in before deciding.

After that is done I will work up loads with H4350 and WW or Starline brass and WLR primers. If any of you have experience with this cartridge I would appreciate load advice, etc.

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No good advice for you but it sounds like it’ll be a big game crusher. I like it. Send pictures of it if you can when it’s finished. Should be a fun rifle.


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I had a custom pre war 71 in 35/348 Imp. 24” barrel with full length magazine tube. It was a heavy rifle but powerful. 250 grain Kodiak flat nose at 2500 and 300 grainBarnes original at 2200. Reloaded 19 have the best accuracy.

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Made a decision to go with the .348 Improved. Whew...

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Good choice!

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Originally Posted by 1Akshooter
Made a decision to go with the .348 Improved. Whew...


Can you share your thought process, for staying with the .348 vs going to .358?

Is JES still doing the work?

I have a Browning on the way and seriously thinking about the AI re-chamber.

I like the idea of reducing bolt thrust and longer brass life. Not to mention getting the 250 up in the 2,400 - 2,500 range for that dream Moose hunt. smile

Wondering if there is anyone near Houston I can trust with the job?


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Going with the .348 Improved was only a rechamber job, going with a .35 Improved was also a re bore. I also had access to a life time supply of the wonderful 250 grain super bonded bullet Alaska Bullet Works made for the .348 before the owner passed. As a back up Woodleigh makes a 250 grain .348 bullet as does Barnes. Also I got a resizing die from Lee and in a pinch I can size the 220 grain .35 caliber Speers to .348 caliber.

I wanted the extra velocity as I only hunt in Alaska and the improved version offered a substantial gain over a standard .348 load. If I was "state side" I would not of bothered with a Mod. 71 in .348 as the standard version is not much better then a .356 Win. using 220 grain Speer Hot Cores, that are rumored to be tough bullets. A friend of mines son use them on two big Yukon River moose out of his .358 Norma. He likes them.

My Mod. 94 Big Bore .356 is a slick little power house and is couple pounds lighter then the 71 is. But, the Ackley Improved offers a better impact velocity for our local brown bear population that likes to hunt the same moose I do.

I bought a reamer and nose reamer from a guy and had a local smith doe the reamer job and avoided shipping costs for rifle to Jes. Eventually I will find out if the nose reamer is needed when I figure out how to get some custom 270 or 300 grain .38 bullets made. I may or may not need the extra length, time will tell. Jes did a .338-06 rebore for me on my old Springfield O3A3 I grew up hunting with and if he was local I would use him more as he is good and fast. My manly 17 year old grandson has it now.

I truly wish both Winchester and Marlin would offer a .35 caliber lever gun firing .35 caliber bullets at .35 Whelan velocities. Also a .375 Alaskan Improved in a 7 lb. rifle. Ranger Point Precision for a short time offered a reworked Marlin 336 based on a shortened .35 Whelen case they stated was rated for 50,000 psi. They no longer offer it and I wonder if they had issues.

Good luck with your new Browning, much of what I have read claims they are the best Mod. 71 ever made and the Mod. 71 has very pleasing lines to my eyes. Mine is a Deluxe Winchester made by Miroko and is the best looking blue steel and walnut rifle I own. I am fire forming Starline brass, spendy, but with correct resizing and annealing should last for several firings. Starting out with H322 and am also going to try the StaBall 6.5 powder.

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Thanks 1Akshooter. Always good to hear other folk's rationale for what they do.

I really cannot justify going AI the same way you can....big bears and all...but I can justify it on the "just because I can" front! smile

Interestingly, my very first centerfire rifle was an AI (257) bought in 1974....and now I am entertaining another AI, 46 years later!


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I am so low tech or I would post a picture of the rifle, maybe some day I will learn how. It is looking like H4350 will be where I start for my hunting ammo. It gives good velocities with 250 grain bullets and we all know what a great powder H4350 is. Fortunately I laid in a supply of it a couple years ago when a local store got a few cases of it in. Got 200 pieces of new Starline brass a bunch of primers and yesterday I received the custom made .348 Ackley Improved dies from Whidden. Best looking set of dies I own.

