- Location
- Somewhere on the Hudson Bay Coast
Good to hear you like M-54s Bill. I have one in .270 that badly needs some attention, I just haven't thought out how I want it configured yet. Can't be any worse than working on a M-30 can it?.
I was quite fond of my old ugly M-17 (Remington manufactured) that came as a Century Arms sporter. The .30/06 barrel was original complete with the flaming bomb insignia, but there were no irons and it was stocked in a heavy, clubby, black B&C stock. The stock finish it seemed didn't do well when it came into contact with bug dope, and the black finish as I recall peeled off in long strips. Oh well, I didn't buy it for its looks. The receiver had the sight wings machined down and was drilled for a base mount, but the holes didn't line up, so using a Weaver aluminum base I slotted the rear hole, mounted the 3-9X Bushnell, and bore sighted it, then epoxied the base in place when the scope centered on the bore sighter grid. Despite some hard use, it never moved. The first 3 rounds I shot out of that thing was on a 100 yard target and hit a 2" bull at 5:00 cutting a hole smaller than a clover leaf. This became my go to rifle for quite a few years, despite the fact that it was heavy and the stock feel left something to be desired.
As for the strength of these actions, you can't ask for more. I inadvertently double charged a load of SR-4759 (50 grs rather than 25) with a 210 gr cast bullet. I was shooting over a chrony that day, and the rounds made a pleasant bang when they fired and the velocity was between 1800 and 1850. When I hit that double charged round the report boomed very loudly, the recoil was what one might expect from a .300 Winchester, and the velocity read something like 2850. After pounding the action open, I saw that the Remington head stamp was in permanent mirror relief in the bolt face. The primer was in the bottom of the magazine, the flash hole opened up to the size of the primer pocket, and the primer pocket expanded to the edge of the lettering on the case head. Funny, I don't recall if that shot hit the target. There was no apparent damage to the rifle, or to me aside from ringing ears, and one would have thought that the excess gases might have blown out the magazine, but the action contained them all. I continued to use that M-17 for several more years until it was lost in a house fire.
Today my go to .30/06 is a new fangled ZG-47, that feels like a wand compared to that M-17, but I doubt it will ever provide me with the memories that old Enfield did, mostly because when I need to carry a rifle now, more often than not its my .375.
