357 Small Game Muzzleloader

[met2010]

Last year I bought a Knight Wolverine 50 and hunted deer. Although I didn't get one, I got hooked on muzzleloading. I enjoyed it so much that I even hunted gophers with it this spring. Now not only is the 50 way overkill, it is too darned expensive to shoot for gophers. I tried shooting round balls, but couldn't find a load that shot well. The best I got was about 5-1/2" at 50 yards.
I got a crazy idea to buy a relatively small caliber barrel and build a custom smokeless muzzleloader from scratch. I know that I could build a 32 black powder ML, but if I'm going to build something, I want it to be different. I do have a lathe and access to a mill and a heat treat oven. I am studying metallurgical engineering so I do have the knowledge to design and build this safely.

So here is my question: If I bought a 357 barrel, do you all think that I could load a 9mm (.355") in it? I was thinking of using soft lead cast bullets, which should () load easily and "squat down" upon firing to provide a good seal. I realize the only way to be absolutely sure is to try it, but I though I would ask to see if such a thing even sounds reasonable.

Thanks in advance.

[wilmsmeyer]

I'm assuming that you are sticking with Black Powder or subs. If by chance you were thinking of smokeless, you should post this on the Savage page cause I can think of a few people that could respond to this very matter of factly.

It appears that your rifle would be shooting "full bore" slugs. (you mentioned lead bullets for obturation) Does anyone even make a .357 sabot with yet a smaller bullet inside? I'm not sure but my initial answer is "no".

I wonder if you could build this as a smokeless and find the "perfect fitting" rifle bullet and really have a neat little gun that shot sabot-less. You could choose very powerful loads or loads that ballistically match a BP load and carry very little recoil.

[met2010]

Thanks for your reply. I was planning on smokeless and full bore lead pistol bullets. No one that I know of makes 357 sabots. I will post over on the savage board and see what they say.

Thanks again.