Reline to .22 Hornet or .218 Bee, block will need bushing and small diameter firing pin. Frame can probably be opened up for larger shank, Tom Burgess did this once in the 70s to make a 7mm Remington Magnum (he enlarged a large shank frame !!) but I have never heard of anyone else tackling this job. If you handload a .218 Bee Improved is a nice cartridge and will shoot factory ammo. About equals a .222. I think the Mashburn Bee is the best known. For reboring, it is possible that .38-55 would be OK, suggest you ask Cliff LaBounty what he thinks. The small shank is not a problem here, the muzzle thickness might be.

Rob,
I saw your post on msn - I chuckled at how everyone is attracted to your octagon topped receiver. Lord knows, I'm just another one of them ))

In the meantime, I feel, esp. since I spent quite a bit of time looking into it, that a .38-55 is too big. Esp. for a thin shank but also for any low wall. If you shoot only lead and blackpowder you will probably be alright but the next guy to use it after you have seen your last sundown may load it to the gills with some sorta smokeless, and jacketed bullets.

It is a very historic action you have. Pick a historic cartridge. A .28-35 would be one cutey for sure. A bunch of others out would be nice. If I had your action, it would become a .25-20 SS.

But I would think carefully about anything bigger than the .32-20. The .32-40 had a large head and may also be too big for that action.

I will not be anyone's expert on this action, and what you want to do, but email me and I'll tell you what I do know about the .38-55 in a low wall, and from whom I learned it. He knows of what he speaks - at least for my money.

Recutting larger threads, I would NEVER do to that action. Few folks could get it straight I think, but more importantly, that is a historic low wall. If you really want a bigger cartridge, swap Green Frog for one of his large shank actions, but be sure you get some Greenbacks along with it. Better yet, get a highwall action. Then put a 50 Ely or similar on it, and knock yourself out!

Brent

Brent, my action is a High Wall action, but with a small diameter shank. I beleive it wa fitz on MSN that siad I couldget away with a 38-55. But I have plenty of time to think this over and any more input from you is welcome.

It's a High Wall, octagon topped receiver, with a small diameter shank.

Rob

Where is msn? A new forum to me. If there is a discussion about Winchester SS I should take a look !!

Bringing this to the top. Re: possible calibers for a small shank gun.

Assume two receivers are identical, one small shank and one large shank. If both guns are chambered for the exact same round, they would both hve the same amount of steel surrounding the cartridge, just that one would have more steel in the shank and the other in the receiver. So it seem to me that the limiting factor of how large a carttridge I could use in a small shank would be the head diameter fitting into the shank.

Is this logical?


Thanks, Rob

It's logical until you get to the point where the case is interfering with the threads. However, while it sounds logical to me, I think, based only on what I've heard from folks that know a lot more than I, that this is not the whole story.

Brent