Question on receiver contouring a P14 Enfield/ M1917

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Archibald

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Hi fellas, I have been trying to get get as much info as I can on these old style enfield conversions to a sporting rifle but it seems that it isn't done too often anymore. All of my information is from old books and a small series of videos on YouTube. That's probably for good reason as the operation is quite involved, however, I have an old soul and want to take on this sort of project.

I have a mini mill and it will cut steel if I take my time. I want to radius the rear of the receiver so that it is rounded the same as the front, similar to a Remington 30, or a more modern Savage 110. I will be using a savage scope base.

My question is to the gunsmiths, do any of you have a jig or fixture to perform this operation in the mill? I know there is such a thing I just have not laid eyes on one. Also if anybody has advise I am happily soliciting it. Thanks.
 
If it is an Eddystone I wouldn't do anything to it(very hard actions, too hard)... The Winchester and Remington are great actions. Make a jig the action sits on and is bolted to through the bottom of the action. Hold that jig in a vise.
 
Thanks for the advise Dennis, that's what I hear about the Eddystone's. I have about 7 or 8 p14's and almost all of them are Eddy's, haha.

Anyhow I was thinking if I wanted to make that a round contour and not just flat across the rear bridge, there must be some sort of mandrel that threads into the receiver that can be rotated to mill the receiver to a perfectly round contour. Maybe I am out to lunch but I just can't imagine guys making things perfectly round after the fact from a flat bridge with nothing but hand files and/or rotary tools.
 
Just grind the ears off...very slowly...hold the action at the base of the ears with bare hands and start grinding, when it gets very warm to hold onto, stop, and let it cool then start again, when you get very near the contour you want start filing with a new bastard file...finnish the job with a succession of different grit emory cloth.

It will be much cheaper, easier and quicker than buying cutters and abusing a mini-mill for hours when 1/2 hr of grinding will do the job.
 
I get what you are saying about grinding on the mini mill, and how a grinder would speed things up. That makes sense, however to the point of finishing with files - I want to end up with something that will take a standard base like a redfield, leupold or talley - and not have to file down a rear weaver base to fit my one of a kind rear receiver to front receiver difference in height.
 
I think that there is a drawing for a jig in Brownells Kinks. The receiver is mounted on a mandrel, and the mandrel supported on V blocks. The jig and receiver are positioned on a drill press, with a cup grinding wheel in the chuck. The receiver on its mandrel are rotated under grinding wheel, the wheel being gradually lowered. The resulting radius will match the receiver ring. The bridge is roughed to approximate shape, then finished using the jig.
 
I checked out Brownells and found this "Receiver Contouring Fixture":
http://www.brownells.com/gunsmith-t...ocks/receiver-contouring-fixture-prod985.aspx

Heres the instructions:
http://www.brownells.com/userdocs/learn/Inst-526.pdf


This is what I want to achieve. I am also guessing that there aren't may guys doing this anymore and was hoping that maybe I could find some used equipment for building an Enfield (I.e. Action wrench and head, receiver facing mandrel, etc). I could use the exchange forum but I don't have high hopes on that.

Have any of you fellas here used this fixture? Is anybody still building Enfields or am I 50 years too late? Haha
 
You could make a mandrel that threads into the receiver and is long enough to hold in a lathe and one end in the tailstock... and rotate back and forth by hand the top of the action against a tool post grinder. You could match the receiver ring exactly to the rear bridge...

I did one Enfield total conversion about 48 years ago... that was enough for me... never again...
 
And once you get this done, drilling and tapping the Eddystone is a whole nother adventure. I think the only way to actually do it from what I've read is to spot anneal the receiver. Maybe Guntech can chime in on this. I know I tried to do one years ago and it was a nightmare. Think I broke 4 or 5 taps trying to get it done.
 
The reason I am choosing an Enfield to begin with is because I am trying to teach myself a little about machining and figured it was better to muck up an Enfield than a Mauser. I am starting with the mill and don't have a lathe so I will have to farm out the receiver and boltface truing and barrel threading/chamber/crowning to a professional for now. I don't have a mentor anymore since my friend passed away this summer - and I am sick of reading books for the past 10 years without any actions so I have to start somewhere.
 
