1905 or 1907 Winchester

[Tornado]

AZSA sound really fun, so I am beginning to research firearms, in case anyone starts a club in my parts.  I love the looks and history of the Winchester selfloaders.  I know the rules allow the 351sl but the ballistics look pretty hot for shooting steel.  The 35sl is much milder but is less common.  I have a couple of questions:

Can you download the 351 and it still function in the 1907? 

I also thought maybe you could fire the shorter 35 in the 1907?  I could see the bolt not traveling as far, but being a shorter round it might still feed.  Assuming the shorter round would feed from the larger 351 magazine. 

Thanks in advance

[St. George]

You can 'try' to down-load the round, but reliability will suffer.

Shooting the shorter .35 is a non-starter, though you can make the brass from .351.

I suggest buying (and reading) a good loading handbook might be helpful.

Scouts Out!

[Tornado]

I agree with you George about the 35SL not feeding into a 1907.  But I read that someone said it is possible, they must have been single loading them.  

[Border Ruffian]

If you have to / want to use that type of rifle for Zoot wshooting, I'd go with the 35Win SL. The balistics wil be much more friendly, but I don't think you'll find 10 round magazines for it.

I have a M1907 and frankly, I don't see it becomming a competition gun for the following reasons. 1. The ammo is very expensive and hard to get, so are the loading components. 2. The currently made 10 round after market mags are not very reliable, and thier expensive, about $50 bucks with shipping, when you find them. Original 10 rounders run $175 to $200 gunbroker. 3. The gun is a pain to disassemble (front sight must be removed). 4. Very, very, difficult to reasemble, due to the strong recoil spring. 5. The forearms usually break and crack and are difficult to fix in a lasting way. 6. Gun has a heavy triger pull. 7. The gun needs full power loads to function reliably.

the 1907 Winchester is a fun and neat historical rifle but it requires a lot of effort and expense to get running.

The best gun to get is the Thompson, 20 and 30 round magazines are easy to get and high quality. 45 ACP is a great carbine caliber, much less expensive than 351 Win. 45 ACP balistics are perfect for Zoot shooting. The Thompson is more expensive up front but you'll save money and effort in the long run. Plus the same 45 ACP round can be used for pistols, simplyfying things.

There are other guns, such as an M1 carbine with heavier lead bullet loads, might get under the velocity max. I have a Suomi M31 which will function with 9mm lead bullet ammo.  I does not look very 'gangster' though.  


   

[Tornado]

I have been trying to talk myself into getting one of these Winchesters for a few months.  I always come back to, extra magazines and reloading components would cost three times would the gun alone would cost.  I even tried to think what cartridge I could rechamber/ reline to reloading simpler, but even that would just take more skill and money than I have.
  It seems the Thompson is the only good choice.   I saw where lever guns are legal (I have a '73), but what do you do when a stage requires more rounds than the tubular magazine can hold?

[St. George]

Reload?

Scouts Out!

[Bat 2919]

Well, reloading is an option, it's just a little slow.  The most common thing is for the shooter to preform a "New York Reload" or abandon one gun (rifle in this case) and pick up another loaded gun and continue the course of fire.  Generally it's two lever guns but nothing in the rules requires both guns to be the same style or caliber.  If this happens as the shooter is moving downrange (or may move in front of that long gun latter in the caper) we'll provide an open top barrel (that can be moved around by the shooter depending on where they think this change of guns may happen) and the shooter can abandon the open and empty rifle in the barrel and grab the loaded rifle from this same barrel (this assures the long gun(s) never point at someone moving down range as it's pointing into the ground) and finishes the caper.

I have a 1907 .351 WSL and while its a fun piece of history everything about it conspires to make using it both slow and cumbersome in a match.  I do agree that the Thompson is both the best looking and most particle choice for this game.  On the other hand, after watching hundreds of shooters using different long guns, I don't think someone using two lever guns is at much if any disadvantage in this game.

