Can Rossi 7.62x39 barrel be rechambered?

[Kymasabe]

Well, you all called it. I bought a Rossi single shot gun for hogs and she'll light US brass cased boxer primed ammo most of the time. But the harder, more recessed, Berdan primed Russian stuff won't fire unless I give it two or three tries. My barrel does NOT appear to be of the new Wizard (easily interchanged) type so I'm guessing barrel changes aren't an easy option. SO, was kicking around the idea of just taking the th ing to my locl gunsmith and having it rechambered for something else. The question is....what caliber?

Isn't 7.62x39 something like a .310 or .311 bore. Would a brit.303, .308, or .30-06 just rattle down the barrel?
Do I need to worry about barrel wall thickness and higher pressures with a heavier load like a .308?
Is rifling/twist rate going to be an issue?

Or, should I just cut my losses and trade it in for the used Rem 700 .30-06 I saw in the local gunshop for $300 or the used Mossberg 100ATR in .308 for same price?

 

[Vern Humphrey]

I'd cut my losses.

Rechambering might be possible, but you'd also have to rework the extractor -- the 7.62X39 is a different head size from the other rounds you mentioned. And there is no guarantee that rechambering will fix your problem, which sounds suspiciously like light hammer strikes.

I'd look at replacing the hammer spring and checking firing pin protrusion before I did anything else.

 

[kludge]

I would call Rossi. It could also be due to excessive headspace rather than hard primers.

 

[303tom]

The .308 &.30-06 both have a .308 bullet, but the .303 British is .312 in...............

 

[jimmyraythomason]

What state are you in,in case you decide to sell?

 

[Carl N. Brown]

"she'll light US brass cased boxer primed ammo most of the time" sounds like a light hammer strike, which would give problems with harder military primers.

Now, as to "harder, more recessed, Berdan primed Russian stuff" consistently not firing first strike in the Rossi, I have a 7.62x25 CZ52 pistol that shoots fine with commercial S&B and PPU ammo, almost all surplus ammo, BUT I encountered a batch of 1980s PPU military surplus Berdan that 1 out of 6 or 8, would not fire on first strike but would fire on second strike. Switch back to other militray surplus batches, or PPU commercial, fired every time.

As far as rechambering a 7.62x39 barrel, 7.62x39 and 7.62x54R barrels are found with bore sizes from .308 to .312 even from Eastern bloc sources. I do not know about Rossi 7.62x39 barrels, but Ruger Mini-30 barrels are supposed to have .308 bores. You would need to have the barrel slugged to determine the real bore size.

 

[R.W.Dale]

I have hand reamed a bakial 7.62x39 to 303 British. And it worked pretty well.

The extractor is the easiest part. You simply ream it with the chamber to the perfect size.

 

[Kymasabe]

In SW Florida for those of you wondering.