Rhineland Enfield and Mauser Conversions to .45 ACP

70m4h4wk said:
Those are all modified .45 ACP cartridges. They have the same outside dimensions, and will feed from 1911 mags and chamber in .45 acp chambers. The brass is thicker to withstand higher pressures, so you can get more velocity out of regular .45 ACP projectiles. It's an easy way to hotrod a 1911, or in this case, hopefully, an Enfield.
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Pretty sure they are...i used 45-08 in 1911's. Look at the thickness of the 1911 barrel at the chamber. To screw a barrel into an Enfield or Mauser receiver,they have to be 4 times the material.Can't blow that up with whatever fits in a 45 acp case.

CG
 
So these work with the unmodified 1911 mags? Early kit models had a rib soldered to the back of the 1911 mag.
 
Yes, the .45 mags are unmodified.
There is no positive stop. You insert it till there is a click. If you keep pushing, it keeps going further in, which will foul the bolt.
 
Moose308 said:
Can the magazine adapter be modified or redesigned to take alternate brands of magazines? Glock mags for example?
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No. Before Wolverines made these available, me and a buddy were trying to figure an alternative... Thought about welding a uzi mag into a LE mag. But the magwell tapers and magazine is too wide. The mag had to sit far back, that gun probably wouldn't chamber well, due to a huge gap between the mag and the chamber.

1911 mags are cheap enough.

Not everything has to take Glock magazines.
 
on the enfield would not a 7.62 extractor work well enough on the 45ACP case, same case head.

If I was making my own I would look at cutting a slight slot in the bolt head and having a spring loaded ejector mounted on the magazine block.

I have some pictures somewhere of this sort of set up.
 
A slot in the bolt head would allow a spring loaded ejector to contact the case head. Ejector could be down in the mag. well, or extended through the left hand sidewall of the receiver.
 
Bolt heads are hard. Anneal and cut or I suppose a grinding disc could be used to cut an ejector slot.
 
tiriaq said:
Bolt heads are hard. Anneal and cut or I suppose a grinding disc could be used to cut an ejector slot.
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Dremmel the hell out of it.... All my most nightmareish bubbaed enfields have been attacked with a dremmel wielded by a blind drunk monkey :)


I was thinking a carefully cut slot using a cut off disk would be the way to go :)
 
It's not a super easy thing to deal with. But, it is essential if you want the shell to actually leave the receiver.

Grinding slots in the very hard bolt heads is not easy. Even for a mill it's not easy.

The original Special Interest Arms conversions came with a spring loaded plunger that was threaded through the left sidewall.

Since a loaded round of .45acp is about 1.250" long, the ejector should be about that distance back from the chamber.

I've also seen a couple done where they did put an ejector on the magazine adapter as was said.
 
Regarding ejection -- I'm mid-way through my own Rhineland .45 ACP conversion using a Lee-Enfield No. 4 action. After modifying the extractor and trigger guard/magwell as per Rhineland's instructions, I test fit the barrel and gave her a go using dummy rounds. She ejects surprisingly well. In fact, she ejected all the dummy rounds consistently except for the occasional hiccup with the last round. This accords with much of what I read on the Internet about this conversion.

LE No. 4 rifles do not use the ejector screw to eject empty casings in any event. That little screw sticking out the left side of the receiver was only designed to kick out unfired .303 cartridges. Instead, LE No. 4 rifles rely on friction between the empty casing and left inside wall of the receiver. Here is a great video that shows this principle in action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jypkWqzUiZA.

I may at some point modify the magazine adapter to incorporate a spring loaded ejector to ensure 100% ejection for the last round. However, my testing to-date shows that the side-wall friction ejection principle works pretty well with this conversion kit. I'm not planning to make this my SHTF rifle, so I'm OK with a range toy that occasionally has to be manually canted slightly to the right to drop a non-ejected casing. I've yet to test the conversion with live ammo, so I'm not sure how it will react to ejecting unfired live rounds (which are heavier than dummy cartridges). Here is where I suspect the majority of ejection issue may appear. I'll post a follow-up one I get my converted rifle to the range for a full function check and a test firing.

My two cents.
 
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