Speaking of 1917's, here's an odd one in .236 Super.

[Gewehr98]

Gewehr98 has a soft spot in his heart for old target/varmint rifles. Sorry for the dining room table shots, but it's the best I can do until the weather improves here.

The story: A friend's grandfather passed away years ago, and he gets about 15 or so of the collection. He kept this one because it was odd, and he remembers Grandpa vaporizing prairie dogs and making tight groups in targets from way off. Fast forward about 10 years, and the '68 Camaro RS convertible needs some more restoration work. You can see where this goes...

Ok, it's a 1917 Eddystone action, heavy 5-groove barrel, marked B.E. COTTRELL .236 Super on the barrel near the receiver. I miked the bore at the muzzle, and it measures (surprise) 0.236". I'm assuming that's just a 6mm or .244, and I caught the lands with my micrometer. I hope so, because I don't know where a person gets .236 bullets these days.

As I'm miking dimensions and shining a light down the chamber looking for throat erosion, the grandson says Grandpa used to make the brass from .270 Winchester, necking it down to 6mm. So it's a 6mm/.270 wildcat, I can swing that, but where are the dies and fired brass? "Lost years ago, sorry." Great, so I either get a Cerrosafe chamber cast done, or call RCBS and ask if they have drawings and dies for something called a .236 Super.

I'm into it cheap enough that I can probably have another heavy barrel, perhaps stainless, chambered and the Unertl barrel block mounted, maybe in 6.5x55, 6.5-06, 6.5-284, or even .30-06. But I'd like to know more about this elusive .236 Super. If it really is a 6mm-.270, it's definitely overbore, and the barrel throat deserves a closer look.

That's an early Fajen laminated stock, with the wide plies, and a varmint/benchrest forend. The Unertl 12x scope requires no introduction. I was never really big on using 1917 Eddystone Enfield actions for target guns, those receivers usually showed up on belted magnum hunting rifles like A-Square made. But my friend's grandfather was full of surprises, it's smooth as glass, including the 1-lb. trigger pull. The metal finish is gorgeous, you cannot see where the rear sight ears were milled away, and the blueing is deep, like it goes into the metal for miles.

This was a target/varmint gun from way back. I'm wagering late 1960's, based on the early Fajen laminate stock, and the Unertl scope. Anybody want to hazard a better guess, or throw in what they know of B.E. Cottrell or his .236 Super? Either way, I'll share these pics for folks to see and enjoy a vintage custom rifle.

 

[Mike Irwin]

Whoa.

You've got an interesting one there.

Donnelley's book has NOTHING on the .236 Super, but I've found several references to the cartridge on the web. RCBS makes dies for it, so apparently it had some popularity at one time if someone was cutting reamers for it.

Midsouthshooters.com shows the dies as being available, or at least on the RCBS master list of wildcat dies.

I have absolutely no information on the cartridge in my reference library.

As far as I know, though, only one .236 cartridge has ever been listed for sale by the ammo companies , the .236 Lee Navy, aka the 6mm Lee Navy.

The case for that round served as the inspiration for the .220 Swift, so perhaps the .236 Super was affiliated in some manner.

A chamber cast is in order to see what the base cartridge was.

 

[Jim K]

.236 and .243/244 are the same bullet; the first is the bore diameter, the second the groove diameter, so both designations are used. (It is like the .30 and .308; same bullet diameter, different names.) You are right about a 6mm-270 being over bore, but he might have trimmed the cases. A chamber cast will tell the story.

FYI, there is a geneaology page on Cottrell. See

http://www.cottrellweb.com

and look up the state he might have been in, probably not too far from your friend's grandfather's home.

Jim

 

[Mike Irwin]

Jim,

I know .236 and .243 are the same as 6mm.

What I was commenting on is the lack of the use of .236 as a cartridge identifier.

 

[Gewehr98]

Well, that's a start, anyways.

RCBS has always been good to me when I lived near Oroville. Monday I'll give them a call, and see if they can fax or email me the cartridge dimensions. Then I'll have to find somebody who'll pour a Cerrosafe chamber cast somewhere in the Cocoa Beach, Florida area.

