Canada gunsmith Hall confers over Enfield conversion with friend and customer Martin, in Ontario gunshop. From ENFIELD to SPORTER By LESS HALL .. _~. ... Scoped converted Enfield has new muzzle brake, open barrel sight and streamlined action with ears knocked off. Below, military bands are scrapped; guard tang straightened out. 36 <strong>GUNS</strong> • JANUARY <strong>1960</strong>
CONVERTING .30·06 ENFIELD INTO SLICK .300 H & H SPORTER MAKES GOOD HOME.WORKSHOP PROJECT FOR METAL·WORKING HOBBYISTS American Enfield is club as-is, can form basis of finest sporting rifles. Simple chopping of stock, sanding, adapts rifle for woods' use but if Hi Standard or Johnson-barreled can be worked over into .300 H&H Mag. THE BIG BARREL, long rugged action, and the low-cost availability of the "P-17" make many do-it-yourselfers cast an appreciative eye over these common military rifles. What we in Canada call the P -17, to distinguish it from the .303-calibered Pattern 1914 service rifle, is the "American Enfield," Model 1917 U.S. service rifle. Made by Winchester, Remington, and the Remington-operated Eddystone, Pa., factory in War One, these rifles are attractive to the home mechanic with some of the basic metal working tools who wants to rework one to his own ideas of a sporter. The P-17 is chambered for the .30-06, but the action was originally designed for a slightly longer experimental round that was never produced. It is a good one for changing over to the powerful, flat-shooting .300 Holland & Holland Magnum cartridge. In Great Britain, the identical action is used by that company in making their .300 and heavier Magnum sporting rifles. The only cautio\! in selecting a P-17 for .300 conversion is that you buy a good rifle to start with. Many during War Two were rebarreled by High Standard or Johnson Automatics, so barrels marked H-S or JA near the muzzle are especially good for this conversion. After you have received your rifle, the first thing to do is remove the military stock from the action. Before you remove it, take note if it is closely fitted. You can use this old stock to take measurements for your new one. Next, remove the bolt and strip it down to the bare bolt. Remove bolt plug and firing pin, and the extractor. The bare bolt will have to be set up in your milling attachment on your lathe and the bolt face recess enlarged to accept the larger head on the .300 Magnum case. An end mill approximately 18 to 20 thousands larger than the head of the case, set up in your chuck, will do this nicely. Make sure that you have it properly centered, and do not cut in deeper than the original face. Remember, this is merely enlarging the recess, not deepening it. The open corners of the lips may have to be rounded out with a fine file, and do not do this until you are sure it is necessary, depending on how the cartridges feed up from the magazine. The next step is making the reamer to rechamber your barrel. You can buy one if you wish but they are expensive to budget out on a one-rifle job. And anyway, you'll get a much greater kick out of making it yourself. Unless you have a grinding attachment for your lathe, to finish-grind after hardening, don't make it out of high speed steel. This steel will warp on heat treating. The best steel I have found for reamers is the brand known as "Keewatin." With this you can cut your reamer to exactly the size you want, and it will warp an absolute minimum from heat treating. Make your reamer not more than two thousands larger than the largest case you find. You will find they vary considerably, both in diameter and length. Buy two or (Continued on page 44) Fancy change-over uses new stock, short pipe and brake, action, magazine modified. <strong>GUNS</strong> JANUARY <strong>1960</strong> 37
- Page 1 and 2: .JANUARY 1960 SOc THE BIG LITTLE .2
- Page 3 and 4: A-a.:H"W~kl-fl(NJrrrCS:-THIS IS POR
- Page 5 and 6: JANUARY. 1960 Vol. VI, No. 1-61 Geo
- Page 7 and 8: THE NEw CUSTOM GREAT WESTERN FIREAR
- Page 9 and 10: History plainly shows that an armed
- Page 11 and 12: Shooters' Problem We here in Southe
- Page 13 and 14: .22 6·SHOT REVOLVER $12.95 .22 MOS
- Page 15 and 16: S&W M&P VICTORY MODEL .38 saw CTG.
- Page 17 and 18: CROWNS NEW TRAP CREA.TS THIS IS WHE
- Page 19 and 20: The varmint-flat, moose-strong .257
- Page 21 and 22: What happens to the shooter's hand?
- Page 23 and 24: Alaskan outfitter DeHart poses behi
- Page 25 and 26: Tree farms like Olin Forests in Lou
- Page 27 and 28: Typical smallbore sporter is chambe
- Page 29 and 30: WEARING CORRECT SHOOTING GARB CAN B
- Page 31 and 32: aperture rear sight. These two litt
- Page 33 and 34: Gun OF ,- r II ~_ t#'\.:: ~"-",,,,,
- Page 35: ., ER'S BARGAINS 19S9's FAlIIJRITES
- Page 39 and 40: Purvis, former outfitter in Mexico,
- Page 41 and 42: ARACK YOU CAN BUILD By FRED C. SCHW
- Page 43 and 44: chamber reamers for making more bar
- Page 45 and 46: worry about that soft soldering. If
- Page 47 and 48: jess uniform than a good commercial
- Page 49 and 50: with 12 or 15 shots at small juice
- Page 51 and 52: cial area down below and the "gapin
- Page 53 and 54: ingratitude (the owner likes a "tha
- Page 55 and 56: num, if they do their own loading.
- Page 57 and 58: WITH OUTDOORSMAN'S SWEATSHIRT perfe
- Page 59 and 60: GUNS RACK: Notes On Killing Power p
- Page 61 and 62: ~oo~ and the .35 Whelen. I might ad
- Page 63 and 64: ELMER KEITH SAYS ------------------
- Page 65 and 66: THE FIRESIDE BOOK OF GUNS By Larry
- Page 67 and 68: MAGAZINES IJ P-3S $5.50 ~~t~~:n~t-~
Change language