.30-30 lee enfield

A

antiqueguy

CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Rating - 100%
20   0   0
Location
windsor ontario
Has anyone done this I was thinking of finding a take off barrel and sleeving it into the knox form of the lee barrel.

How is this sleeping done? What size threads ect should I be going for.
 
Last edited:
Feeding problems would be my biggest worry.Just load it down to 30-30 levels. ( sorry, just occurred to me that not everyone is set up to handload!). Interesting project though..... catnip
 
Feeding would just require a bit of fooling aroung with the magazine lips.

Antiqueguy, not sure why you would want to add a chamber sleeve to the existing 303 Brit chamber, but it isn't something that hasn't been done before.

Many Swiss early straight pull rifles were fitted with chamber sleeves for the 30-30Win and there were some issues with gas cutting where the sleeve insert butted up against the existing bore.

The real issue with sleeving a 303British chamber with a 30-30 insert would be the bore will still be at least .311 diameter and to get decent accuracy you would need to handload your 30-30Win brass with .311 or larger diameter bullets, cast or jacketed.

IMHO, if you really want a Lee Enfield of any model or mark converted to shoot 30-30Win, look for a cheap take off barrel with a .308 bore diameter, thread it for the receiver you intend to use and cut a 30-30Win chamber. Costs would be similar. Just make sure the take off barrel has enough metal in the chamber area to give you the profile you deem important.
 
catnip said:
Feeding problems would be my biggest worry.Just load it down to 30-30 levels. ( sorry, just occurred to me that not everyone is set up to handload!). Interesting project though..... catnip
Click to expand...

I was thinking make a savage 340 mag work the extractor will have to be adjusted. I’m set up to load .303 just primer availabity being what it is and cost of crappy .303 ammo being up there id rather have something in a more available cartridge.
 
bearhunter said:
Feeding would just require a bit of fooling aroung with the magazine lips.

Antiqueguy, not sure why you would want to add a chamber sleeve to the existing 303 Brit chamber, but it isn't something that hasn't been done before.

Many Swiss early straight pull rifles were fitted with chamber sleeves for the 30-30Win and there were some issues with gas cutting where the sleeve insert butted up against the existing bore.

The real issue with sleeving a 303British chamber with a 30-30 insert would be the bore will still be at least .311 diameter and to get decent accuracy you would need to handload your 30-30Win brass with .311 or larger diameter bullets, cast or jacketed.

IMHO, if you really want a Lee Enfield of any model or mark converted to shoot 30-30Win, look for a cheap take off barrel with a .308 bore diameter, thread it for the receiver you intend to use and cut a 30-30Win chamber. Costs would be similar. Just make sure the take off barrel has enough metal in the chamber area to give you the profile you deem important.
Click to expand...

The straight pull rifles I do believe had done to them what I’m describing done to them. The plan is to take a junk lee enfield barrel cut it off just ahead of the Knox form bore it out thread it and then have a .30 cal barrel(also a take off)machined and threaded to fit.

I’d rather just buy a savage 340 or stevens 325 but I’m not paying the prices people are asking for a hardware store gun.
 
antiqueguy said:
The straight pull rifles I do believe had done to them what I’m describing done to them. The plan is to take a junk lee enfield barrel cut it off just ahead of the Knox form bore it out thread it and then have a .30 cal barrel(also a take off)machined and threaded to fit.

I’d rather just buy a savage 340 or stevens 325 but I’m not paying the prices people are asking for a hardware store gun.
Click to expand...

It's all doable, just not as easy as it sounds.

I've seen other rifles changed to different cartridges in the same manner.

There was a fellow, now deceased that used to do exactly what you describe with P14 and P17 rifles in our area. When he passed, there were over 20 rifles built into sporters in that many different cartridge chamberings on those actions.

The only drawback for you will be magazine modifications, which for the 30-30Win would just mean fiddling until you get it right or building an insert into the magazine that might work better.

This isn't rocket science or anything new. It's been done on all sorts of actions, especially those with difficult to cut threads.

I get that you're trying to make your rifle into something easier to aqcuire ammo for, still, I believe you could save yourself a lot of trouble by just sticking with the 303Brit chamber and using a standard .306 sizer ball when sizing.

303 Brit brass is readily available at gun shows, even now. Reamers can be rented. Why fix what isn't broken???
 
mbogo3 said:
A 30-40 Krag would be easier but if you don't reload you would be no better off.
Click to expand...

The biggest issue is I can’t even reload right now not a single large rifle primer available in this country it seems and I will be dammed if I pay $500 for 1000.

I have a bunch of .30-30 ammo and nothing to shoot it in figured I’d give this a shot before I pull it all down for primers.
 
bearhunter said:
It's all doable, just not as easy as it sounds.

I've seen other rifles changed to different cartridges in the same manner.

There was a fellow, now deceased that used to do exactly what you describe with P14 and P17 rifles in our area. When he passed, there were over 20 rifles built into sporters in that many different cartridge chamberings on those actions.

The only drawback for you will be magazine modifications, which for the 30-30Win would just mean fiddling until you get it right or building an insert into the magazine that might work better.

This isn't rocket science or anything new. It's been done on all sorts of actions, especially those with difficult to cut threads.

