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GUNS Magazine January 1960

GUNS Magazine January 1960

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CONVERTING .30·06 ENFIELD INTO SLICK<br />

.300 H & H SPORTER MAKES GOOD HOME.WORKSHOP PROJECT<br />

FOR METAL·WORKING HOBBYISTS<br />

THE BIG BARREL, long rugged action,<br />

and the low-cost availability of<br />

the "P-17" make many do-it-yourselfers<br />

cast an appreciative eye over these common<br />

military rifles. What we in Canada<br />

call the P -17, to distinguish it from the<br />

.303-calibered Pattern 1914 service rifle,<br />

is the "American Enfield," Model 1917<br />

U.S. service rifle. Made by Winchester,<br />

Remington, and the Remington-operated<br />

Eddystone, Pa., factory in War One, these<br />

rifles are attractive to the home mechanic<br />

with some of the basic metal working<br />

tools who wants to rework one to his own<br />

ideas of a sporter.<br />

The P-17 is chambered for the .30-06,<br />

but the action was originally designed for<br />

a slightly longer experimental round that<br />

was never produced. It is a good one for<br />

changing over to the powerful, flat-shooting<br />

.300 Holland & Holland Magnum<br />

cartridge. In Great Britain, the identical<br />

action is used by that company in making<br />

their .300 and heavier Magnum sporting<br />

rifles. The only cautio\! in selecting a<br />

P-17 for .300 conversion is that you buy<br />

a good rifle to start with. Many during<br />

War Two were rebarreled by High Standard<br />

or Johnson Automatics, so barrels<br />

marked H-S or JA near the muzzle are<br />

especially good for this conversion.<br />

After you have received your rifle, the<br />

first thing to do is remove the military<br />

stock from the action. Before you remove<br />

it, take note if it is closely fitted. You can<br />

use this old stock to take measurements<br />

for your new one.<br />

Next, remove the bolt and strip it down<br />

American Enfield is club as-is, can<br />

form basis of finest sporting rifles.<br />

Simple chopping of stock, sanding,<br />

adapts rifle for woods' use but if<br />

Hi Standard or Johnson-barreled can<br />

be worked over into .300 H&H Mag.<br />

to the bare bolt. Remove bolt plug and<br />

firing pin, and the extractor. The bare<br />

bolt will have to be set up in your milling<br />

attachment on your lathe and the bolt<br />

face recess enlarged to accept the larger<br />

head on the .300 Magnum case. An end<br />

mill approximately 18 to 20 thousands<br />

larger than the head of the case, set up in<br />

your chuck, will do this nicely. Make<br />

sure that you have it properly centered,<br />

and do not cut in deeper than the original<br />

face. Remember, this is merely enlarging<br />

the recess, not deepening it.<br />

The open corners of the lips may have<br />

to be rounded out with a fine file, and do<br />

not do this until you are sure it is necessary,<br />

depending on how the cartridges<br />

feed up from the magazine.<br />

The next step is making the reamer to<br />

rechamber your barrel. You can buy one<br />

if you wish but they are expensive to<br />

budget out on a one-rifle job. And anyway,<br />

you'll get a much greater kick out<br />

of making it yourself.<br />

Unless you have a grinding attachment<br />

for your lathe, to finish-grind after hardening,<br />

don't make it out of high speed<br />

steel. This steel will warp on heat treating.<br />

The best steel I have found for reamers<br />

is the brand known as "Keewatin." With<br />

this you can cut your reamer to exactly<br />

the size you want, and it will warp an<br />

absolute minimum from heat treating.<br />

Make your reamer not more than two<br />

thousands larger than the largest case<br />

you find. You will find they vary considerably,<br />

both in diameter and length.<br />

Buy two or (Continued on page 44)<br />

Fancy change-over uses new<br />

stock, short pipe and brake,<br />

action, magazine modified.<br />

<strong>GUNS</strong> JANUARY <strong>1960</strong> 37

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