35 Rem. to 358 Win.?

S

saudst

New member
I have a Savage mod. 170 chambered in 35 Rem. What would I need to do other than rechamber the barrel to 358 Win. and open up the bolt face .013" to convert this gun to 358 Win.? Is this conversion possible? Thanks for any help.

Tim
 
Maximum Average Pressure for the .35 Remington is 34,000 psi, 35,000 CUP. The SAAMI site shows no piezzo (psi) standard, various sites show 52,000 CUP MAP for the .358 Winchester. That is a substantial difference.

Some years ago the same question arose on another forum about Marlin lever actions. I do not recall the model, but it was chambered in both the .35 Rem and the .358 Win and the conversion seemed merely a matter of reaming the chamber. I became interested in the matter as a research project and wound up calling Marlin. I was told that their .358 Win version actually used a relabeled, stouter, action from another model and that rechambering the .35 Rem version to .358 Win would be dangerous, that I should expect any competent gunsmith to refuse the job.

With that history, absolutely no expertise or experience, and this site's suggestion that the locking mechanism is one of the Model 170's weak points, I would guess the conversion should not be attempted.
 
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I don't remember the time period, but someone showed me a magazine article in which it had been done. What is never brought up is I do remember that the guy was than handloading with cast bullets for it. I believe later they DID beef up one of their levers for the .356 they offered. I may be wrong about that. I just never really had enough interest in their lever actions to bother with the research. For me, the rebarrel/rechamber work is not based on the average pressure of a round. That is where a lot of people make mistakes when thinking of changeovers. The real focal point should be on what the gun will take if something goes wrong.
 
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Even with the same action things can change. The Savage 99 at one point was changed , metallurgy etc , to chambered in modern cartridges like .243 and .308 Win.To redue earlier guns to a .308 is not a safe thing.
 
Thanks Chuck, your probably right. between the weaker bolt lock up and the 20k pressure difference I all ready have 2 strikes. Thanks for the info sir.

Tim
 
Mete-- I am still looking for information about 99 Savage steel/heat treating changes. As far as I know, only the very earliest 99's were not heat treated. It may have been pre-1899 only, of that I am not sure. There is no difference in the steel used or heat treating done when the change over to longer cartridges came about. The only one I am not sure of is the magazine feed models. There were structural changes and this may have dictated some material changes. I have been trying to nail down where these facts came from for years and if you have access to some information, let me know. Thanks
 
Paging P.O. Ackley

This conversation makes me wonder if Ackley ever made an "ïmproved"version of the .35 Remington. There may not be enough brass there to do much with. It wouldn't be the ballistic equivalent of a .358, but it might be worth looking into.
 
The Savage 170 is a rear locked pump action that is really little more than a slightly beefed up .410 shotgun. It is (IMHO barely) strong enough for the .35 Remington and .30-30 for which it was chambered. It is neither strong enough nor, IIRC, physically large enough for the .358 Winchester. I would shelve that conversion idea.

Jim
 
"There is no difference in the steel used or heat treating done when the change over to longer cartridges came about."

Uhm... well, no.

Virtually all gun manufacturer's engaged in continuous upgrades to both steel compositions and heat treating methods as the 20th century progressed.

As better steel blends became available from the manufacturers, older blends became obsolete.

Heat treating also changed due to the new steel blends; it also changed due to increasingly better heat treating equipment, including pyrometers, as well as better laboratory testing techniques.

If, however, you're saying that Savage didn't change its steel blends and heat treating in 1954-56 when they started introducing .308-based cartridges, that's more than likely the case.
 
The Savage 99 was already chambered for the .300 Savage which, while not up to .308 pressure levels, will run in the 47k range, quite a bit above the 33k range of the .35 Remington. So it was likely quite feasible to chamber the 99 for the .308.

But the OP does not have a 99; he has a 170, a much weaker gun and one not really designed as a rifle in the first place.

Jim
 
Savage 170

What JK said is the truth. I sold 3 , Sav. 170s when they came out in late 70s.
I had to send 2 back to Savage, the other one I got back on trade. I didn't want
to take it in but it was good customer. All three were 30/30s. Like the man said
barely good enough for low pressure of 30/30 and 35 Rem. Also at time Savage
was going through some rough times, send backs on Savage was so bad I didn't
pay to sell one.
 
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