r/canadaguns • u/Ferropater • 3d ago
Gun and gear reviews Canuck Wrangler Jurassic .357 first shots, first thoughts
I purchased a Canuck Wrangler Jurassic in .357 Mag. I chose .357 over .44 Mag because I’ve always wanted a firearm in that caliber, I already had a mold for it, it could shoot .38spl which is way more available than .44 special and .357 looked fun and cheap to reload.
I bought a box each of .38 and .357 and the day I got the gun went to a family member’s rural property to try it out.
.38spl American Eagle 158 round nose (all that was available in brass)
Quiet, had virtually no perceived recoil but did not like to cycle in the rifle. The rounds didn’t like to pop back from the mag tube. Had to fiddle around with it and poke the rounds with my knife blade to get them to pop back.
.357 Mag American Eagle 158 semi jacketed flat nose (all that was available in brass)
Love the bang, and the thump. Loaded flawlessly, every time.
I don’t know why the .38s didn’t like to load, it was a pain in the ass to fiddle with them. I’m hoping that some use will break the gun in and they will work in the future.
My 12yo son loves the little carbine, he likes the lever action and if he proves he can hit things with it he’ll take it hunting this fall. From other experiences with cast lead in rifles, powder-coated 158gr hardish cast semi-wadcutters should go the long way through a deer. I will do some penetration testing, and see what they will do vs factory.
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u/iatekane 3d ago
The short overall length of those .38spl rounds often don’t play nice with the 1892 action. The Marlin 1894 action works better for .38’s
You can try other brands of .38 but you might want to just stick to .357 going forward. Can also reach out to O’Dell and see what they have to say.
Does the Canuck documentation mention anything about .38spl usage?
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u/SleazyGreasyCola 3d ago
I have one and its compatible, just not with 38+ loads. The 38s didn't really work well at first but after a couple hundred rounds it works better and rarely has feeding issues. 100% though it prefers .357. I haven't had any issues shooting any .357 I give it.
Also you need to be kinda rough with the lever. Gotta really hammer it to cycle it well, especially if you're firing fast.
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u/IndividualCertain358 3d ago
the 38's where round nose, i have always had issues with that in any lever rifle i have tried. (cheap isn't always the best)
its a great round for reloading tho. especially .357 i have tailored mine to my rifle, so i get more velocity out of it, as well as i have a light load for cowboy action shooting (38 spl) for light recoil
as far as hunting, you are right to look at penetration if your casting your own. from my understanding there comes a point that the lead starts just getting blown apart. maybe look at a gas check to add to the powder coat
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u/Ferropater 3d ago
I’ve got a fair amount of experience shooting powder-coated hard cast lead.
There are three things to be concerned about when working up cast lead loads, leading, gas cutting, and running the bullet so fast that centrifugal force rips the bullet apart. I guess it’s also possible to run the bullet so fast that air friction blasts it to vapour too, Richard Lee talked about that.
Anyway, I shoot test loads into wet sawdust to check what’s going on with them. I’ve yet to push PC’d lead to the point of gas cutting. PCing removes most of the leading worries, you can see it in the engraving if you start to lose the sides. I’ve never pushed it hot enough to blow up the bullets either.
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u/NoGrapefruit1213 3d ago
Wrangler blackout here in .357 runs Pmc .357 flawlessly. The odd time a Pmc .38 will kinda hang up but if you cycle the action with some speed and force it never does. A lever likes to be man handled. I also cut a couple inches off the mag tube spring on mine I was having issues getting the full 8 rounds of 357 in tube and this fixed that. There’s some videos on you tube about this might be under another Turkish name though can’t remember
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u/Ferropater 3d ago
I wonder if the Lee .38/200 bullets might work better they are .830” long and can make a .38spl 1.617” which is longer than a flat nosed .357. A big slow bullet for messing about sounds kinda fun.
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u/Ferropater 1d ago
I really wish they had an alternative rear sight for the rail, it would be a perfect set up to have the rail rear sight have a ghost ring as an alternative part to the v-notch. I will take a look at the part, I might try to make one myself. If it’s aluminum I have equipment to duplicate the original part in cast aluminum, from there it wouldn’t be that hard to add to a wax master to make a ghost ring.
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u/Ferropater 3d ago
Once I get enough .357 brass I can load down for the same effect (one of the benefits of powder coated bullets is the ability to colour code). But it just sucks because .38 brass is waaaaaay cheaper.