Reloading the .351 Winchester Self Loading cartridge. |Winchester Hunting, Shooting & Reloading|Forum|Winchester Collector

TXGunNut said

Zebulon said
Like Johnson’s Model 63, the 07 is interesting (to me) because it is beautifully made and because it is built to work and last. Some of Winchester’s finest craftsmanship went into these self loaders. And a lot of creativity to snake around all the Browning patents. 
  

Actually it goes back to Johnson’s 1903 which is the predecessor to your 07. The 1903 was a very simple design that evolved to the Model 63 about 30 years later to take advantage of the improvements to 22LR ammo. As a blowback design it has problems but was a very good design for its time, IMHO.
 
Mike
  

After working on mine , I noticed things about it that every modern semi auto has.  It seems to be the grandfather and the Johnson the great grandfather.  It’s likely under appreciated due to the chambering.  It is definitely one of my favorites so far.  Easy tie with the 92 in 25-20.  They are just fun to shoot.  Ammo is hard to come by.  But 1 full magazine, they make excellent “truck guns”.  

Great to see another interested in the 1907 .351. Having done some research on the caliber last fall. Ive tried historical powder suggestions and utilized the bullet from Graf 180 gr bullet. Brass is a whole other issue. I tried several suggestions but without a lathe, I couldn’t use some of them. One involved the 357 maximum. As I recall it needed the base turned to reduce its size. Did a little more exploring and found the 351 is almost identical to the 223 base not the 556 because its a little thicker and harder to work the brass. Here goes what I did and it works perfectly for me. 

Using a small chop saw cut the 223 brass at the start or the bottle neck. 1.38 length, lube and run it thru the sizing die. It will not size all the way down but you can prime it, get powder in and get the bullet seated. Firing it will “fire form” the brass and be able to be reused. Ive reloaded some of these brass 7 plus times. I found new 223 brass works best. 

Powder I started using 4 powders. The best results came from IMR 4227 and 2400 a distant second. Unique and Reloader did not perform well enough to cycle the action. 

IMR 4227 19 grains 1848 fps. Excellent accuracy and feeding/ejecting. 1.90 overall lenght.

These are my worked up loads and should be laddered. I hope some of this you’ll find helpful. 

I have 2 1907 .351 made in the early 50s and a 1910 first year made .401 that I found challenging to find brass as well but over came challenges and it shoots great. 

I had concern about the whole thing not working but tried a few and expanded on them to get to my final results. With the full power loads I use the empty shells from both throw to 2-3 oclock. About 5 feet that way. Ive reused the same cases multiple times. Mostly to see how they will continue to work or not. Havent had any jam in the chamber or cases slide in farther than they should. 

My 1910 .401 throws spent cases to 3 oclock and only about a foot away. 4227 is the best powder there as well. 2400 a distant second. I found some brass but make my own out of 7.62 x 39 brass. After the first firing they are almost identical in every aspect to actual .401 brass. I have to open up the AK brass with a tapered punch and fire form them. Id say the recoil on the .401 is about like a 12 guage. Mine came with an original peep sight on the tang but I removed it. Just use iron sights. 

They are fun guns to shoot. I hope you enjoy them as much as I have. 

Zebulon said
They are curious and unique. I intend to see if I can sight mine in, once I can get settled on a load. Graf has my money for whenever Quality Cartridge makes another run of brass. In the meanwhile, I’ll use the once-fired stuff I’ve got. I want to find a bullet caster that sells a .352 RN 180 grain bullet. 
  

Too bad Lee doesn’t seem to make a mould for this one, would probably cost less than a handful of commercial cast bullets. Someone we know would probably use any overruns we may have.

Mike

Zebulon said
I am not ready yet to take up casting, although I moved friend Jim’s electric pot and mold handles down to the garage. I’d need an apron, gloves, goggles, probably a dipper and a thermometer, some alloy — and a mold. With everything else going on,  250 cast bullets might be a lot cheaper and furnish several years worth of shooting. It’s the “several years” I have to consider. 
There is an alternative- get a resizing tool, a .352 die and RN top punch and squeeze down some of the .358 lead I’ve got on hand 
  

I wouldn’t mind pouring a few, pretty sure won’t be needing many for this rifle. A custom mould would be best but may not be a good investment. Good call on the PPE, I generally save my apron and face shield for melting down scrap lead for ingots. Sometimes scrap holds a surprise or two, my ingots are as safe as 750-degree lead can be. I always use welding gloves and a heavy long sleeve shirt, the gloves saved me when I had an equipment failure awhile back. 

Mike

I’ve had a visit from the Tinsel Fairy, thanks to my PPE I only had a few splatters in my beard but I kept the tinsel shirt around as a reminder! I get pretty nervous when I have a 40-50 pounds of lead scrap meting down. I generally walk away until all the steel is floating. I had a Bic lighter explode (sitting in the hot sun) when I was melting scrap awhile later and I did a better duck and cover drill than a box turtle. When pieces of plastic instead of molten lead started landing I figured out that you don’t leave a Bic lighter on the front bumper of your truck in Texas on a hot summer day.

Mike