rebarreling a m14

[burnt_servo]

anyone rebarrel a m14 to maybe 7mm-08 or .260 rem ?

is the action long enough , or can enough metal can be removed to rebarrel to 6.5.x55 or 7mm mauser ?


the reason i ask is , i'm thinking about getting a m14 , but i do not have so much in the way of reloading components in 30cal .

but i do have enough reloading parts in 6.5 or 7mm to make me think that the cost of rebarreling/ rechambering might be worthwhile .

 

[sunray]

It'll cost you less to get the .30 cal components than it will for a cu$tom made barrel for any of those cartridges.
"...is the action long enough..." Nope. Made for the .308's 2.015" case. The 7mm Mauser is 229 thou longer, the 6.5 is 150 thou longer.
Neither will fit in the mags either.
The 7mm-08 or .260 will work, but you're looking at a cu$tom barrel with bolt/extractor modifications for the .260. Not much though. The 260's head diameter is only 6 thou smaller than the .308.

 

[rnbra-shooter]

ditto - rebarreling will be *much* more expensive than getting set up to load .308. If you decided to do it anyhow, any of the cartridges based on the .308 case would work - .243 Win, .260 Rem, 7mm-08, .358 Win, etc. You would need a competent riflesmith, working in accord with a competent reloader, to get the rifle functioning reliably and durably (getting the right size gas port hole, balanced with the pressure the ammo makes at the gas port).

The M1 Garand is long enough to accommodate 7x57 or 6.5x55. But, the clip of the M1 is exactly made for the case size and taper of the .30-06, so getting something other than .30-06 to feed from the magazine reliably might be difficult or even impossible. Though there is some hope, there were some Garands converted to .308.

 

[sunray]

"...M1 Garand is long enough..." Sure is. An M305 isn't an M1 Rifle though.

 

[burnt_servo]

maybe i should have used the word reloading componants .

i got a huge pile of 6.5 and 7mm bullets off of ebay years ago really really cheap ( as well as a bunch of 6.5 x55 cases ) .

i was just thinking that it is such a pain in the arse to find mag for my ljunman( i have 2 rifles sharing one mag ) , that why not try to build a modern equivilent that has readily available parts .

i'm leaning heavily towards a .260 rem , the biggest problem is finding either someone who has done it before , or a gunsmith with experience building one .
3rd choice would be a gunsmith with extensive experience with the m14 ( preferably someone in b.c / alberta)

 

[10x]

ditto - rebarreling will be *much* more expensive than getting set up to load .308. If you decided to do it anyhow, any of the cartridges based on the .308 case would work - .243 Win, .260 Rem, 7mm-08, .358 Win, etc. You would need a competent riflesmith, working in accord with a competent reloader, to get the rifle functioning reliably and durably (getting the right size gas port hole, balanced with the pressure the ammo makes at the gas port).
snip.

A norc 305 in 358 winchester. or in 7/08. Both have an appeal.
The 305 makes an excellent deer rifle with 180 grain cast bullets in 7.62.