303 british 110

Wondered if anyone has ever rebarreled a 110 to 303 british. I have no other reason to do other than I have a ton of brass and want something other than enfield rifles to shoot it out of. The only vendor I could find to supply a 110 barrel in that caliber was pac-nor and they want 413 bucks. Seems like I could do a little better. I was thinking that perhaps I could rent a chamber reamer and go to town on a 7.62 x 39 barrel but noticed that the only supplier for that caliber adams and bennet does not supply it anymore. Might take a little work to make the mag well to work but might be fun... any thoughts would be helpful.

You can rebarrel to that caliber but the problem is Savage boltheads won't accomodate the rimmed cartridge. If I recall correctly, the PPC bolt head may work with the 7.62X39. Fred at Sharp Shooter Supply can advise on that. The 7.62 AK round is a pretty accurate cartridge in a bolt action. Performance is close to a 30-30 with the lighter bullets. Many deer have been taken with the caliber.

SinArms (a forum sponsor) could chamber a 30 cal blank to the 7.62X39 for you, his prices are reasonable and his work is excellent.

I would like to see how you make out on your project, I would like to try it "if" it is simple and cheap. Its funny I just sold off 11 Enfield rifles so I could buy "modern" Savage/Stevens rifles and we are thinking of going backwards in calibers.

A word of warning, American SAAMI factory loaded .303 British ammunition is downloaded to below 43,000 cup due to all the older Enfields still being used, if you load above that pressure the cases do not last long. On the other hand Prvi Partizan cases are military grade, have thicker rims, the base diameter is larger and the case walls are .010 thicker than "ANY" American made cases.

I always wonder what it would be like to shoot the .303 out of a chamber that wasn't as big as a blimp hangar because a lot of the case stretching on the .303 British is radial, stretching to meet the chamber wall. The Enfield chambers were enlarged in 1914 to make room for the "Mud of Flanders" so the chambers are larger in diameter and the shoulder of the chamber was moved forward over an 1/8 of an inch. At the maximum headspace setting of .074 and with a cartridge rim thickness you can have .016 head clearance or "air space" between the bolt face and the rear of the case.

Below is what happens to American made SAAMI commercial .303 cases when fired in the Enfield military chamber.

http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o...estretch-1.gif

Now that I think about it, just sell your excess .303 brass and just get a .308 barrel and don't torture yourself with undersized American .303 brass..............

Bottom of photo the .303 case has a shoulder over 1/4 of a inch too short and at the top South African surplus .303 British is spot on in length.

http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o...1/twocases.jpg

Below, left to right, new unfired case, once fired (fireformed) fired three times and radial expansion causes the case head separation at chamber pressures over 43,000 cup.

http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o...shoulder-a.jpg

Below an example of just how much longer the Enfield military chamber is than the commercial SAAMI chamber, look how far the case is sticking above the gauge showing shoulder location of military chamber.

http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o...51/under-2.jpg

Sell or trade the .303 brass to us 303 guys.
.303 brass is not as plentiful as it used to be and surplus .303 ammo is almost all gone so your brass is increasing in value. You might just want to sit on the brass for a couple years and I would not be surprised to see it double in value.

Ed makes some great points. I handload for my Enfields and have found all of the above to be true. It's not the easiest cartridge in the world to deal with (read: PITA!). The other factor that you may want to consider, is the magazines and feeding issues. That rimmed cartridge could be a real nightmare in that department, as well. In the end, I think anything is possible. Whether or not it's worth it to you, is another story.

John

big... love the graphic really shows whats going on... A 7mm rem mag rim is very close to the 303 british .532 -- .540.. seems like with a little fiddling a guy could make it work... My big question is where to get a barrel for less than the 413 beans... I think this would be one of those things you spend some money on but trying to avoid new AR 10 type money.

btw can't sell or trade the brass cause i'm a enfield guy myself. Just want something to mess with then put in my storage that isn't a clunky enfield rifle.. I have had quite a few myself and several that were sporterized but they are just not as handy as a newer bolt gun. Thought if I put this together played with it and put up with 750 rounds or so it would be handy when the zombie apocalypse came down.

"clunky enfield rifle.." how dare you!

Vertroue en Gott und die Mauser!!

Although, I've owned Enfields and they are wonderful rifles....smoothest bolt action ever designed. Just wish they had used a better cartridge, like when the US changed from .30-40 to .30-03/06.

The Japanese were heavily influenced by the British. Their 7.7X58 RIFLE cartridge was ballistically identical to the .303, but rimless. They also had a 7.7 round for their Type 92 machinegun that was rimmed.

"Just wish they had used a better cartridge..."

Ouch! The hits just keep coming! Kidding aside, .303 is a great cartridge, handles heavy bullets better than a .308 win (if you can find them) nice mild recoil, just doesn't chamber in a Savage.

My issue is just that it is a rimmed cartridge, when the rest of the world (save the Russians) were switching to rimless....