Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Winchester Collectors 106 years old, and a little off the beaten path

A Model 1907 in .351 Winchester. Condition-wise, it is a shooter. lots of finish wear & hints of rust, and the forend cracking, which is common on this model. Bore looks bright & shiny. A plus is a very good set of sights, Lyman white bead front and Lyman folding tang rear. The price was very reasonable, probably because it was missing its magazine. Serial number 6XXX from the first year of production.

I have another one, which is in rough shape, but complete. It did come with a magazine, so it will be a snap get the new one running.

I have Redding dies, data, and components on order. A 180gr bullet at 1700 fps oughta make fine hog medicine

That should be a fun gun to run hogs with.

If I was a hog, I'd be cringing...

DF

.Tex:
.. I've owned 5, .351s, never got to try 'em hunting. Sold 'em before I could. Quite heavy. Also had a 1910 .401, cracked/repaired, a shooter, sold to a retired college teacher.
.He had one back in early 40's. Went in Army & sold it. Aft WWII on to college, 28 yrs of teaching, retired.
.
.Decided to try deer hunting again. He never thought he would see another .401. Saw my ad & bought it. Rough shape & all.
.
. I guy I knew and his hunting crew of 5, all used .351s. They got deer too. Even 1 got a med. size bear. Nice to see guns of yesterday years & still being used.
.
. ... 99 LL ...

I tried to buy one on GB a couple mos ago, it had the wrong mag. My Grandfather was warden of our county farm way back 40's and early 50's , they were still using them in 50's. I have his mod 97 pump and a springfield .22, but Im guessing the county owned the .351.... very best on a COOL rifle.

Very cool. Many years ago I killed my first deer just outside Pt. Arena Cal with one using factory Remington loads.

I handled a 351 a few days ago and it had an extended magazine.
Also had a cracked fore end, did they make two types of mags
for this rifle?

I have seen both 5 round and 10 round mags for them. The 10 rounders were of course preferred by police & prison guards, and now bring a hefty premium, when you can find them.

The sights on this rifle alone might bring $150-$200.

Noticed in latest "Rifle" magazine that the publisher, Wolf Publications, is publishing a book on loading/shooting/troubleshooting the '07. Might be worth a look on their website. Interesting that many were used, or at least issued in WWI (mostly by France). First "assault rifle"????

I know they were popular among prison guards, and possibly a few police, too. There is one old book that I know discussed some of those models, it was called "The Forgotten Winchesters".

The cartridge itself is no slouch, and probably would be very serviceable in a modern rifle.

edit to add, here is the author's contact info for the book

The book is 72
pages, $19.95 plus $3.25 shipping
from Len Speckin, 1903 Yuma Trail,
Okemos MI 48864.

Very cool rifle. I just picked up a 1910 in 401. Dies and brass were not cheap but it will be fun to get it running. Keep us posted on how it shoots.

Mart

Yup! you forgot the COOL factor! like to see it in a pic witha dead hog!

I have one, it goes with my 1903

Those rifles hava a really nice look. Looks like some browning influence ..

Since posting last I have shot the rifle, and it worked pretty well.

The .351 Winchester case is second from left, next to a .351 dia Hawk 180gr round nose. The slightly bottlenecked case is a .300 Blackout, for comparison.



That rifle is from the first year of production, 1907. If you fire it slowly it will do about ~1.5" at 50 yards, using the tang sight. Let the barrel heat up and it strings vertically. I need to do some more work on the brass, though, to get it trimmed to consistent lengths. I also used CCI 41 primers, which may or may not be exactly best for it.

Hawk makes bullets, with a couple of variations. Quality Cartridge Co makes brass (need trimming), and Jamison has started up producing them again. I have 200 cases for it. It is interesting to note the .351 shares the same rim size as a .30 Remington AR, and the 6.8 SPC, so the shell holders are the same.

The magazines are not drop free, and not staggered, so the standard mag holds 5 rounds. There were 10 round "police" mags, which now go for about $150 on Gunbroker.

The firing pin was stuck on this rifle; which I discovered in the course of cleaning; I expect that's why I was able to buy it as cheaply as I did. Some fresh CLP got it cleaned up. The action is blowback operated, not a locked breech. The breechblock is a massive forging, which might cost $500 to make today.

(this is my other 1907, which killed many a gator on a South Texas ranch)



Development continues with it; it is certainly the equal of a .357 magnum carbine. They were popular among some police and prison guards in their day, but even if I to find a 10 round mag for it at a decent price, I think it will be assigned to 4 legged pests in the future.

I seem to remember a picture of an FBI man or a Texas Ranger, maybe it was Frank Hammer, with one of these and a magazine that looked like it held about 20 rounds. They caption said it was custom made.

Many years ago, a friend who had one of '07's discovered that the .38 Special AMU brass worked perfectly for reloading the .351. He had a commercial reloading business, and access to a virtually unlimited supply of the brass. Probably easier to find .351 brass than the AMU stuff, which was a semi-rimmed version of the .38 Special for use in converted 1911's.

9mm magnum Winchester pistol brass might work also.

Hamer's rifle was a Model 8 Remington that had been fitted with an aftermarket extended mag. Kreiger mfg I believe. However the rifle in the Texas Ranger museum in Waco is a model 81.

Good pics!

http://texashideout.tripod.com/posse.html

care to share loading data. I found some data in a lyman #1 manual but am always looking for more data.
these rifles are so much fun it should be immoral! lol. was going to sell mine at the last gun show, thought about it about 2 seconds and put it under the table. at least I could tell momma I took it and It didn't sell!