Re-barreling Safety Question

[SpiritWalker]

I would like to have a Savage 24 .22lr/410 or .22lr/20 ga. re-barreled to .22lr/.45-70. The heaviest loads out of the .45-70 would be 355gr cast bullets @1650 fps.

Would it be safe to do so?

[Scorch]

I wouldn't.

Even mild "BP-equivalent" loads would be close to the maximum breech thrust that the Model 24 was designed for. It does not have a strong lockup.

[SpiritWalker]

Thanks for the reply! I was afraid that would be the case with the Savage. I guess I'll have to start looking for a Valmet 412 to have converted (and a 'smith that can do the job reasonably).

I want the .22 to have a 1:9 twist (to take advantage of Aguila SSS ammo) and the .45-70 fitted with .410 interchangable chokes. One gun to handle everything from doves to moose. :)

[Unclenick]

I've never tried firing a .410 in a .45-70, but know others who have. There are some problems associated with doing it. You see .410/.45 Colt chambers, like the Taurus Judge has, because the head and rim diameters are within about 0.010" of each other. But a .45-70 case head is closer to .033" wider and the .45-70 rim is around 0.070" wider. That's a lot of looseness.

The result is that while it is not unsafe to shoot the .410 in a .45-70 chamber, standard .45-70 extractors can slip over a .410 rim, leaving you needing a ramrod to get the fired shell out. A special deep hook extractor design may be needed to be reliable. Another matter is, given a rifled tube, the shot tends to spin out into a donut pattern that has the hole in the donut right where your sights aim. Like the Taurus Judge, you'll be fine with that for snakes on the hiking path, but trying to take something out of the air with it will be more of a challenge.

On another forum, a member suggested it was better to load shot into .45-70 cases with a wad crimped over top than to use actual .410 shells. The fixes the issue with the extractor at least. The donut may be unavoidable.

[mapsjanhere]

What you're trying to achieve seems to be pretty exactly the performance of a 20gauge slug, no rebarreling needed.