Horrible Idea

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AggieWalt
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Horrible Idea

Post by AggieWalt »

So I have a couple of Enfields, a No1Mk3 that was bubba'd and a No4Mk1* Savage that is in original state and love the 303 cartridge, but it is getting more expensive to feed them so I was looking at a 7.62X39 conversion for the No1 but then I thought about another posibility...

Here starts the horrible idea. Take a 7.62X25 conversion chamber for the 303 that is available from sportsman's guide and cut a 30-30win (or 30-30AI) chamber in it and relive a section of the adapter to allow the extractor to grab the 30-30 rim (may have to get a new bolt head and modify an extractor) and install them. It would be a bit cheaper to shoot reloading 30-30, although I would probably have to use hornady 7.62X39 sst bullets (which have pretty good terminal performance on hogs). It would also be significantly less recoil than 303 and I could use it as a loaner or backup hunting rifle.

What say ye sages of WECSOGery
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Aesop
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Re: Horrible Idea

Post by Aesop »

Why would anyone bubba a rifle to shoot .30-30, rather than simply sell it unmolested and use the proceeds to buy one already made in .30-30?
Which they still make plenty of...?

This is like the guys who used to jam a Cadillac engine and grille (or a Harley front end) onto a VW bug, because they could...but WTF? :?

I get that it's a free country, and people can do as they please, but I just don't get the whole chop-shop ethic. My limited imagination, maybe.
I want a Han Solo blaster, but I'm not going to hash up a vintage broomhandle Mauser to make one.

YMMV.
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HTRN
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Re: Horrible Idea

Post by HTRN »

After all that nonsense, how much is it going to cost for the end result of a butchered Enfield?

Vs, say handloading? Midway has 174 grain Round nose for 18 bucks a hundred. Remington Brass is 53 bucks a hundred. FSIbrass has once fired brass even cheaper.
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AggieWalt
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Re: Horrible Idea

Post by AggieWalt »

The idea was that there would be no permanent alteration to the rifle (outside of an extractor). The adapters should be removable if I read right. As for reloading 303 I just didn't think about it, major brainfart.
Apathy rules with an iron fist so we must strike back with steel resolve.
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First Shirt
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Re: Horrible Idea

Post by First Shirt »

Once upon a time you could get Enfields from the Ishapore Arsenal in .308 Win/7.62x51 NATO, and it didn't seem to be too much of a thing, as in, not requiring a lot of work or redesign.

I think if I was going to keep them, I'd have the Bubba'd one rechambered/converted, and keep the other one on a steady diet of reloads.
Last edited by First Shirt on Tue Sep 01, 2015 1:36 am, edited 1 time in total.
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JustinR
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Re: Horrible Idea

Post by JustinR »

First Shirt wrote:Once upon a time you could get Enfields from the Ishapore Arsenal in .308 Win/7/62x51 NATO, and it didn't seem to be too much of a thing, as in, not requiring a lot of work or redesign.
Yep. Put an ATI stock on mine this year and it's much lighter and more ergonomic. (Unfortunately I can't resize the photo on my phone to be able to post it now.)
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Vonz90
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Re: Horrible Idea

Post by Vonz90 »

I don't know that I would trust an insert at full pressures. Maybe just re barrel one if you want that route.

I think 303 is pretty easy to reload so that is probably easier.

.... Or get a Mauser.
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D5CAV
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Re: Horrible Idea

Post by D5CAV »

Agree. It is a horrible idea.

I can't tell you how many guns I've looked at and thought, "I wonder how much money the owner burned to turn this $1000 Mauser into a $200 hunting rifle?"

If you are tired of .303 Enfield, sell the rifles and buy what you want. You can take the money you make from selling your .303 Enfields, buy a brand new bolt action CZ in 7.62x39mm and have money left over for a case of ammo.
None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free.” Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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Netpackrat
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Re: Horrible Idea

Post by Netpackrat »

D5CAV wrote:You can take the money you make from selling your .303 Enfields, buy a brand new bolt action CZ in 7.62x39mm and have money left over for a case of ammo.
And after a year or so of fucking with it, probably get it to function properly. :roll:
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D5CAV
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Re: Horrible Idea

Post by D5CAV »

Netpackrat wrote:
D5CAV wrote:You can take the money you make from selling your .303 Enfields, buy a brand new bolt action CZ in 7.62x39mm and have money left over for a case of ammo.
And after a year or so of fucking with it, probably get it to function properly. :roll:
?? Do tell.

I don't own the rifle, since I haven't experienced a burning need for a bolt action 7.62x39mm launcher, but I'm curious as to what CZ did to screw up something that simple.

I have a CZ 550 in .416 Rigby. Other than making me see stars every time I squeeze the trigger, it works fine.
None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free.” Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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