That barrel throat worries me, though. A typical 6mm-06 can tear up a barrel fairly quickly. I'd like to think that it's a shorter case than the .270 or .30-06, but I can't even neck down either of those to 6mm. Maybe I'll cut the neck off of one and see if it chambers tightly against the remaining shoulder.

The other thing I have to do is figure out how the spring tension on the Unertl is supposed to be set. I know it should ride out the recoil, but I shouldn't set it so stiff that it doesn't slide at all, that would damage the optics, right? As heavy as the gun is, and as light a bullet as it launched, I would guess there isn't a lot of recoil impulse.

Jim, if I have to install a new barrel in this rifle, are there any caveats to the 1917 Eddystone Enfield action, other than a potentially brittle receiver? Are the threads an odd pitch, closer to 98 Mausers, etc? Is there a Mauser-style extractor cutout in the barrel breech?

Worse comes to worst, I'll rebarrel it to something like 6.5x55 Swedish, 6.5x57 Mauser, 6.5-.284, or 6.5-06. That .30-06 long action just begs for something longer than the average .308 or .260 Remington.

 

[Gordon]

I've heard of it! It is the 6mm-270! Don't be too concerned about throat errosion yet! It is much overplayed by gunstore cowboys. Don't rebarrel or rebore. You can leave bullet seating way out IF the throat is worn, this also lowers pressures for hotter loads. The accuracy question is not that affected (with proper bullet seating) by throat errosion! Boy I would like to see what 55 grain 6mm bullets would do at 4500+fps!!!! Also you should be able to get 3500fps with 100 grainers. The Unertl scope is prolly worth MORE than you got in rifle. The enfield action was much loved by big bore varminter/target shooters in old days and for good reason. The trigger is easy to get sweet, they feed anything , strongest action evermade some say(low # Eddystone ones aside). I have a .256 Super Condor bench gun on the 1917(modified) Rem actionwhich weigh 30lbs and has a 20X Unertl Programmer. This baby shoots special 160-200 grain .257" bullets 3000-3200fps and they don't drop much at 1000yds!!!! It will work with 120grain .257modern bullets but anything lighter vaporizes out of barrel do to fast twist rate. Have fun with that fine old piece and enjoy the work somebody lavished on it. BTW set the sprin tension on an old Unertl to where the scope can be pushed back with moderate hand tension,(maybe 5-10lbs?) damage by recoil won't be a factor with a 6mm heavy target gun

 

[Gewehr98]

Gordon, thanks for the heads-up!

How much trouble am I asking for if I install one of those cock-on-opening kits for this 1917 Eddystone action? Also, the trigger is smooth, but still a very definite 2-stage military model. A Timney would fix that quickly.

I noted that the Unertl's turret adjustments are very tight, it takes a goodly amount of twist to get them to move just one click. However, when they do go click, you can hear and feel the detent a mile away. Is that normal for these old scopes?


I'm learning a lot on how the older generation did precision rifle shooting, it's a kick in the pants, but I still would stick with either my Remington 700PSS or custom Mauser/Krieger rifle if I had to start over again.

 

[Dr.Rob]

Now THAT is a rifle.

Wow.

 

[Gewehr98]

You wouldn't say that, Dr. Rob...

Now THAT is a rifle.

Wow.

If you picked it up. Instead of "Wow", it would be more like "Ugh. Grunt. Heavy!"

 

[Gordon]

Yeah,heavy! I'd use a little Kroil or Blaster on the micrometers (KEEP it AWAY from SCOPE!!!) as old joints do seize up. They aren't THAT tight,just firm. The speedlock used to be sold by Wolff, but now I only see Brownells advertising, It is a nice up grade WITH a Timney, as you have to massage the sear fit either way. The combination is the hot set up. Except for DGR's where the modified stock trigger and standard firing pin with Wolff springs is what A-Square says is the hot set up! I have 3 Enfield based guns the .258 Super Conder rail gun (30pounds) with it's 20xUnertl, a .358 Norma Mag with an old 2-7X Kahles(10.5lbs) , both are speed lock . And an as new issue 1917 Remington(9lbs!) . I sold a real clean 30S Remington sporter awhile back it was kinda heavy at 9lbs to hunt with!