Question but a 303 Brit with a bad bore

Glaciers

Glaciers

Alaska Land of the Midnight Sun
Well I might be trading into a Winchester 1895 in 303 British in very nice shape except the bore is described as quite rough. He can't get it to shoot anywhere near reasonable. So we are working a trade, I have a JM stamped 44 mag I think early 80's in about 98% shape. Don't need the Marlin so I will find out Saturday if it's going to happen.
So reline or bore out to 35/303, or 35 Winchester?
Advice, thoughts on options for this rifle.
 
fiver

fiver

Well-Known Member
well you got options.
I'd try paper patching to clean the barrel up then slugging it to see what your really looking at.
the paper will take the rough out up to a point and polish down the high spots.
 
Ian

Ian

Notorious member
Clean it first and maybe touch up the crown. If it's truly corroded out you have plenty of options including firelapping and paper patching.
 
Glaciers

Glaciers

Alaska Land of the Midnight Sun
The fellow that owns it sounds like he has gone after it with a thorough cleaning regiment and believes it's corroded to the point needing relining.
I've heard that before and if I can make this trade will give it a good cleaning and firelapping was in the back of my mind as well Ian. I've had a few rifles with pretty rotten bores that could still shoot acceptably.
 
M

malar

New Member
35 WCF is a nice caliber if you can find brass. Dies would be cheaper that 35-303.
Long neck and perfect size case for cast. The Lyman 358318 was made for the 35 WCF.
NOE has a copy that shoots really well in my Whelen.
 
F

FrankCVA42

Active Member
Why don't you try the 37 rimmed?. 303 case necked up to 375 caliber with no other changes. Of course you'll need a new barrel. Don't know who has a reamer for this cartridge. But interesting cartridge for sure. Frank
 
Glaciers

Glaciers

Alaska Land of the Midnight Sun
malar said:
35 WCF is a nice caliber if you can find brass. Dies would be cheaper that 35-303.
Long neck and perfect size case for cast. The Lyman 358318 was made for the 35 WCF.
NOE has a copy that shoots really well in my Whelen.
Click to expand...

I have the 35 Winchester in mind as it is a factory cartridge. As luck would have it I rooted through my brass supply and have about 30 35 Winchester pieces in the "don't have the rifle" section of my reloading supplies.
Hate to say I'm having second thoughts, but I need another 35 caliber besides another project like I need a second hole in my head.
But, but, has that ever stopped a true gun nut?
 
Matt

Matt

Active Member
I recently purchased an ‘03 Springfield “sporter” with a black bore. Rifling was very faint. It’s part of my mission to rescue Springfield and Krag rifles and pass them on to new shooters. After some brushing and soaking with Ed’s Red the rifling seemed pretty fair, the bore was gray and frosted. Several hundred strokes with JB bore paste brightened the bore a bit. 50 shots with some pulled 7.62 x 39 bullets at low velocity (10 gr Red Dot) did some polishing abd I suspect some “ironing” Bore is still frosted but rifling is sharp. It shoots about 2 MOA with M2 equivalent jacketed loads and best cast is closer to 3 inches. My point is that most bores (in my experience) are not as bad as they look and some work will make them shootable. Not always of course; I have a 7x57 rolling block that has a barrel that is hopeless. It sits waiting for a rebarrel or rebore.
 
fiver

fiver

Well-Known Member
8x50R is also known as the 8mm Lebel.
the body of that case is pretty big, so you'd have to look at the lips on the magazine etc.
 
Joshua

Joshua

Taco Aficionado/Salish Sea Pirate/Part-Time Dragon
fiver said:
8x50R is also known as the 8mm Lebel.
the body of that case is pretty big, so you'd have to look at the lips on the magazine etc.
Click to expand...

​

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/8×50mmR_Mannlicher
 
Glaciers

Glaciers

Alaska Land of the Midnight Sun
Well now the trade is off. Kind of a mutual decision as he was in Seward, 525 miles south, and the kicker for me was when he sent better pictures. The bluing was weird. It was strong and the stamped markings were crisp, but the blue was kind of a matte finish. Like it was treated with something. The drive was going to be a beautiful mini trip for Karyn and I, and I had visions of a 35/303 or better yet a 35 Winchester. But not with that bluing finish.

On one hand I can't say I'm not disappointed, but as I have a Rossi 357, (but it's stainless so it needs to be replaced with a nice blue Browning) a couple of 35 Remington's, a 358 win, and a 35 Whelen. Can't say I'm deprived in the 35 caliber department. As far as 8mm or any other caliber that ends with "mm", I'll stick with USA head stamps. Well maybe a 9.3 something. I do have a 6x47 I must confess, but still no "mm" in the name. Yeah I know half of you just wrote me off, but I'm not a "mm" guy, well, maybe with Carmel centers.

Oh well I have a nice early Marlin 44 still so maybe I will sell it and put the money aside and start a serious hunt for a Browning B92 in 357. Might run across a mini Martini for a fun project.
 
JWFilips

JWFilips

Well-Known Member
Clean it up the best you can: and Make a pound cast ( the pound cast will tell you the size of the bullets to shoot...... Not the Slugging!)
Then shoot PC coated bullets and don't clean! Fixed 4 old junk ( as I was told ) war horses! Now the are near target quality rifles!
Simple
 
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