Numrich 1903 22 Conversion Kit

Good morning, all!

I picked this beauty up at an auction this weekend. I'm a reseller and unfortunately, there's just too much meat on the bone for me to hold on to it for long. Before I get it sold though, I thought I would post some pics for discussion. I will be selling elsewhere and am not trying to solicit offers in any way. It's a rare piece and thought everyone would like the chance to see one.

I'm a draftsman by day and will be making some drawings of the parts. If anyone is interested in those, let me know!

These speak for themselves so here they are!

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by rcathey

I'm a draftsman by day and will be making some drawings of the parts.

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Excellent idea, specially for the guys with low number guns they don't want to shoot ball through. Gets the old guns out to the range...or a crappy bore...

Nice piece, interesting they even altered the mags, I wonder what they were originally made for, not this I think...

I don't know if you want to or not - but a short test fire would be interesting to see how well it will group. Numrich also had a 22 rim fire conversion kit for the Lee Enfield
but these are not common to find,

Also forgot to ask, what kind of magazines are with the conversion kit ?

I'm not sure about the magazines. They do click in nice and flush but like Jim pointed out, they've been modified. Note the loss of temper on some areas near the feed lips.
This thing is really just too nice for me to install on my '03A3 so unfortunately that'll be left to the new owner.
I'm quite happy to be a caretaker until I find that person, though. It will be quite rewarding to do the drawings and maybe help get a few old '03s back in action!

I love these kits. I have one that is just a shooter, and I put it in my 1903A1 Unertl and my 1903A4. I have a M2 Bolt I made with a bent handle to fit the 1903A4 stock. I use a normal M2 bolt in the 1903A1 USMC Unertl.

I usually don't use a mag and use them like a single shot. They work great.

Here is my son with the A4 this summer. He ran probably a thousand rds thru it.

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...KQS7wA0l-1.jpg

Doesn't get any better than that!
I toyed with the idea of making up a few of these kits using my machine shop connections through work...then I saw how much M2 bolts cost!! Wouldn't leave a lot of money on the table after buying up a few of those.

The insert and insert tool wouldn't be a big deal.
The magazine well would be a bit of a trick but doable.
But buying those bolts...yikes.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by rcathey

Note the loss of temper on some areas near the feed lips.

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That would be from grinding to harshly and glowing red hot. That could have been sorted by reheating and quenching...

I want to say the mags are for a Reising. Like a Model 65 or leatherneck. Something like that. I can't remember for sure. But I think that is what they are.

The bolt body was also altered by adding a little "dab" of metal on the front of the bolt by arc welding. I think it was necessary to feed cartridges from the H&R magazine.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by cplstevennorton

a Model 65 or leatherneck

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See, that would make sense as they would be available.

Gentlemen,
Thought I'd give an update on this kit.
I sold it once but had to take a return to work out a couple issues. Firstly, the bolt was hard to lock into battery. It's an adjustable headspace bolt but even adjusted to it's loosest, it was still tight. It was that way for the buyer and it was that way on my '03A3. Perhaps both of our rifles are in good shape so the adapter barrel just doesn't fit in far enough. Either way, it's workable just tight. I believe the bolt could be fit to a particular gun and work much better.
Secondly, one of the magazine does not work. The locking nub is damaged so it's easy to seat the magazine too far into the action which jams the whole works up.
Finally, the firing pin wasn't striking hard enough. On these bolts, it turns out, the force with which the firing pin strikes can be adjusted by simply tightening the cocking knob.

With all this figured out and detailed, I posted this unit on GunBroker.

For those doing research in the future, I thought it would be helpful if I let folks know that it sold for $815 including shipping.

I think I could have gotten more if I just kept relisting at $1,000 or so but I'm not in the waiting game. This kit represented a lot of working capital to go out and buy more neat stuff!

Sounds like a lesson in patience instead of money making gains...

Perhaps so! It was a doubling of my investment, though, so I'm quite happy with the outcome.
This money will be rolled into my funds for the next auction. New and interesting things ever on the horizon.

Doubling money is fine...sure was a lot of work though. When it comes back to you...scares me...