Old style turnbolt battle rifle out of a deer rifle

[21inchPeter]

I have had the desire to put together a battle rifle out of a hunting rifle like a remington, an icon, or what ever I can get my hands on. I've been poking around for rifles that come with iron sights or an apeture set I can put on myself, maybe a detatchable magazine if I can by or fabricate one easily, and if at all possible put a cut in the rifle for stripper clips. I originally thought I was gonna dig up a .308, but I'm wondering now about other common calibers, like .243, .270, or any of the fancy ones with the mess of letters that com after the numbers. I figure if I'ma get this right I need to ask the the second amendment's finest.

[brownknees]

Detachable mags for the 700 are freely available, theres a stock that uses M-14 mags.
However......
Won't that just make it an "assault weapon"?

Why not just get a sporterized Enfield or Mauser where most of the work is done for you in advance.:?
There's one right here.
http://www.falfiles.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=254335

[hagar]

I hunted coyotes in AZ for more than a decade with a scoped varmint rifle in 22/250 and 223, had quite a few "interesting" experiences with all kind of critters, anything from jackrabbits, to bears, horses, mountain lions and angry bulls, and quite a few human encounters as well.

I never felt undergunned with my bolt action, face mask, sitting bipod and partial ghilly suit. By the time you saw me, and had hostile intentions, you would have been toast.

Forget the iron sights, put a 27 inch Harris bipod and a good scope on it.

[richbug]

A friend of mine cut a Remington 700 for strippers. His is a 308 with the detachable magazine. He hates it.

[tarkassian]

Not sure I get the point...actual purpose-built honest-to-god iron sights bolt action battle rifles, even in good condition, are still way cheaper than any Remchester that hasn't been dropped off a cliff and stepped on by Bigfoot.

[STGThndr]

May I suggest- if it's a bolt you want... look into a nice #4 Enfield in .303, or maybe one of the .308 models. The .303 is a good round, reloadable and has accounted for a lot of game and men over the years. The ten round mag, reloadable by strippers, is as quick and a bolt gun gets. I found a nice late manufacture Fazackerly with a lot of surplus ammo and am confident it would get the job done- for a bolt gun. I reload for it and also snagged a couple of 5 rd mags so it can be used for hunting as well. The #4's have the flip-up peeps too, which are much better than the other sort (short of scoping it).

[dogngun]

Agree with Sgt Tundr on the Enfield. I have owned nearly half a dozen in .303 Brit, now own an Indian in .308. They are a great value, tons of parts if you ever need any - I have never managed to break one - and I have never had one that shot bad. They are very easy tos hoot well,and the .303 British round is one of the world's best and handloads better.

Hard to beat.

mark

[21inchPeter]

Who's a good suplier of Enfields?

[richbug]

http://www.falfiles.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=254388

Probably the finest SMLE you will find.

[21inchPeter]

What would I need to change the caliber of a mauser or an enfield, and is their any serious differences between the two?

[brownknees]

Depending on the caliber.
New barrel, chambered for the round.
New boltface/extractor, depending on the case base/rim.
Magazine modificatiions to properly feed the case.

Mausers & Enfields are different in many ways.
Mauser has controlled feed.
Enfileld doesn't.

Some cock on closing, some on opening. It just feels different, both work.

Enfield has a 10 round magazine.

Enfield has rear locking lugs, Mauser front locking lugs, again both work.

Why change a caliber that works though?

Both 8mm Mauser & .303 Brit managed to do the job in several wars between them.

If you're thinking about "Military caliber restrictions" like a lot of Latin countries swap to something like .303 Epps, or .303 improved. Both have a lot of advantages for the conversion.
They ONLY need the chamber re-reaming, no other modifications.
They will fire existing .303 Brit shells & fire-form cases to the "improved" chambering".
They have a bit more "wallop" usually in the 100FPS area.

If you go with a .308 Ishy Enfield then re-barrel to 7mm08.

[troubleticket]

There is a super priced savage in 308 in the marketplace(265.00)

That would be a great place to start, heck if you like the stock

shoot it as is............Throw a good 2-7x scope on it....

You'll have time to reload, until they get close enough for the shotgun.

[Hellion Productions]

Or find an FR8, a Spanish Mauser converted to 7.62x51 back in the '50s. It has a lot of the features you're looking for, sans detachable mag. A good field carbine.

But, if you want to "infantry-ize" a commercial sporter, I've had the same idea for a while. Savage would probably be best for yanking the barrel and modifying it for threaded muzzle or switching chamberings. Remington 700 has a wide variety of aftermarket accessories, including bottom metal that takes 10-round mags. 700 stuff starts getting pricy after a while, though.

Good luck. There are a lot of ways to do it, and you're not going to please anyone but yourself.

If you are doing it the surplus way, get an FR8, or Enfield No.4 Mk.1 or 2, or Ishapore 2A. Pretty common ammo sources, and proven reliability.

Best,
John Bear Ross