American "Bunny Gun" - Rook Rifle Concept

[whiterabbit]

May 12, 2020 19:30:29 GMT -5 scotth said:

the 357 Handi Rifle is 1 & 16 twist.

Sold mine because it weighed 8 pounds with iron sights, even after I cut it down to 16.375 inches on the barrel.

Surprised the local ranges though since no action made it REALLY short, they did a double take on it (not) being an SBR!

My learning lesson was a rook rifle IMO should be super duper light. When I get a round tuit (aka never) I intended to stub a handi barrel and insert a pencil barrel of some flavor to shoot anything from 357 max, 38 special, 300blk, or anything small or smaller. 9mm, 223 cut short and necked to 7mm, tons of options...

But then Handi's were discontinued and the barrels were suddently made out of gold, judging from the prices people were asking.

Oh well....

[boolitdesigner]

Lipsey's does special run limited production guns. Anybody here know Jason well enough to put a bug in his ear for a nice trim single shot 32 H&R Mag?

[coltnewservice45]

www.shootmidland.com/collections/centerfire

Midland has a "teaser" on their website re "centerfire" but no products available yet. 

If they get enough "pings" maybe we could get them to make a run for Lipsey's.

I'd like to see them offer a .327 with 24-inch barrel (to keep noise down with .32 S&W Longs and H&R Mags), coming threaded from the factory for a Gemtech Tracker "can," having throating like the CIP 7.62x39 chamber to seat heavy bullets out long to maintain powder capacity and a 10-inch twist to stabilize up to a 200-grain bullet subsonic, muzzle provided with a thread protector, Picatinny rail for optics, XS ghost ring receiver sight and a sturdy blade front similar to a Brockman.   Having the slow revolver twist barrel would limit its potential.   I have a .32 Long rifle John fabricated with a pull-off M1 Garand barrel, cutting it off behind the gas port and at the chamber neck, turn turning it down, and it drives little bug holes at 25 yards with factory ammo and also stabilizes 205-grain #311299 cast at 500 fps. 

An extra .410 barrel threaded for Beretta choke tubes would be icing on the cake.

[boolitdesigner]

I was thinking a Savage M23 remake or a SSK Contender frame under a 20" MGM barrel...........

[bcelliott]

I've already written to both Henry and Midland some time ago requesting a single shot chambered in either .32 H&R or .327 Federal for this very concept.  I think a 24 or 26" barrel would be great in either chambering, and I like the ideas of a threaded muzzle, fast twist, and sights/optics options suggested by coltnewservice45. A .32 long with between 1-2 grains of a fast burning powder behind a soft lead bullet would sound like a pellet gun, and with a can on the end, one could hear the firing pin strike the primer.  Boolitdesigner's suggestion to Lipsey's is a great idea.

[kelye]

I have a Ruger #1 475 Linebaugh, this might be a lot of fun to try, big fat bullet just mosying along, Hmmm...

[x101airborne]

Anyone else notice tinkerpearce saw this?
With all the cool handguns he comes up with I bet his wheels are turning on this one.
Or at least I hope so.
Great thread folks.

[whiterabbit]

May 14, 2020 15:49:15 GMT -5 bcelliott said:

I've already written to both Henry and Midland some time ago requesting a single shot chambered in either .32 H&R or .327 Federal for this very concept.  I think a 24 or 26" barrel would be great in either chambering, and I like the ideas of a threaded muzzle, fast twist, and sights/optics options suggested by coltnewservice45. A .32 long with between 1-2 grains of a fast burning powder behind a soft lead bullet would sound like a pellet gun, and with a can on the end, one could hear the firing pin strike the primer.  Boolitdesigner's suggestion to Lipsey's is a great idea.

Here's what I did.

When I cut down my 357 handi, I ended up with a couple barrel lengths off the muzzle. One was about 4 inches long. Turns out the back end was almost exactly the diameter of a 20ga rim, and the gears were turning.

So I chucked the barrel piece in my lathe and profiled the outside of the barrel chunk like a 20ga shell, turning the front skinny enough to fit in a 20ga bore. Then I bought a 9mm parabellum reamer from ebay and chambered it in 9x19. I notched the rim so I could clock it to the ejector, that way I wouldn't eject my insert when unlocking my handi.

I use it in my 20ga slug gun that has a 1-4 scope on it. single shot 9mm, scoped. Easy enough to pick out the cases by hand. 20ga slug gun weighs MUCH less than a 16" 357 cal handi rifle, even with scope. I'd say it's a much better 'rook' rifle than my 357!

You can do the same for your handi shotgun of ANY gauge, needing only a short barrel length of whatever caliber you want, plus cheap reamer.

[jeffh]

I started reading whiterabbit's second to last post and thought I'd written it.

I was on the Handi-bandwagon too, and I love the things, but the barrels got so heavy and when they were discontinued - that drove me to the Contenders, which were previously "expensive" in comparison.

Following the "bunny gun" concept, I ditched the recently-discontinued Handi and jumped on the long-discontinued Contender - if that makes ANY sense at all. If it does, tell me because I've still not figure out how I made sense of that.

Using the Contender as a carbine with an 18" MGM 357 Mag barrel (see the dollars adding up?), I have my "bunny gun," but it can morph into a "deer gun" by virtue of changing loads, period. It's mostly a "bunny gun," but I have developed loads worthy of hunting deer within reasonable ranges.

Accurate, short, light, quiet, cheap to shoot,.... VERY easy to load for and uses he same cases, powders, primers, dies and moulds as my 357 revolver. Otherwise, a 32 caliber "bunny gun" would be the berries.

One thing that confuses the concept with me is my Rip VanWinkle perspective on prices. $700 for a complete, new Contender Carbine?? I'm still looking for $150 Handi-Rifles! If I can get past that aspect, either the Handi or the Contender Carbine (neither of which is $150 any more)are both great platforms for the concept. GOOD gunsmiths(ANY gunsmith)are hard to find these days. My description of a "good gunsmith" is one who appreciates the concept and is willing to throw in on putting hours/dollars into a $75 or $100 gun to make a "bunny gun" because he (or she) is intrigued by the idea. I had one once, and we did not openly discuss the hypocracy of putting dollars and hours into a $75 gun to make it something we wanted. It was our little secret and our personal prerogative to pretend putting another $500 into a "bargain gun" was still a "bargain."

Tinkerpeace? I never thought of him in this context. His innovative energy would be perfect in this application.

[magnumwheelman]

I've got a Contender carbine barrel I kept in 25 ACP... bangs the steel with quite a bit more autority than a 22, & is more quiet

[junebug]

I have a Spanish Destroyer carbine bolt gun in 9mm Largo that with heavy bullets slowed down would make a fine Rook rifle. They are a little coarse in appearance but mine shoots very well, cutting one hole at 25 yds with Blazer ammo.
Brass is available from Midway.