The original owner of Alaska Bullet Works passed away a few months ago and I bought a substantial amount of their remaining Flat Nosed .348, 358 and 45-70 bullets. They still have some 45-70 bullets left and it is the bullet big bear and moose guide Phil Shoemaker stated he uses in his personal 45-70 rifles. That's a pretty good recommendation coming from a big bear guide with a long history of dealing with them.

Any way, I talked to a friend of the family a couple days ago and he told me some one from Sitka is buying the bullet making equipment Karl used. Hopefully this is true and they will get up and running some time next year. If I lived in the "lower 48" I would not use the heavy bullets in my lever guns, but for Alaska they are what I want.

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.358 caliber makes a lot more sense to me than 348.
I wonder why Winchester settled on 348???


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I think they settled on the .348 instead of the .358 as a way to make a new rifle stand out and because .358 calibers never really hit it big in the U.S. I think it was a poor choice compared to a .358 caliber bore. With suitable bullets and similar velocities there ain't any difference in performance on critters between the .348 and .358 bullets. I am fortunate to have laid in what I consider a life time supply of good 250 grain Alaska Bullet Works .348 bullets. I plan on leaving the rifle to a grandson and he will have plenty of components on hand to continue using the rifle for hunting in his life time.

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I dunno, guys... I guess the Ackley improvements might have been useful back in the early days of Winchester and Peters (etc.) .348 bullets... but more recent advances in bullet design and construction over the years -- like bonding, partitioning, jacket engineering, skiving, etc. -- all seem to me to make the original .348 case shape good enough. And all those current bullets are occasionally available from Woodleigh, Swift, Hawk... and even Hornady and Barnes offer some decent ones, too.

In my case, with an original family pass-down M71 from 1937... all the discussion about reboring and rechambering... isn't ringing my chimes all that much. Of course, there are no grizzlies or brownies in my back yard. smile

Another few FPS doesn't seem all that important to me, these days. (That's pretty much across the board, not just an M71 thing; if I NEED more FPS, maybe I need a bigger rifle.)

Like 1AK, I suspect Winchester wanted to go "bigger" than their previous .33s, and wanted to differentiate from those... and maybe the non-history (?) of .35s was an influence.

From this distance, I'm kind of surprised they didn't think to also introduce a .411 or some such at much the same time. Not a .405, not a .416, given those names were already taken... but a counterpart big-bore version on the Model 71 platform. Mere speculation about whether that could have succeeded or not...

FWIW, I'm going out for whitetail next week, expecting to carry the .348 most of the time. I'm guessing it'll be "enough gun" for the task -- if I were even to see a deer and get a shot. smile

-Chris

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Originally Posted by Ranger4444
I dunno, guys... I guess the Ackley improvements might have been useful back in the early days of Winchester and Peters (etc.) .348 bullets... but more recent advances in bullet design and construction over the years -- like bonding, partitioning, jacket engineering, skiving, etc. -- all seem to me to make the original .348 case shape good enough.

Another few FPS doesn't seem all that important to me, these days. (That's pretty much across the board, not just an M71 thing; if I NEED more FPS, maybe I need a bigger rifle.)


-Chris




For many, the AI is as much about brass life and reduced bolt thrust, as it is about the 150 - 200 fps.

I am pretty sure 90% of my loads in AI brass will be no faster than full standard 348 velocity. But 100% of them will have less bolt thrust due to the reduced taper of the case...and that will be good for the rifle.

Is it worth all the extra cost for 'smithing and dies? Probably not!! But rifle cranks will be rifle cranks. smile


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Like I have stated before, I only hunt Alaska and have long wanted and old style lever un tossing a stout 250 grain bullet at close to .35 Whelen velocities. More then one guy on You Tube is getting 2,500 fps mv from their .348 Ackley Improved. I am not interested in hunting Alaska's critters with 200 grain bullets or flex tip bullets. I have what should be a couple life time supplies of the wonderful 250 grain Kodiak Super Bonded bullets and I hear they may be made again. With annealing 250 pieces of Starline brass and several pounds of H4350, I should be set. I hope to find one of our local brown bears this spring and put it to the test.

If I was younger I would look for a Browning Model 71 and turn it into a .348-375 Improved. A real thumper!


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