Parker Hale DBM to Floor Plate Conversion

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Gents,
I have a CIL 972-C stamped Parker Hale .270. It has the Santa Barbara commercial action and the original detachable box magazine.

If I were to buy a new, old stock Santa Barbara hinged floor plate, would this be a simple conversion? As in........remove the original trigger guard and mag and screw in the new hinged floor plate?

If I did this conversion, would I be able to go back to a DBM if desired?

Would there be any fine / fitting / modifying work needed to the action in order for for it to feed / extract properly?

I have zero experience working on Mauser actions, trouble shooting feed problems, etc. I have disassembled this PH .270 bolt, cleaned and lubricated it and reassembled it however, that being the extent of my Mauser action experience.

Thanks for your thoughts.

https://www.tradeexcanada.com/content/parker-hale-santa-barbara-commercial-m98-engraved-trigger-guard-assembly-blued
 
The conversion appears straight forward however it is not. Stock inletting different however can be corrected by bedding the hinged floor plate bottom metal. The boss for the front detachable needs to be removed. This can be done with a coarse file. Good so far. Here's the issue! The feedrails are totally different. You need to have the detachable ones milled to access the 30-06 base cartridges. Not an economic prospect. Best to sell the rifle and get what you want. Ron
 
The PH drop floor plate rear cartridge box plate clears the front trigger bushing.

The receiver has standard feed lips for it's cartridge.

The PH "clip" isn't a true single feed (except the magnums) but it's a straight drop in except for the threaded bushing which is brazed to the bottom of the receiver.
 
OP - pay attention to Lee Enfield's last line - "threaded bushing brazed to the bottom of the receiver". Assuming that you have not previously disassembled your rifle, and assuming it is the same as Parker Hale 1000C, 1200C, etc. You will find that you will have to removed the magazine latch in the trigger guard (held by a small cross pin). Then look into that recess and you will see an allen head screw that is threaded into the bushing brazed to the bottom of the receiver. So there are three screws holding bottom metal to the action - behind trigger guard, within front of trigger guard and front of magazine opening.
 
Potashminer said:
OP - pay attention to Lee Enfield's last line - "threaded bushing brazed to the bottom of the receiver". Assuming that you have not previously disassembled your rifle, and assuming it is the same as Parker Hale 1000C, 1200C, etc. You will find that you will have to removed the magazine latch in the trigger guard (held by a small cross pin). Then look into that recess and you will see an allen head screw that is threaded into the bushing brazed to the bottom of the receiver. So there are three screws holding bottom metal to the action - behind trigger guard, within front of trigger guard and front of magazine opening.
Click to expand...

Thanks guys for the info.
I know about that trigger guard roll pin. I've taken one crack at tapping it out, but it is stuck good. I will have another go at removing it.......so I can take the action off the stock.

That is the main reason for me considering going to a hinged floor plate. I don't want the trouble of removing that silly trigger guard roll pin everytime I want to take the stock off. I often hunt all day in the rain, and need to remove the furniture so I can dry / lube the bottom of the action before putting the gun away for storage.

Back to the floor plate conversion......Lee Enfield, what is this "threaded bushing"? What does it do? Would this "brazed-on" threaded bushing need to be removed, partly? Entirely?

http://thehunterslife.com/forums/showthread.php?p=100590#post100590
 
I have a Parker Hale 1000C under renovation, which I believe is nearly identical to OP's rifle. Here are some pictures. Just now, I swapped out the Parker Hale DBM bottom metal and installed a Tradex floor plate. Loaded magazine with 5 x 30-06, which cycled through just fine. As per Lee Enfield above, the action has standard feed lips, which, of course, are not used with the DBM, so if this were mine, I would polish up the feed lip edges just a bit to smooth them out. By the way, that little screw into the boss is a #4 BA - not National fine or any standard North American thread,
so don't strip it!!

View attachment 75425

See below the brazed on bushing just in front of the trigger.