KePet said:
And once you get this done, drilling and tapping the Eddystone is a whole nother adventure. I think the only way to actually do it from what I've read is to spot anneal the receiver. Maybe Guntech can chime in on this. I know I tried to do one years ago and it was a nightmare. Think I broke 4 or 5 taps trying to get it done.
Click to expand...

That sounds HARD! I have read about similar nightmares in my literature.
 
Archibald said:
That sounds HARD! I have read about similar nightmares in my literature.
Click to expand...

Your mini-mill will help out with this part of the job. spot annealing is rely quit simple in this case. Cut the head off a simple framing nail and chuck it up in the mill. position the action under the nail where you need the hole to be and then crank your mill up to a very fast rotation. Now lower the nail to the spot and let er buck, when the nail is red hot just hold it to the action ring until it too turns red ( you will need to be in a darkened room to see the red better) at the small spot required, then just let it cool on its own as long as you can (pour a little warmed up cement powder on it to insulate and slow cooling if possible).

It may sound mickey mouse but I've done it a few times back when Enfields were plentiful/afordablel for bubba'ing. It even makes Eddystones workable
 
Off all the Military bolt actions, the P-14, M-17 have the best metallurgy by far. Eddystones are not to hard to work, BSA did thousands of them. BSA conversions are contoured to a Rem. 700 pattern. I had a Churchill conversion that was contoured to a Parker Hale 1200 contour.
 
There used to be a fixture available from Brownells that allowed you to turn the receiver bridge to Rem 700 contour.I believe Wisners made them.The work was done on a lathe and worked well.A surface grinder works with a fixture as well.I've never tried it with a milling machine.It would be my last choice.The work can be done with a bench grinder a a bucket of water as well.
 
I did lots of these 40 yr. ago, when magnum actions were hard to find. Have a jig somewhere that bolted to the mill. Used a cup stone. This was after grinding to rough contour.As has been said the Eddystones are hard to work with and tool wreckers. This is not the reason we never used them for actions. They were heat treated to brittle and were known to crack receiver ring when installing barrels. After you had 2 days grinding,drill tap, opening the rear for length and polishing done. I think the Win. production were the nicest, one could polish and blue them for that deep blue/black that would match barrel steel. I still have several of these converted to long magnums in the cabinet. Did my own action,trigger work and Al Pedersen barrelled them. Good times from long ago. Mark
 
358 said:
I did lots of these 40 yr. ago, when magnum actions were hard to find. Have a jig somewhere that bolted to the mill. Used a cup stone. This was after grinding to rough contour.As has been said the Eddystones are hard to work with and tool wreckers. This is not the reason we never used them for actions. They were heat treated to brittle and were known to crack receiver ring when installing barrels. After you had 2 days grinding,drill tap, opening the rear for length and polishing done. I think the Win. production were the nicest, one could polish and blue them for that deep blue/black that would match barrel steel. I still have several of these converted to long magnums in the cabinet. Did my own action,trigger work and Al Pedersen barrelled them. Good times from long ago. Mark
Click to expand...

Can you elaborate a bit on the dificulty of drilling the recievers, and what methods worked or didn't? I've drilled leaf spring steel before and I'm hoping it's not as bad as that.
 
Spring steel is not brittle. The Eddystones for sure are brittle and metal comes out on small chunks which won't clean from tap. Need small sharp centerpunch, some won't even leave a mark. Use carbide drill. I prepared an Eddystone for Al which cracked when installing barrel. I also have a rifle here in 300 H±H imp that the receiver is cracked more than half in. Belongs to a friend, was built by a pretty famous AZ gunmaker. I think the Win and Rem actions are esier to modify.
 
De-barrelling these can also result in cracks. Better to cut a relief groove in the barrel shank before attempting to remove the barrel, if the receiver is the desired piece.
 
I suspect some cracks were caused during barrel removal,but didn't show until rebarrel. We always relief cut touching action. I don't recall them being super difficult to remove. We warmed the receiver as well. not hot, but too warm for touching.
 
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