The biggest issue might be the bullets offered in the .350. Some are rather pointed and with the relatively high recoil of the .350 an accidental ignition in the tubular magazine might be possible. Not sure of the actual risk of this happening, the rifle manufacturer would have to determine if they felt the risk was worth the reward.

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I don't think Winchester offers a 9mm rifle, do you mean the Taylors & Co 1873? As mentioned the pointy bullets may be an issue but the biggest problem is the pressure ceiling on the 350 Legend at 55,000 psi. This is higher than any other cartridge a Marlin has been chambered in.

 

Yes, you are correct, it is the Taylor version of the Winchester 1873, my bad.

 

Also the whole no rim thing. Rimmed cartridges play well in lever actions. No rim, or technically rebated rim cartridges don’t. This is why Henry helped develop the 360 Buckhammer. Basically the same thing only with a rim to function in a lever gun. Conversely rimmed cartridges don’t lend themselves to work well in Bolt action or semi auto guns.
the 350 was developed based on 223/5.56 brass which Winchester cranks out by the millions. This was an easy task to put in guns already designed for the 223/5.56 such as bolt and ARs.

I‘m a big fan of the 350, but for what it would cost to build a lever action for that caliber I think it would not be popular.

 

The 350 Legend might be a good cartridge for the Henry Lever Action Supreme Rifle that takes AR15 magazines, the reason the 350 Legend exists, along with that straight/no-neck cartridge requirement of some states. Most Winchester Lever Guns (1884,1886,71) rely on the cartridge rim to control feeding on the carrier, Marlin's (Henry's too) work fine with or without a rim, the .35 Rem works just fine in my Marlin's, but if want a '35 lever gun' the .360 BuckHammer is probably the way to go. It covers the 'no-neck' states and has .35 Rem+ ballistics. You can form/trim 30-30 cases to reload. Of course, the Savage 99, Winchester 88, Sako Finnwolf(?), Browning BLR, Henry Long Ranger, all lever guns, never needed a case rim.

 

Not needed since we have the ever faithful 35 Remington. Which is mo better.

 

We have to use straight wall cartridges here in southern Michigan

 

…but the biggest problem is the pressure ceiling on the 350 Legend at 55,000 psi. This is higher than any other cartridge a Marlin has been chambered in.

Actually the pressure may not be a problem at all. It is not the pressure which limits the action strength, but rather the force applied to the breach. That force is the psi times the area on which that pressure is applied. The internal diameter of the .350 cartridge is nominally .356”, so the force applied is 55,000 psi x 0.1 in2 = 5500 pounds of force. The Marlin was chambered in .444 Marlin with a maximum chamber pressure of 42,000 psi. With an nominal internal diameter of 0.43” than means a force of 42,000 psi x 0.145 in2 = 6100 pounds. So the .444 has a force on the action 11% greater than the .350 has. “Marlin-level” .45-70 handloads will apply even more force to the breach. Therefore chamber pressure is probably not a limiting factor regarding action strength.

Headspacing, feeding and bullet shape on the other hand…..




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Rossi made their 92 in 454 so it could be done. Surprised Henry has not made one in its Long Ranger version as they make it in 6.5 Creedmoor which is higher pressure. As stated the 360 Buckmaster has been designed for a lever action and makes it unnecessary. The 350 Legend came out in a bolt action the 360 in a lever. Nature of a tubular magazine rear locking lever action has meant that lever actions that sell have their own cartridges. 444 is a good example. In a bolt you have the 35 Whelen or more powerful cartridges. In a lever action it offers a powerful cartridge. Darned few 30 30s in a bolt action.
Savage 99 and Winchester 88 are no longer around. Lever action users buy the classic tubular magazine exposed hammer flat sided rifles.

DEP