DP ishapore smle ?convert to .22rf ?

[Mr E]

I have myself a nice ishapore smle rifle thats been drilled through the chamber and barrel thread area. I am looking into the practicalities of making it into a .22rf rifle by fitting it with the correct bolt head and a barrel insert.
The rifle looks and functions fine except for the welded firing pin hole. shortenend firing pin and the hole drilled into the action at the chamber

I have thought about it and I think it should be ok. there is alot of metal there for a .22rf

[Peter Laidler]

I wouldn't bother myself BUT............ If you consider that the sub caliber insert of the L1A1 rifle is proofed on a stand alone basis - that is, not held within a rifle barrel. ON that basis, a similar rifled barrel insert in your No1 with a drilled chamber should be safe. After all, it is the proofed barrel in its own right and your drilled barrel is just the vehicle that holds/supports it.

Quite whether the person who's doing the job will see it that way and put his name to it is another matter!

Interesting question from a technical point of view. Anyone else got any theories? What about you outside the box thinkers JM or Bruce in Oz

[Patrick Chadwick]

If you consider that the sub caliber insert of the L1A1 rifle is proofed on a stand alone basis - that is, not held within a rifle barrel. ON that basis, a similar rifled barrel insert in your No1 with a drilled chamber should be safe. After all, it is the proofed barrel in its own right and your drilled barrel is just the vehicle that holds/supports it.

Quite right, from an engineering point of view. The snag, from the legislative point of view is that when an insert has been permanently fitted, any proof marks on the insert have disappeared forever. So you have a rifle that does not exhibit valid proof marks. Over here that is technically illegal, although the rifle will be perfectly OK.

In Germany, one can often find removable barrel inserts. Not as popular now as once, they are used by hunters to practise with what is, for them, sub-caliber ammunition. I.e. using cheap .22 long rifle instead of some awfully expensive hunting ammo. Who would want to fire off a practice string with a .460 Wetherby - even if they could afford it?

Another use is to fit a rifled barrel into a shotgun barrel for occasional use. I do not know if these insert barrels were used where Mr E lives, and whether they were ever made for Enfields, but such an insert is a very good solution that does not require a reproofing of the "carrier", as the insert is proofed in its own right and the proof marks can be checked.

[Peter Laidler]

That's interesting thought Patrick. Who checks the proof marks in Germany? And when? Good job it's not the job of the Police here. Some of them can't even see the time let alone a proof mark!

I recall a time when we alllowed a group of civilians to shoot a few weapons - a GPMG, MG42, Steyr AUG and SA80 plus some others and when checking the legal niceties of it all, one of the local gun cops told me that we'd have to have them all commercial proofed if civvies were shooting them! I just put on a well practiced befuddled look, rolled my eyes skywards and just got on with the task in the usual way - properly! Mind you, I did cross his name off the list as well! You can't be too careful can you?

[Mr E]

thanks for confirming my thoughts and minor research. I will be making the insert myself and there is no proofing here (USA) that I know of and in Australia the only proofing I had ever known about was getting No4 actions proofed for 7.62 conversions. Only guns coming via England ever had proof marks
thanks

[RCS]

Photos show an example of a demilled 1903 barrel that had been welded to the receiver of a M1903 rifle. The barrel was removed and cleaned-up and a 22 rim fire liner was installed with an extension on the breech to accept the Springfield M2 22 rim fire bolt. A small number of these conversions have been performed in the USA. Test target was fired at 25 yards but nice 100 yard groups have been fired. I used an old low numbered 1903 action to installed the salvaged barrel with the 22 rim fire liner.

[jmoore]

I'd get a full length barrel liner and glue it in. You would need to bore out th chamber area to a cylinder and insert a short sleeve there, but that's fairly simple and. if epoxy is used, doesn't have to be much more than could be accomplished with a reamer run in from the action side if removing the barrel is a great bother.

[read6737]

I have been thinking about doing the same thing but with a Mauser that will never fire 8X57 again
or any other large Mauser round for that matter.
The chamber and cannon too rusty.
I have an Austrian Voere .22 insert / conversion kit that will convert 7 and 8 mm Mauser to .22lr
but I would like to stop it flexing when I shoot.
Was thinking about grease on the insert and putting silicon sealant down the cannon
to take up the slack, and hope that the grease will help removal when I want to take the Voere unit out.
Or would it be best to epoxy in and never take it out.?
I know I am talking about a Mauser but it is the idea and the principles of this topic.

[Mr E]

I have been thinking about doing the same thing but with a Mauser that will never fire 8X57 again
or any other large Mauser round for that matter.
The chamber and cannon (bore) too rusty.
I have an Austrian Voere .22 insert / conversion kit that will convert 7 and 8 mm Mauser to .22lr
but I would like to stop it flexing when I shoot.
Was thinking about grease on the insert and putting silicon sealant down the cannon (bore)
to take up the slack, and hope that the grease will help removal when I want to take the Voere unit out.
Or would it be best to epoxy in and never take it out.?
I know I am talking about a Mauser but it is the idea and the principles of this topic.

its up to you but I will be using a permanent method to set the liner in the barrel but you could use something like a thread lock compound that when heated will release so you can get the liner out but I think that if the gun is rusted out then a permanent conversion is better

[Midmichigun]

Mr E.
I am working on SOMETHING similar but on a different rifle.

I ran across a Taiwan rusty eroded barrel for an M1 Garand. I also popped for the Numrich M1 Garand castings... along with a demilled bolt... and even some Italian Beretta wood. While it makes an IMPRACTICAL conversion, all is good.

I ordered an "aircraft" drill... which is very long, to bore out the barrel, for a 22lr liner that I purchased via Numrich. I have the epoxy in which to set the liner. Epoxy is better than the old tyme solder. My only concern being getting the bore axis straight.

I have also watched the conversion process for 1903's... and was considering a conversion such as yours for a DP Enfield, until Mr. Peter Laidler convinced me othewise!

If you have a DP rifle, or suspect that it is unsafe for full power cartridges, I would insure that it CAN'T be converted back easily, to insure future safe operation at reduced pressure... i.e... epoxy the 22lr parts in place.