Converting a Lithgow .303 to 7.62X54r

[Catshooter]

A while back someone on this board posted a link on JFPO of someone (named Bill Black, IIRC) who would re-chamber selected Enfields to 7.62X54r.

I copied down his phone # I thought and now, when I can afford to do it I find it's the wrong #. And of course now the link's dead and no one at JFPO will respond to a plea for help.

Can anyone connect me?


Cat

 

[Eightball]

Sounds interesting....I'll be watching this as well.

Someone, anyone?

 

[Cosmoline]

http://www.jpfo.org/smle.htm

I'd advise against it. Note this comment:

.303 Chamber Pressures; 45,000-48,000 PSI "54R" Chamber Pressures; 45,000 PSI

They're proceeding from the false premise that 54R operates at the same pressure level as the .303! I don't know enough about the SMLE action to say how much it can take, but I can tell you 54R commercial loads and handloads run at pressures substantially higher than that, up to 56,000 psi. This is why the 54R is a more potent round than the .303.

 

[eab]

Are you sure it was 7.62*54R? I do remeber reading/hearing about a hear ago about rechambering enfields for 7.63*39.

 

[Limeyfellow]

There been a number of people who converted .303 British to 7.62x54r rounds. Works fairly well from all I have read. You just got to be careful with the No1 smle action as its not as strong as the No4 action.

 

[mainmech48]

While I suppose it can be done, other than to use surplus ammo that's more widely avaiable what would be the point?

Seems like one would have to go through a bunch of ammo to amortize the cost of a conversion. It couldn't be a cheap one, what with the bolt work that'd have to be done for the weird convex rim on the Russkie round and all.

Don't get me wrong; ol' Smellie would be my pick for the best all-around BA battle implement ever. But if you want the Enfield action, and also want to use inexpensive, widely available surplus ammo why not just go find a nice Ishapore 2A or 2A1? You could buy one and a slew of surplus 7.62x51 NATO for the price of a good #1 mk III or #4 and the conversion.

 

[jesse485]

I agree with mainmech, get the 2a. AIM sells some nice ones with PERFECT bores for cheap, and I am pretty sure most of the 7.62x51 surplus is noncorrosive.

 

[Mornard]

well, ya see. There's "can" and "would"... and then there's "should". You gain nothing,except a thing that not many else have. And unless you have loads of ammo, again, you're not gaining anything useful. These remarks are merely my opinion, but I'm stuck with 'em...

 

[Dave Markowitz]

The converted rifles in the JPFO article were No.4s, not No.1 SMLEs. The No.4 is considerably stronger than the SMLE. I would not do this on a SMLE.

 

[Mannlicher]

considering the cost of milsurp rifles, I hardly see where this conversion is worthwhile.

 

[Firehand]

Oh, come on! Nice idea, cheap ammo, if you've got the money and rifle to do it, why not?

 

[Erinyes]

Oh, come on! Nice idea, cheap ammo, if you've got the money and rifle to do it, why not?

Mostly because it would be cheaper to just get a Ishy 2A and non corrosive 7.62x51 surplus (bonus is an extra two round capacity).

 

[pbhome71]

It will be even cheaper

to get a mosin.

-Pat