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no disrespect..but, if you have a smith that thinks he can make it work..
give him the rifle, and have it done..
i think its more work then its worth.. a 17 barrel is costing well over 200.00 these days, so they arent cheap, and a 303 barrel is even worse.
Chuck
Why does Supersport need to change the barrel????????
45B20
It IS kind of "fuzzy" just what you have there-
Is it a 303 barrel that's been rechambered to 30-06?
Or is it actually a "proper" M1917 barrel "new" or old that's been swrewed onto the receiver? (This seems to make a whole lot more sense, as the breech face of the two types of barrel are considerably different!)
If it's the second set-up, MAYBE it can be modded to work tolerably well. The large rim of the 303 and the different body tapers and shoulder geometries may give you fits though. (The magazine feed lips proper are milled into the receiver, so just getting a magazine body to fit will probably be the easy part!)
Just how "non-military" is the rest of the rifle? (stock chopped/replaced, rear sight ears cut off, scope mounted, etc.)
what i said was, save the 17 barrel for a 17, find the right barrel for the rifle,Quote:
Originally Posted by 45B20
im a , if you want to do something, do it right, kinda guy.
I just got back frome the gunsmith. The barrel is a true 30-06, so there is no problem with than.
As for how off from mil-spec. It's a long way. This is all form the point I got it, so know this was not me. The stock is new sporter (I will be checkering it myself), the barrel is "new" in 30-06, the bolt assembly is off a m1917. But the rest is stock. I will be pulling off all the sights, witch are in great condion, but of no use with the new barrel. I also plan to be mounting a scope (with out cutting down the old sight guard). As this will soon be my little brothers FIRST deer rifle, so I know it will not reseve the best of treatment.
I got in to this rifle with that in mind, it is not going to be restored to what it was, for that I would have started with something in far better shape.
And for having a smith do the work, a side of complex milling, or somthing I need a tool to do that I don't have my smith never gets his hand on my projects. I build, tinker and modify guns as a hubby for the joy of it. This is the first enfield I have worked with. If I find a good deal again I would love the chance to restore a m1917, No. 1, or No.2, but that would not be for a while.
I'm ordering all my "new" parts today.
I just have to post this. This is the first time I tryed using a forum to get info for a project. Before it was just me in the work shop with a stack of speck, and a pot of coffee. I can say now that I have found this to be a great tool.
I'm a structural drafter (I'm the guy who has the great job of drafting blue prints that can help to bring a architect's consepts to life. Nothing nice or artsy I just know where and how the beams will have to sit and what material they have to be to. So if I do my job right I never have to leave my little desk, and no one see's my work), so I can tell what I can do safely, and I know when I'm in over my head.
I know a lot of guys don't like to see someone "skrew up" a nice piece, so thank you for all your help in "sporterising" this rifle.
It would have been less "shocking" if we knew that it had been sportered from the outset. Hopefully, it can be made to work tolerably well w/o as much work as I'm afraid it's going to require. Feed problems of this variety can be absolutely maddening to sort out, sometimes it never works out. (Sometimes, not very often, its works out quite easily, but...)
BTW, the most common conversion of P'14 sporters were into the belted magnums, as the cartridge base sizes were more compatible.
just a note.
this and other military weapons sites are really geared at preserving, and restoring these weapons for collections, shooting ect,
not so much at grinding them up, with all the ones that were already ground on, drilled , welded, cut short, or other basement modified, i dont see a need to ruin another.
had you stated that from the get go, the answers would have likely been different.
I had assumed that, that's why I thanked for all the help in finnishing a nice rifle So it's noted this one was in a condion were a restoraion would yield a rifle that someone in years past had taken a file to and remove or realy chewer up most all the original marking (for me that is the biggest shame of this one), and missmacked almost every part. I say almost becouse it looks like he stopped short of compleating the rifle just be for he got to the sights. To be honist I have no idear as to why someone one would try to do this. Unless this was originly stolen from British service.
In my humble opinion doing anything but sportering it would just show off all the mistakes someone had made on this rifle. And with the price of these being so low I'm almost sure I will have a chance to restore one that has not seen the business end of a file on key parts.
With the remaking of the Colt Black Army 1911, a true m1917 would be a package I will be on the look out for.