View attachment 75426

Without the trigger guard, this is how the pieces go together

View attachment 75428

All assembled as it lives inside the stock

View attachment 75429

I had read to ensure there should be a slight gap between the magazine box and the receiver when properly installed in the stock.

View attachment 75430

5 x 30-06 in the magazine - cycled through like a charm, but the unused feed lips would benefit from a polishing (sanding) to take off the sharp edges.

View attachment 75431
 
Thank you so much Potashminer for posting the pics of your 1000c conversion. They really help me understand the process better.
I do have a few questions please;

Do you have an actual roll pin or a solid pin in the trigger guard mag release? Did it come out easily?

The "gap" between the [new ] hinged floor plate magazine and the bottom of the receiver.......is that about 1mm with the trigger guard screws torqued to spec? More ? Less?

What exactly are the "feed lips" that you and others are talking about?

Great info on the hidden trigger guard screw being #4 BA. I would not have known otherwise.
 
Mine had a solid pin, not a roll pin. I had driven it out with a 1/16" punch. There is a possibility that one side has larger head than other? Might want to try tapping it out in reverse direction?
The gap is the end result with everything assembled in stock and all torqued down - open floor plate and check for clearance.

"Feed lips" - once you get your action out, look at it's underside. Or, remove your DBM and look up at underside of action. You will see that the underside edges of the action have been milled out with a round nose mill to provide very precise shape to hold / feed cartridges. The "lips" have to hold the cartridges in the mag, but then release them as the cartidge moves forward and towards the center as the cartridge is fed to the chamber. Think of a DBM - it has to hold the shells in place, then release them as they move forward. Can't have both in use at same time - with your DBM, it is what is controlling the cartridges, once you replace that, the action's feed lips will have to do the same function. With your DBM inserted, the outer edges of the DBM feed lips are resting against the underside of the action feed lips. With jagged or sharp edged feed lips, you will get drag, and/or scratches on the brass as it transfers from magazine to chamber. We are talking smoothing / polishing here, not regrinding or filing them!
 
Potashminer,
Thanks again for your post. Now I know what the feed lips are on a 98 Mauser action and what they are meant to do. Your explanation made it clear.

I received the Santa Barbara hinged floor plate from Tradex, and did manage to get the trigger guard release roll pin out of the PH. I would guess that it was never removed by a PO, if that roll pin is an oem PH part that is.....

Upon getting the trigger guard removed, I noted that the hidden allen head screw was actually loose by about two turns. Humm. Good thing I found that out.

After I cleaned the trigger assembly and the bottom of the action in kerosene, I lubed it up with my mtb Teflon-based "Tri Lube" and set the trigger as per these instructions;
http://stevespages.com/pdf/parker-hale-sniper-rifle-m85.pdf

It was pretty easy to adjust, and I was much happier with the feel of the trigger after doing so.

Then I tried fitting the hinged floor plate in place. It was a tight fit and I could see that a very little bit of wood needs to be removed in the mag well corners, and that there appeared to be a "high" spot of wood that would need to be shaved down. As it was, the floor plate seemed to be on an axis of wood, right between the trigger hole and the mag well hole. I could rock either end of the floor plate down into the stock, but not both ends at the same time. If the trigger end was down in the stock, the front end stuck up about 3mm, and vise versa.

Is this section / depth of the inletted wood stock crucial wood? If I shave it down a couple mm, will that impact being able to go back to the DBM? Not being sure, I left well enough alone and reassembled the gun with the DBM for the time being.

More on the roll pin issue....
The roll pin went back in much easier than it came out with the help of some good synthetic grease. I did try a 5/64 drill bit shank as a possible replacement for the roll pin. It slid in / out like butter, and so is just a tad too small. A 3/32 is too large. Does anyone know how to make a 5/64 drill shank a little larger in diameter? Possibly heat it up red hot and tap the end so as to try to shorten it.......thus increasing the diameter? Would this work?
I dont have a lathe to turn down a 3/32 drill, but could put it in the drill press and hold some 180 or 220 grit paper on it.
I'd like to get rid of that roll pin.
 
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