Making a No7 Lee

[mitsou]

Following,
Is there a good Canadian gunsmith who can install a 22lr liner for such conversion?

 

[gaff]

Try Gunco in Ottawa , I know he has done quite a lot of the liners in the past.

Personally I prefer the .22 barrel into a no4 barrel stub method .

 

[bearhunter]

I have a No 7 clone I bought years ago that was made up using one of the surplus receivers and a real No. 7 barrel.
These days, No. 7 barrels are as rare as hen's teeth. Lining a No. 4 barrel with a poor bore is a viable option. Given that most of the barrel is covered by stock and handguards, setting a .22 barrel into a breech stump is possible. The muzzle can be turned down, and a scrap No. 4 muzzle can be fitted to ease front sight mounting. More work than lining a barrel. Finding a good .22 barrel longer than 25 1/4" can be a challenge.
I've lined several No. 4 and SMLE barrels. Could use a couple of SMLE stock sets to finish off No. 2 Mk. IV clones. One set I had went for a SMLE project with a Whitehead style scope mount.

Lots of low value clunker Lee Enfields around.

The Shotgun News gunsmithing project book has a faux No. 4T .22 featured.

Over the years, numerous service rifles were reworked into .22 training rifles. Martinis, Mausers, M1917s. Lee Enfields are easier than most because the barrel and bolt face are readily accessible. The Israeli K98K conversions are at the other end of the scale, the barrel and bolt faces being far into the receiver rings. A Mosin Nagant might be interesting, and the separate bolt heat would facilitate conversion. Interesting projects for a hobbyist.

I saw that project book by Hunnicut at a friend's place.

I used the last set of mounts/bracket on a 7.62 Nato, No4 project, so it will likely end up on a No5 stock set. Thanx for the info.

 

[bearhunter]

Following,
Is there a good Canadian gunsmith who can install a 22lr liner for such conversion?

The liner is much easier to deal with than just a stub.

The stub can have a 22 barrel press fit or threaded in, but that creates other issues and takes more time.

Long, piloted drills are available online, as are 22 liners over 24 inches. Two part epoxy is easily applied for a very strong set up.

Lining makes breeching much easier as well.

With a piloted drill, you don't need a lathe. You can clamp the barrel into a stable vice and drill it with the proper diameter bit very easily, but with care, of course, with a decent hand drill.

Some people will scoff at that, but it's doable, with very decent results.

Liners don't come with reamed chambers, unless you order them through a smith and he cuts a chamber, at a cost, of course.

Trying to fit a take off 22 barrel with an intact chamber can be meticulous at best, unless you thread it for a locking collar, which will have to be made up as well.

 

[tiriaq]

Readily available liners are 5/16" diameter. Running a 5/16" drill through a .303 barrel is straightforward. Minimal amount of metal to remove, and the drill tracks straight. Groove diameter is nominally .311"-.313" so the .315" drill barely cleans out the rifling.
I make the chamber fillers from scrap barrels, so the drill passes through nicely. As I mentioned above, the chamber filler has to extend back to the bolt face, to fill the area previously occupied by the cartridge rim. You want the bolt face and barrel breech face very close together, to avoid split rims.
Reaming a .22 chamber is easy enough. Very little steel to remove, compared with centerfire chambers.

 

[OkayShooter]

Try Gunco in Ottawa , I know he has done quite a lot of the liners in the past.

Personally I prefer the .22 barrel into a no4 barrel stub method .

I want to do this method to avoid having to pay for a reamer. Then there is travel to the lathe to do finial fitting ( which is 2 hour away )

Trying to fit a take off 22 barrel with an intact chamber can be meticulous at best, unless you thread it for a locking collar, which will have to be made up as well.

Turn down the barrel, that barrel slides in the barrel stub, a little more than need. So you can use shims to push the barrel out setting the headspace. Cooey barrels are only secured by a screw.

 

[tiriaq]

Border Barrels - a maker of premium barrels - produced drop in replacement barrels for the Anschutz 54. Installation used a binding agent. Push the barrel in to correct headspace and orientation, let the agent cure. Replace the two factory taper pins for cosmetic reasons. They no longer retain the barrel.
Making the barrel stub bushing is going to require a lathe, but does allow any long enough barrel to be used. Maybe the stub could be machined to fit the barrel, maybe the barrel machined to fit the bore of the stub. Later would be easiest.
I've used both liner and stub methods and prefer the liner.
As far as adapting barrels goes, the Israeli K98K conversions used Remington .22 barrels adapted for the breeching and sights. Later Israeli trainers made by FN used a superior system and were purpose built.

 

[OkayShooter]

Border Barrels - a maker of premium barrels - produced drop in replacement barrels for the Anschutz 54. Installation used a binding agent. Push the barrel in to correct headspace and orientation, let the agent cure. Replace the two factory taper pins for cosmetic reasons. They no longer retain the barrel.
Making the barrel stub bushing is going to require a lathe, but does allow any long enough barrel to be used. Maybe the stub could be machined to fit the barrel, maybe the barrel machined to fit the bore of the stub. Later would be easiest.
I've used both liner and stub methods and prefer the liner.
As far as adapting barrels goes, the Israeli K98K conversions used Remington .22 barrels adapted for the breeching and sights. Later Israeli trainers made by FN used a superior system and were purpose built.

Liner still would need a lathe. Esp dealing with chamber filling and facing.

I mean one could fill the surrounded area with JB weld, or trying to epoxy a 303 case to be a bushing.

I missed out a mini lathe for 200$ this morning.

 

[tiriaq]

That would look really odd - the .22 liner centered in a .303 case. Drill the primer pocket to 5/16", fill the case with JB weld, slather the exterior, apply JB to the bore, then push the liner through the drilled out bore. Plug the muzzle end of the liner when doing this. Dress the liner flush with the .303 case head and chamber. Or, chamber the liner first, just push it into place setting headspace. Close the bolt to set the liner and cartridge case in place. eas where JB would not be welcome. The .303 case rim is going to take care of the gap between barrel face and bolt face. Might be .necessary to run the drill through the neck with the case chambered, make sure the liner would clear.