I get that you're trying to make your rifle into something easier to aqcuire ammo for, still, I believe you could save yourself a lot of trouble by just sticking with the 303Brit chamber and using a standard .306 sizer ball when sizing.

303 Brit brass is readily available at gun shows, even now. Reamers can be rented. Why fix what isn't broken???
Click to expand...

No primers and factory .303 ammo just plain sucks(boat tail bullets) and it’s $50-$70 a box. And I can build a rifle like this cheaper then I can find a savage in .30-30.
 
A Lee Enfield has a 1-14 barrel shank. A 340 is .850-18. 1.000-.850 divided by 2 = .075 wall thickness. And that does not take into consideration of the root diameter of the Lee Enfield threads. A Lee Enfield barrel is not going to make a breech bushing for a Savage 340 barrel with factory threads.
The 340 would have to be turned down and rethreaded. You might get away with turning the 340 barrel down to .750 and threading it. 3/4-16 is a standard size; the threads in the bushing could be cut with a tap, rather than having to cut internal threads on a lathe.
Got a 340/.30-30 barrel? I haven't seen one for sale in ages.
Might be possible to adapt a M94 barrel for the project. A M94 barrel might be easier to find than a 340.
Any .30 barrel with a breech diameter of 1" or better could be threaded 1-14. Lee Enfield threads aren't 60 degrees, but the tool can be ground to suit.
Then a chamber would have to be reamed, and extractor notch cut.
Got a lathe or a good buddy with one? And a reamer?

If you can find a good 340/.30-30 magazine for under $75, grab it.

Unless you can do the work yourself - or have a good buddy with the equipment who will do the work for a case of beer, this is not going to be an inexpensive way to get a .30-30 rifle.
 
I agree with most of the advice you have been given. If you are deadset on a 30-30, sell your 303, and put the money towards a 30-30. In my estimation it would be the most convenient and very likely the cheapest way to go. A Lee Enfield in 30-30 would sure be an interesting piece though......catnip
 
Strangely enough, I have never even thought of trying a Lee Enfield 30/30. Might be fun to play with.
 
I have been thinking of re-barreling a spare Trapdoor Springfield to 30/30 as well. I'll bush the breech block and turn down the pin. I'm thinking kind of an Officer's Model replica but in 30/30. Cast bullet gun. The Lee Enfield would be best with a single row mag, so the stock could be slimmer in the middle.
 
That should work nicely.
Not much is being done with .30-30 these days.

I think the US did .30-40 testing in Trapdoors - didn't work well with service loads.
 
tiriaq said:
A Lee Enfield has a 1-14 barrel shank. A 340 is .850-18. 1.000-.850 divided by 2 = .075 wall thickness. And that does not take into consideration of the root diameter of the Lee Enfield threads. A Lee Enfield barrel is not going to make a breech bushing for a Savage 340 barrel with factory threads.
The 340 would have to be turned down and rethreaded. You might get away with turning the 340 barrel down to .750 and threading it. 3/4-16 is a standard size; the threads in the bushing could be cut with a tap, rather than having to cut internal threads on a lathe.
Got a 340/.30-30 barrel? I haven't seen one for sale in ages.
Might be possible to adapt a M94 barrel for the project. A M94 barrel might be easier to find than a 340.
Any .30 barrel with a breech diameter of 1" or better could be threaded 1-14. Lee Enfield threads aren't 60 degrees, but the tool can be ground to suit.
Then a chamber would have to be reamed, and extractor notch cut.
Got a lathe or a good buddy with one? And a reamer?

If you can find a good 340/.30-30 magazine for under $75, grab it.

Unless you can do the work yourself - or have a good buddy with the equipment who will do the work for a case of beer, this is not going to be an inexpensive way to get a .30-30 rifle.
Click to expand...

I was going to use a take off barrel off of a Remington it’s chambered in .300 win I was going to cut it off at the neck of the chamber have it turned and threaded. I figure this would be easier on the machine work that my buddy has to do. As for the rest of the fitting it would be me and some files.

I may just pull this ammo down and use the primers.
 
There wouldn't be enough diameter to thread a cut off R700 barrel to 1-14. It could be threaded to a smaller diameter and set into a bushing, like a Cooey-Carcano. A chamber reamer would be necessary, of course.
Surely a loaded factory .30-30 cartridge is worth more than a LR primer.
 
tiriaq said:
There wouldn't be enough diameter to thread a cut off R700 barrel to 1-14. It could be threaded to a smaller diameter and set into a bushing, like a Cooey-Carcano. A chamber reamer would be necessary, of course.
Surely a loaded factory .30-30 cartridge is worth more than a LR primer.
Click to expand...

That’s what I’m talking about doing. And this ammo was given to me it’s all factory but I haven’t seen a cheap rifle for it in a long time on gun post the .30-30 savage rifles(used to be really cheap) people are asking $450+ for them. Figured I’d dive into the lee enfield parts bin and see what I could do.
 
So I forgot about about this for a bit. .30-30 will sort of feed out of a lee enfield mag and the bolt grabs it nicely. I don’t not know how anyone has fired it in a .303 chamber as it would not go all the way in.

Should be a fairly easy conversion very little if any bolt work definitely some mag work probably use a pro mag. Main thing would be finding a shot out barrel to use the knox form or have something machined up.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom