Interesting 1903 22 Cal Conversion

A friend recently brought in a M1903 22 caliber conversion of some sort. It's in what appears to be a no-bolt full length stock, with no hand guard. The barrel is an SA, dated 3-08 and is not sleeved. The chamber is milled forward of the area where the original '06 chamber would be. This requires use of a bolt extension held by the '03's extractor. There are no marking on the piece, other than on the barrel and on the magazine which is from a Savage .22. I've never seen anything like this and assumed it was done many years ago by a creative gunsmith. Could anyone comment on what this actually is? A few pictures are attached.

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Isn't that neat? How about a photo expose on that? A bit picture heavy would be nice...

You know digging in the docs, you see so much stuff exactly like this. Stuff that doesn't look like it should exist.

It's so hard to say without definite proof who did it. But dang that is neat.

Is the barrel a .22 barrel with SA markings? Not sure if I had understood this correctly.

The bolt handle is swept back, so it is for sure later than the rifle. The barrel looks like it once had a rear sight base on it, can you confirm this? What for is the screw in the area of the magazine cut-off? Does the rear sight base when not folded down clear the bolt when pulled back? And the receiver appears to be one of the unused old castings.

GeorgeG--

That is a very interesting conversion of the rifle to .22LR. The receiver looks like one of scrap unfinished pre-1903 receivers for the came out the Springfield Armory (the real one) when it closed. I have to go with Jim. I would like to see an expose of the rifle especially how the rifle ejects the spent case and how the .22 magazine is held into the stock. I like to see how other folks get around the technical challenges of convert a other useless rifle into something shootable with the limited resources available.

Thanks

--fjruple

I took a couple of other pictures of the rifle before I gave it back to my friend. They're not great, but I'll get them posted. To answer some of the questions, there are two filled holes about 1" apart on the barrel just forward of the receiver. The rear sight base appears to act as the bolt stop as the bolt cannot be removed without taking off the sight. The screw in the cutoff area doesn't seem to do anything. The bolt extension has dual extractors and there's an ejector at the rear of the port on the barrel. The magazine is a friction fit and not positively held. Thanks for the comments so far!

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Originally Posted by GeorgeG

I took a couple of other pictures of the rifle before I gave it back to my friend.

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That's too bad, this one should be consumed...

Additional photos are attached. Just noticed it has what seems to be a M1917 floor plate.

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George did the bolt extension appear to be the modified front end on a .22LR bolt?

Thanks

Frank

Neat looking rifle, love to have a close look.

Yes, the trigger guard originates from a M1917, and the screws in it .. well, they originate from the metal store down the road.

Is that a no bolt stock? I can't tell if it's a one bolt, or no bolt.

I'm still fascinated by this. lol

Frank, I didn't take the bolt out as the rear sight had to be removed to do so. The front end of the bolt looked like it may have been a Remington 513, but that's just a guess. The back was modified such that the '03 extractor held it. No idea how the firing pin was actuated - maybe the '03 firing pin acts like a transfer bar? My friend said he would fire the thing to see if it works. I'll report back on that. Thanks for the responses.

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The stock definitely has no bolts or pins although it's been heavily modified to accept the conversion. I though maybe rod bayonet, but didn't see the filler in the front end. There is some sort of marking on the front, but it's illegible.

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Originally Posted by cplstevennorton

I'm still fascinated by this.

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Agreed, this is one that should be captured and examined closely. Doesn't matter who did it or what for, it's a neat idea and innovative.