Just when you think you've heard it all....

[Lithy]

Hmmm........I've got a shot out 303/22 barrel and a couple of SMLE actions laying around.

I wonder how a .30 cast pill and a large dose of Trail Boss would go?

I'm backing the bolt head will remain intact

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[Bruce_in_Oz]

Old P. O. Ackley was doing evil things like that back in the early 1950s, just to see what happened. You might have to ream the chamber out to accommodate the bigger bullet, however.

On a similar note, I once did an experiment with a M38 Carcano carbine.

I clipped a 7.62 x 39 ball round, complete with steel core and steel jacket, under the extractor of the Carcano bolt.

Lashed the rifle to a car tyre and attached a long string between the trigger and the big tree I intended to hide behind.

Inserted the bolt and let her rip.

Did the rife explode? Nope.

By all theories, the oversized bullet should have occluded the bore and the propellant charge thus blown back through the action. Nope.

The bullet punched some interesting-sized holes in an old washing machine used for a "target" and ended up as tiny shards except for the solid steel core, which was only slightly bent and embedded in a board behind the target.

The bolt opened easily and the case came out slightly less tapered than it had gone in.

I was not game enough to repeat the experiment but the action went on to be incorporated into a 7.62 x 39 single shot (with an appropriately bored and chambered barrel, of course!!), for my kids, .

Folks have allegedly converted 6.5mm Type 38 Arisakas to .308Win by simply boring out the barrel a bit until a reamer is accepted, but I have never seen one in the flesh. I have seen and fired Arisaka Type 99 rifles sleeved and re chambered for .303 Brit, but the bore size is essentially the same.

One should be careful when experimenting with devices that run at over 50 thousand PSI in front of your face.