swiss 41have to shoot

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my 1881 swiss is rimfire wish to convert to cfire can anyone help with info on how it is done. please help. bubba worked on it so not worried about collector value.
 
my 1881 swiss is rimfire wish to convert to cfire can anyone help with info on how it is done. please help. bubba worked on it so not worried about collector value.

It's a very easy conversion, details can be found with a quick google search.

I'm seriously considering buying one of these old rifles myself.

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Well I'll be darned. Guess that's putting my foot in my mouth :p

What's the availability of reloading equipment for 41cf? I'd imagine most people make their brass from something else.
 
That old rimfire ammo is worth several bucks a shot and can't be reloaded.

CF cases can be made up from .348 Winchester. I suspect that it would actually be easier to form from some of that Partizan 8mm Lebel brass that Tradex is selling and it would be considerably cheaper, too. Straight full-length resize and open the mouths: no lathework needed on the body diameter if you use Lebel brass and it is only .004" undersize, so no problem at BP pressures. Less trimming, too.

If you do the bolt conversion as shown, you can put your bolt back to rimfire simply by exchanging parts. No need for a separate bolt body for CF: save bucks.

Interesting project.
 
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Made from 348 Win.
BTW, if you do convert it, it s no longer an antique, exempt from registering.
 
I've done up three centrefire conversions, and even shot one in a Milshoot competition and came in fourth against Garands, K31's and the like. A very fun gun to shoot, but it's not like you're going to go to Canadian Tire for the ammo.

I and others have posted a fair bit about the conversion, making brass, loading, etc. here on CGN, e.g. http://www.canadiangunnutz.com/forum/showthread.php?t=170468 but the last word in all of that is "Parashooter". You should go here and have a good look at it: http://www.milsurps.com/showthread.php?t=11

This is real good too: http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=21917

I prefer the converison method where a firing pin is soldered to a hole drilled in the striker, but thay all work. My chambers all accepted 348 brass, but 8x50R Lebel brass works well if you are careful to anneal it before reforming. The Lee 310gr 44 Mag cast bullet is a good choice, and I've used smokeless loads all the way from Unique, to SR4759 to a full case of IMR4064. They can be quite accurate. Good luck with your project.
 
www.swissrifles.com

It's no longer in original condition? Well if you want the basis of a floor lamp or a fence post, that's the only use you can put it to as a rimfire. I have converted three of them.
I see no reason for buying a rifle I can't shoot. Except for the Drill rifles I have.
 
I'm not sure you guys are reading my posts. Nowhere do I say I won't do this conversion or that I won't shoot the rifle. I just said I would need to get a new bolt body because I don't like damaging my original matching parts. I even have some 41 srf I plan on trying before I go hunting for a bolt body too.

And John I guess that we have a different philosophy about collecting firearms. I would happily buy a gun I couldn't shoot if it was interesting to me as j find them to be engineering works of art.
 
Gotta be a gun-shop somewhere with one of these in their junk-bin.

If I were you, I think I would fire just ONE of those original rounds. That way, you can say you have done it. They are getting pretty darned expensive these days and, like land, they just ain't makin' no more of it.

Of course, if we could get Remington to turn out another big batch, the way they did in 1941, that would make a LOT of people happy, including me.

World War Two is what killed these rifles. They were popular before the war but, afterwards, there just were so many much more modern rifles running around that the old "41 Swiss" got put out in the barn and forgotten........ and it stood there, right beside the family 43 Mauser and the GECO 16-gauge on the Gew98 frame and the older 16-ga on the Gras frame, until the barn was torn down.

Too bad.
 
Yes that's the plan. I have a half dozen of them and i am not going to shoot them all. My other friend said that shooting that caliber was the milsurp equivalent to snorting cocaine off a hookers' tits haha
 
I'm not sure you guys are reading my posts. Nowhere do I say I won't do this conversion or that I won't shoot the rifle. I just said I would need to get a new bolt body because I don't like damaging my original matching parts. I even have some 41 srf I plan on trying before I go hunting for a bolt body too.

And John I guess that we have a different philosophy about collecting firearms. I would happily buy a gun I couldn't shoot if it was interesting to me as j find them to be engineering works of art.

Well I have several I can't shoot. Fencing muskets, drill rifles, a percussion revolver (Webley)etc.
However it will be a minor miracle if any one of those 41RF rounds goes bang.
Good luck finding a spare bolt body, these are not enfields with tons of spares and they are a lot older.
I just don't think one little hole in the bolt face is the same as "sportyizing" a military rifle made in the 20th century. Externaly the rifle will look the same.
 
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