Hi folks,

I've been offered a Navy Arms (manu'd by Uberti) baby rolling block carbine (22" round barrel) in 357 magnum. It's in fired, but excellent condition. Price is $350 CDN.

Here's a link to the same model as the one I'm interested in: Uberti Baby Rolling Block in 357 (http://www.firearmseller.com/Gallery/update120107/album/Navy%20Arms%20Uberti%20Rolling%20block%20rifle%20i n%20.357%20magnum/index.html)

Uberti is no longer making a 357 chambering, so from what I can gather, the 357's were imported in the early-mid 1990's.

I have no past experience with RB's or Uberti replicas, but the rifle has caught my fancy as a nice small game carry rifle. However, I have read the odd post saying that early Uberti's had soft metal.

Does anyone have experience or know of the reputation (accuracy-wise and build quality) of these particular 357 mag. RB's? Are they strong enough to take fullpower magnum loads (I know the RB design is strong, but am more concerned about the quality of the metal)?

Thanks very much, and looking forward to participating in this forum.

Sorry about that. I didn't realized you'd erased the message in all but one post. Please repost. Isn't dial-up fun?

Edit: I got lucky and recovered your message.

Bye
Jack

Back in the early seventies I got one in .22 Hornet. It had grossly excessive headspace, cases separated on the first firing even with reduced loads. I had it rechambered to .218 Bee with minimum headspace and after lots of experimentation I found a load that would consistently go near 1 moa. I think the .357 should be a good one if bored and chambered correctly but it is not a very strong action and I'd go easy on the gas peddle.