Pitted Enfield Chamber

[____hoot____]

Picked up a rusty old 1917 Enfield for $20 at a yard sale last summer. Missing a front site, safety, mag, and butt plate. Barrel trashed at the muzzle and the chamber deeply pitted at the bottom. I have fixed most problems to produce a SHTF shooter, but the pitted chamber. When I fire a round the brass flows into the pits and locks the case in the chamber, just enough to prevent extraction. A slight rap on a cleaning round will clear it. Since I will supply the piece with non-reloadable Pakistan ammo anyway, I don't care about brass recovery. I was thinking that a little bit of JBweld in the pits might fix this problem well enough to make this rifle a useful SHTF back-up. By the way, whacking off 4 inches of barrel and doing a new crown job gave it back useful minute of bluhelmet accurracy.

Anybody here done such a bubba trick?

Have loads of 7.65x39 ammo and was also thinking of makeing some sort of chamber insert to convert it to that round. The extractor looks like it will extend far enough in to still do the job. Anyone heard of that being done?

 

[rcmodel]

"If you fill your chamber pits with JB Weld, you might be a Redneck!"

Seriously, I've never heard of it being done, and I doubt it would work.

On the otherhand, I've never heard of a 1917 extractor failing to pull a case out, or tearing off the rim, one or the other.

As for the 7.62x39 chamber insert?
I suppose it might work, except for the part about shooting .311" steel jacketed bullets through a .308" bore.

rcmodel

 

[nicholst55]

Let's see - every Ruger Mini-30 ever made has a .308" diameter bore, so I guess they have a major problem, then. Or not.

 

[____hoot____]

303 and 7.65x39 are both .310-.311 bore, not .308~~~~~~~~thanks for the "great" help knowitall THR

 

[gb6491]

Me thinks, perhaps, rcmodel just saw the 1917 part. The M1917 is chambered for the 30-06. The .303 is a Pattern 1914 (P14).
Regards,
Greg

PS - Here is some info on the 7.62.39 conversion (from this site):
"The 7.62x39 conversion is a little cheaper, because the original .303 barrel is recycled. The bore diameter is perfect for surplus Com-Block ammo. There are two methods of chambering. The first is to cut off the original threads and then machine new threads onto the barrel. The headspacing is more than good enough. If you look at the shoulder/neck areas of a 7.62x39mm and a .303 British, they are almost identical. The second chambering method is to cut more than the threads, like 5mm (or about .2") more and then use the appropriate reamer to cut a new chamber from the metal. The collar on the bolt head is similar to the .223 Remington, but narrower because of the wider base. For magazines there are two possibilities. The first is to modify an AK-type magazine to fit the Lee-Enfield's magazine well. Some gunsmiths managed to alter the receiver to take an unaltered magazine. The magazines were typically shortened to a more convenient length (typically 10, 12, 15, or 20 rounds). The second is an insert, again similar to the new design .223 Remington conversion magazine, but altered to fit the dimensions of the 7.62x39mm.

The problem with 7.62x39mm conversions has very little to do with the rifles. It is the availability of the ammunition. The best ammunition, with regard to both accuracy and reliability, is the Norinco copperwash coated FMJ. However, this ammunition is almost all-but unavailable. The Australian Federal Government has banned the importation of this ammunition on the pretext that it is being used in prohibited SKS rifles."

 

[____hoot____]

Thanks Greg, interesting info from down under but not the way I wish to go with this piece that will probabally be buryed and hopefully never used.

 

[rcmodel]

thanks for the "great" help knowitall THR

Just glad to be here!

BTW: That wasn't very nice!

rcmodel

 

[CZguy]

BTW: That wasn't very nice!

plus 1

 

[critter]

Reem that sucker out to 300 mag. That would clean up the chamber nicely.

 

[Slamfire]

This is something that I would try, just as a science experiment, You know if this does not work, the barrel is pretty useless.

Kind of wish I had thought of this myself, I took off a pre 64 featherweight barrel just because of the same problem you are having. Some fool in the past had shot it with corrosive and did not know how to clean it out. Would have been interesting to see if epoxy would have made it usable.

I would try a metal filled epoxy such as Devcon. You might want to try the Stainless filled. If you read the containers, Devcon is used in filling pits in industrial molds.

This might work for a time. You would need to really clean the chamber with something like automotive prep sol, so every track of carbon and grease were gone, or the epoxy won't stick.

If you have a fired case, you might polish that smooth, polish on some Johnson paste wax, and use that as a mandrel.

Oils and stuff are hard on epoxy, and copper brushes will remove some material, so this may not be all that permanent, but it may work after all. And if it works, well you have a useable barrel.