jason41987
member
- Joined
- Apr 10, 2012
- Messages
- 1,293
im thinking of starting a new project that involves taking a military surplus bolt action, and converting it to a shorter rifle in a more common caliber (likely .308) and i was wondering which rifles are available that i can safely and effectively convert.
some criteria.. its probably best they had front locking lugs, clips that actually worked pretty reliably (sometimes the rounds get jammed up trying to feed them into a mosin nagant from the clip), and able to handle the pressurs of the .308 cartridge, and something that can be fired quickly (well, quickly in terms of its still a bolt action)
i have a nagant, and i dislike it, one of the biggest reasons is the bolt handle is too far forward, i find i have to shift a lot to reach it and pull it back, and the angle of the straight comb stock hurts my wrist after a while.. due to some damage ive sustained in my hands before.. it just makes my hands burn
two of my favorite military surplus rifles are two im not sure would be good candidates for a conversion are the K31 and the steyr M1895 and not for the fact theyre straight pulls, i like their magazines.. an en block for the steyr makes reloading pretty quick and easy.. and the stripper clips for the K31 cover the tips of the bullets and better protects them, but im fairly certain the steyr is too old for .308, i could be wrong.. and im not sure how K31 clips would work after converting to .308?
im open to rifle suggestions, im also open to caliber suggestions.. if theres a caliber one of these surplus rifles is in that i can actually readily find reloading components for, i may consider it.. and since most of these are long actions im not opposed to a .30-06 conversion either.. .30-06 tends to do better with heavier bullets anyway which would give better ballistic coefficiency and energy down range
hmm. i believe some of those steyrs were made in 8mm mauser.. thats not a cartridge thats particularly hard to find reloading components for, i believe .30-06 brass can be reformed?.. but i believe an 8mm mauser rifle would only require a barrel for a .30-06/.308 conversion?
my biggest concern with most these old rifles though is many shoot bullets that arent easy to find.. .306 in the K-31, .311-.312 in the mosin and lee enfields, .310 in the MAS-36 i believe and its hard enough to find ammo as it is..
so.. suggestions?
some criteria.. its probably best they had front locking lugs, clips that actually worked pretty reliably (sometimes the rounds get jammed up trying to feed them into a mosin nagant from the clip), and able to handle the pressurs of the .308 cartridge, and something that can be fired quickly (well, quickly in terms of its still a bolt action)
i have a nagant, and i dislike it, one of the biggest reasons is the bolt handle is too far forward, i find i have to shift a lot to reach it and pull it back, and the angle of the straight comb stock hurts my wrist after a while.. due to some damage ive sustained in my hands before.. it just makes my hands burn
two of my favorite military surplus rifles are two im not sure would be good candidates for a conversion are the K31 and the steyr M1895 and not for the fact theyre straight pulls, i like their magazines.. an en block for the steyr makes reloading pretty quick and easy.. and the stripper clips for the K31 cover the tips of the bullets and better protects them, but im fairly certain the steyr is too old for .308, i could be wrong.. and im not sure how K31 clips would work after converting to .308?
im open to rifle suggestions, im also open to caliber suggestions.. if theres a caliber one of these surplus rifles is in that i can actually readily find reloading components for, i may consider it.. and since most of these are long actions im not opposed to a .30-06 conversion either.. .30-06 tends to do better with heavier bullets anyway which would give better ballistic coefficiency and energy down range
hmm. i believe some of those steyrs were made in 8mm mauser.. thats not a cartridge thats particularly hard to find reloading components for, i believe .30-06 brass can be reformed?.. but i believe an 8mm mauser rifle would only require a barrel for a .30-06/.308 conversion?
my biggest concern with most these old rifles though is many shoot bullets that arent easy to find.. .306 in the K-31, .311-.312 in the mosin and lee enfields, .310 in the MAS-36 i believe and its hard enough to find ammo as it is..
so.. suggestions?