Yo.
Too much time to look at guns I want to build, you know the drill. Those "down under" guys have something good going on with their SMLE's rebored to .35 - any of 'yall check that out?
So..not only can one use .303 cases to create .35 hulls, but a .35 bored SMLE can tear stuff up - cool!
The door's open - any .35-.303's out there in the great 8 society land?
Adam
.35-.303: 'nuff said!
.35-.303: 'nuff said!
I am a regular joe, consisting of 78% coffee, 12% hot air, 9% organizational abilities, and 1% luck.
Re: .35-.303: 'nuff said!
Given how expensive SMLE barrels are, and the hassle timing and headspacing them, I'm surprised reboring isn't more common. Of course, in the USA and Canada the price of reboring and rifling approaches the average cost of just finding another rifle with a better barrel. Australian law made non-military caliber conversions more reasonable, with 8mm, .338, and .35 caliber. I've also seen .30-303, 6.5-303, and 6-303 mentioned.
In the US, reboring seems to be limited to restoration of expensive antiques or reaming and sleeving; the not many gunsmiths have their own rifling gear, and hourly labor rates make such things not cost-effective.
But just the other day, I was thinking that it would be easy enough to just ream the barrels, buy the buttons, and farm the rifling part out to a shop with a buttoning machine. Sure, the buttons are several hundred bucks a pop, but they last a long time, and it would take less shop time and effort then making a barrel from a rifled blank.
In the last week I've stepped through hundreds of Enfield threads in the milsurp forums, collecting useful information for a No.4 build I'm doing, and I'd actually made note of how many people were complaining about shot-out barrels and how hard and expensive it was to find replacements...
In the US, reboring seems to be limited to restoration of expensive antiques or reaming and sleeving; the not many gunsmiths have their own rifling gear, and hourly labor rates make such things not cost-effective.
But just the other day, I was thinking that it would be easy enough to just ream the barrels, buy the buttons, and farm the rifling part out to a shop with a buttoning machine. Sure, the buttons are several hundred bucks a pop, but they last a long time, and it would take less shop time and effort then making a barrel from a rifled blank.
In the last week I've stepped through hundreds of Enfield threads in the milsurp forums, collecting useful information for a No.4 build I'm doing, and I'd actually made note of how many people were complaining about shot-out barrels and how hard and expensive it was to find replacements...