Hope that helps.

[Forty Rod]

Get a .35 Remington Model 08.

IF you can find one with a police detachable magazine it would be a wonderful piece.

[Tornado]

I like the 'new york' reload idea, I guess that applies to pistols too?  Thanks for explaining things.  There is no AZSA club near me but I see that Oak Ridge TN has a club and I have lots of family in that area and visit there a couple of times a year.

[Pitspitr]

There is no AZSA club near me...

Maybe you could start one.   

[Bat 2919]

The New York Reload is legal with all three guns, rifle, pistol and shotgun.  I shot a caper with the Western Torpedoes in Grand Junction, CO one time where they used two shotguns.

The Remington "08" is only chambered in rifle calibers so it couldn't be used in the main match.  I use one with a standard magazine in long range side matchs.  Anyone know where I can get it modified to take the detachable LE style magazine?

Any time you plan to visit any CAS or AZSA local club be sure to contact them and confirm the schedule. 

Pitsptr also hit the nail on the head.  Get a mob of your shooting buddies together and get an AZSA club started in your area.  If you're currently shooting CAS, see if you can use the club props and targets to help you get things going.  We'll all support you every way we can. 

[Tornado]

While I am in no position to start a club, I will talk it up an see what happens.
BTW I am in south Georgia.

[cpt dan blodgett]

I have a 1905.  We inherited the gun in the early 60s.  It came with no mag.  We acquired a 1907 351SL mag, shot 35sl from it with no problem.  I would agree the springs and block for the 1907 are tuned to the much hotter 351SL and the 35 SL would not have sufficient power to get the full recoil in the action parts to function reliably.

[Zip Wyatt]

The ammo is a problem and I'm working on it.  However, I got three 1907s and ten factory 10-round mags - I don't find the mags any less difficult to eject  and load than other rifle mags but if need be I could do a New York reload with 30 rounds at my disposal and the style points - priceless! 

And good luck finding the rem model 8 15 round mag and the modified rifle to use it.  You could buy 10 model 8s for what one of those police rifles cost.

Zip

[Tornado]

ten factory 10-round mags

Impressive 

[Dusty Boddams]

Tornado, I've got  a 351 and a couple of 10 round mags all bought with the intent of reduced loads for some gun games we play. I'm sure the gun could be made to run with modification but then it would strictly be for competition with these reduced loads. Brass is easily bought made from converted 357 maximum brass. Lead bullets are a problem unless you make your own.  They need to be correct and mimic the fmj factory which were loaded mostly out of the case. Mine would not run loads that were reduced enough to be legal. I think if you had to have one the 35wsl would be the starting point because 1400 fps would be about factory equelivant and brass could be made from 357 magnum on a lathe just like the 351. Still the same problem with the bullets but you could end up with a rifle that actually works. Or the easiest and most competitve solution would be Border Ruffians and get a Thompson or a Suomi . These are both heavy well made guns with great magazines that are cheap and easy to get and for a competition  gun that's an important consideration . I have both of these and have been taking them to the local carbine combat matches where I compete against the ar boys with there 9mm uppers.  Just a thought but has anybody tried that chipawa m1 carbine in 9mm? Dusty Boddams

[Dusty Boddams]

  one more thought if we are wishing for a proper bullet let's have it hy-tec coated! I'm using this coating in all my 9mm and I am sold on it. Dusty Boddams

[Tornado]

I have been shooting the coated bullets in 40S&W, and yes I really like them.

[mtmarfield]

   Greetings!

   Folks, let's all Tag-Team Starline Brass for a run of .351 WSL brass!

         Be Well!

                M.T.Marfield

[Bat 2919]

AMC is running a commercial for their latest series, a horse opera set after the turn of the last century in Texas.

http://www.amc.com/shows/the-son


The star Pierce Brosnan is holding a Winchester Self Loading Rifle of some sort in both the teaser and this promo photo.