Parker Hale 30-06 question

Jes_C_James

Jes_C_James

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Hello all,
I recently acquired a Parker Hale "safari" 30-06 from a friend of a friend. The year of the rifle was unknown to him. I tried goggling the serial# to pin point the year and find out some more info on it but to no avail. Never the less it has a detachable magazine and this is what I have a question about. Does anyone know what the round capacity is for the mag on these rifles? It seems to hold five rounds just fine but it was very hard to chamber the first round when five were loaded into the mag. Once the first round of five is finally chambered and fired the rest feed and fire with ease. Do I have one to many rounds, in this mag? I never did try just four rounds as five seemed to fit so nicely and i assumed should of worked just fine. :confused: Any input is appreciated thanks..
 
I have a 1200C in 270, it definitely is not very slick loading the top round if you put 5 in the mag. I have never needed 5 rounds in a big game rifle so I just load 4.
 
I have a Parker Hale "Safari" in .308. Bought it used in 1970. Great rifle! Very accurate too. Like Cleftwynd I have never loaded more than 4 cartridges.

I did a Google search on "Parker Hale Safari rifles 1963 catalog" and on forums.gunboards.com there is a page from the Parker Hale 1963 catalog with all the specs. 5 shot magazine capacity.

http://www.fototime.com/1C7E340E62EA020/orig.jpg
 
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Both mags on mine can only hold four. Loading a fifth one is too tight as I can feel it compressing the spring too much and a bit of bulging occurs. The fit is tight into the rifle and the round also jams tight. Mine is a 1200 in 30-06.
 
Both mags on mine can only hold four. Loading a fifth one is too tight as I can feel it compressing the spring too much and a bit of bulging occurs. The fit is tight into the rifle and the round also jams tight. Mine is a 1200 in 30-06. I confirmed this by checking out a website: http://www.pmulcahy.com/bolt-action_sporting_rifles/british_ba_spr_c-z.htm

For the most part, the 270/30-06 with box magazines have four. The internal (floorplate) have 5.
 
The Parker Hale clips were 4 shot clips. If you force 5 shots into the clip it will not be to long until the clip opens up a little and starts letting a couple rounds pop out of the magazine at a time. If you only load 4 rds at a time they will last a very long time. I bought my first PH rifle almost 45 years ago and still have several of them .
 
Only way to date it for sure is by the Birmingham proofmark, either around an "X" or in a circle, beside the "Tons per Sq. Inches" proofing.
The PH "C" type hold 4 '06 size cartridges and the standard staggered column magazine hold 5. The Magnum rifles hold 3 round.

Hope no-one relies too much on the "pmulcahy dot com" site as it was intended to be used within a role game and while it carries a lot of infos on many guns, the information supplied is not always accurate (as it's not the purpose of the list).
 
You probably won't have a problem wearing out your magazine by inserting 5 rounds as I'm sure you will lose it long before you ever wear it out. I had 3 different 1200 Cs and every one would eject the magazine when fired, some with greater frequency than others. 7mm RM did it 1 for 3 pretty consistently, 30-06 about 1-5 and the 243 only did it a couple of times. Got rid of all three rifles and swore I'd never buy another, I took the 7 Mag back where I bought it twice and told them the issue but it never got resolved and I had to buy 2 new magazines for it in less than a year. They just said I was inserting it wrong. Over the years I've talked to dozens of guys who had the same problem with 1200Cs, so I figure maybe I wasn't just inserting it wrong!!!
 
Mine has never once dropped the magazine, just a 270, but still. Just lucky I guess, I am sure glad it doesn't, those magazines are getting hard to find.
 
I'm sure there are some out there that don't and never will, but there is a very high percentage that do and I just like to warn guys of my experience, it may save someone from having to seek out and pay a lot of bucks for another magazine. All three of mine were new from the store and all bought the same year, so.................My 243 which I shot 10 times more than the other 2 only did it twice in a year and a half and probably 5000 rounds. Those cases may have been my failure to insert fully but the '06 and 7 Mag were not the same case, as frequency was just too often.
 
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