I picked up a Thompson Encore package back in December at the Hamilton gun show. For reasons that make no sense, I’ve always liked the little single shot Contenders and the Encore scales things up to take real rifle calibers. Play your cards right and you can make a very lightweight rifle. For example, I have a Contender carbine in a Choate stock with a 19″ .30-30 barrel and it barely weighs five pounds.
The package I bought last December was for a .50 muzzleloading barrel and a 7mm Rem. Mag. barrel. I had no use for either barrel but I did have use for the Leupold scopes that were on them. I figured sooner or later I could wheel-n-deal into something I wanted. Today was that day.
First up was a 26″ .308 Win. barrel. Very useful since I can hunt pretty much anything with it, it shares ammo commonality with my CZ .308, Ruger Scout, Mauser FR8, and a half dozen PTR-91’s. But the other barrel…a 16″ .357 Mag barrel that is threaded. And since I have a few 9mm suppressors laying about this will make a delightful little suppressed backpack gun.
For whatever reason, the guys who made the barrel threaded it at 5/8-24 rather than the usual 1/2-28. I’ll order up a 5/8-24 tri-lug adaptor and this thing will get used with my Rugged Obsidian.
So….one barrel leaves, two more enter.
And, since it was the weekend, I figured I’d try and head up to the Beta Site but I was foiled by still-snowy conditions and, contrarily, some absolutely horrible mud. Post on that later.
Yes. Mud, that is like the Paul Harvey phrase; “now for the rest of the story”. This will be another terrain element to factor into your macro planning for your new compound. If you have heavy snow areas and a corresponding slope or grade and have fast warm melts you may be in a swampy situation or have run offs into areas you do not want. You can and should visit often and study those elements and the area like a Roman legions engineer building roads, bridges and aqueducts, all done without a S.T.E.M. degree from some uni. Some terrascape work or heavy equipment may need to be employed if you have problem areas or recurring conditions to mitigate them before building and for accessibility in worst case climate scenarios. Investing in noisy riding mud terrain tires may be needed. Getting stuck and hiking out sucks.
.308 is a good round that accomplishes a lot of 200 lb live target tasks quite well. Good choice there. The 16″ .357 is nifty as well and extremely versatile. Those were GOOD trades.
Might need to get you a Haaglands…
Im not gonna deny the cool factor, but it might be overkill. Hopefully the side-by-side will be enough.
Better get you some tracks for it then Brother… Regular SxS tires don’t do so well with ice and mud combined especially on steep mountainside roads ..
Yeah, was thinking about that. Im either going with some chains, but Im also thinking of a second set of rims/tires to leave a dedicated set of studs on.
The .357, shooting .38s suppressed, is chocolate cake.
Yeah, it really is. They are pretty quiet…almost Hollywood quiet.
Will a 9mm suppressor reliably work with .357 Magnum? I want to put a suppressor on my Henry X .357 and haven’t been able to find an answer as to whether the 9mm or .45ACP suppressor is better for .357Mag.
A 9mm bullet is .355″ a .357 bullet is…well….357″. Thats a difference of .001″ on each side of the bullet. Works fine in my experience. I have my Obsidian9 on my Ruger 77/357.