Inline FabricationReloading EverythingWidenersMidSouth Shooters Supply
RepackboxLoad DataLee PrecisionTitan Reloading
RotoMetals2
Page 1 of 3 123 LastLast
Results 1 to 20 of 54

Thread: Show Us your Rhinelander 45 ACP Mauser Conversions

  1. #1
    Boolit Master

    TCLouis's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Location
    Middle TN
    Posts
    4,404

    Show Us your Rhinelander 45 ACP Mauser Conversions

    Several of us here on the site bought those several years ago.

    I ran into a snag with the action someone had given me so mine is still unfired.

    Either the bolt, cocking piece or the firing pin is wrong for the action.
    The action has been ground and has NO markings whatsoever.
    It is small ring.

    Picked it up the other day and decided to get it going here in the near future at least as a single shot.

    Depending on performance may even hunt with it this year!
    Last edited by TCLouis; 02-19-2020 at 03:20 PM. Reason: Additional information
    Amendments
    The Second there to protect the First!

  2. #2
    Moderator

    W.R.Buchanan's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Location
    Ojai CA
    Posts
    9,872
    I shelved mine due to my inability to get it to feed even remotely reliable. It is something that I will get back to someday as the feeding problem is primarily with the magazines.

    I have seen some recently that I think might work a little better but didn't buy them at the time since I back burnered the project.

    They have a full length cartridge follower and I think that will help with the nose diving issue that is the current problem with feeding reliability. The feed ramp will also have to be modified as well as the bolt stop and ejector blade and box.

    Lots of work to get this one to be a reliable gun.

    Not what I had in mind when I bought the Rhineland Kit.

    Randy
    "It's not how well you do what you know how to do,,,It's how well you do what you DON'T know how to do!"
    www.buchananprecisionmachine.com

  3. #3
    Boolit Grand Master


    Larry Gibson's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2005
    Location
    Lake Havasu City, Arizona
    Posts
    21,300
    Mine feed RN loads quite well, SWCs are still somewhat iffy but I still shoot a lot of them.

    Larry Gibson

  4. #4
    Banned
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Location
    S Texas
    Posts
    618
    Don't have any pictures handy, but I built one on a Brazilian SR action, feeds RN ok, SWCs are iffy. Wish I could come up with a better ejector, though. Not the greatest caliber conversion, but workable.

  5. #5
    Moderator

    W.R.Buchanan's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Location
    Ojai CA
    Posts
    9,872
    Larry: what exactly did you do to get it to feed right? The common problem seems to be the cartridge nose diving while being stripped off the mag which in turn runs it into the feed ramp at a nearly 90 degree angle causing a stoppage.

    The other part of the problem is when the round nose dives, the rim of the cartridge is outside the extractor, so it doesn't get slid under the extractor which makes it impossible to close the bolt.

    As we know a Mauser action must feed from the magazine and in order for this thing to work right it has to capture the rim of the cartridge everytime. The reason for this is due to the big gap the cartridge must cross as it heads towards the chamber. This gap wasn't a problem with the long bottleneck cartridges the action was designed for since half the cartridge was already in the chamber before the round stripped completely from the magazine feed lips. This also allowed the cartridge rim to be guided more accurately under the extractor.

    With the .45 ACP cartridge the round is released from the magazine at about the same time it is trying to find the extractor and since the cartridge is not already partially in the chamber it is a krap shoot if it is going to actually hit the bolt face right.

    How did you get around all this?

    Randy

    My Novak mag works fairly well if you don't load it all the way however it never feeds a whole magazine without a hang up.
    "It's not how well you do what you know how to do,,,It's how well you do what you DON'T know how to do!"
    www.buchananprecisionmachine.com

  6. #6
    Boolit Master


    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Location
    East Texas
    Posts
    3,624
    Quote Originally Posted by W.R.Buchanan View Post
    I shelved mine due to my inability to get it to feed even remotely reliable. It is something that I will get back to someday as the feeding problem is primarily with the magazines.

    I have seen some recently that I think might work a little better but didn't buy them at the time since I back burnered the project.

    They have a full length cartridge follower and I think that will help with the nose diving issue that is the current problem with feeding reliability. The feed ramp will also have to be modified as well as the bolt stop and ejector blade and box.

    Lots of work to get this one to be a reliable gun.

    Not what I had in mind when I bought the Rhineland Kit.

    Randy
    Mine does the same thing, got it to feed with 6 rnds, I thought it was the mags too.
    I have not worked on it for a while.

    Update! I used a Wilson Extra Duty magazine and feeding problems went away!
    Last edited by deltaenterprizes; 04-05-2014 at 02:24 PM.

  7. #7
    Moderator

    W.R.Buchanan's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Location
    Ojai CA
    Posts
    9,872
    Larry Gibson, are you there?

    Randy
    "It's not how well you do what you know how to do,,,It's how well you do what you DON'T know how to do!"
    www.buchananprecisionmachine.com

  8. #8
    Boolit Buddy
    Join Date
    Dec 2005
    Location
    Truckee Meadows
    Posts
    393
    On the site, it states not to use the intermediate Yugo actions (24,24/47, and 48) because of feeding issues. Not sure if this is the case above.

  9. #9
    Moderator

    W.R.Buchanan's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Location
    Ojai CA
    Posts
    9,872
    Hacklebeck: Mine has a Turkish Mauser action which they recommend highly. There are several issues, first finding a 1911 magazine with a full length no tilt follower would solve a lot of the feed issues.

    However another big item is the locking lug recess between the feed ramp and chamber. This no mans land causes problems because the only support the feeding round has is if it is locked under the extractor in it's final position before it enters that area. Otherwise if it is not fully captured by the bolt face, it can and will try to go into the chamber cockeyed. Also if the cartridge rim is not under the extractor the bolt will not close. Military Mausers like this must feed from the magazine as there is no single loading feature like Springfields have. (One of the improvements we did when we stole the Mauser design..)

    After playing with mine, I have concluded that the best type of action for this type of rifle is a bolt action with rear locking lugs, like an Enfield or a Spanish Destroyer. Neither of which have the lug recess in front of the chamber. The round feeds directly into the chamber from the magazine.

    Several people here have gotten these things to work right, most have had the issues described above.

    I think I can get mine to function well, however it will require a lot of work and fine tuning and I have several other projects in front of it. When I bought the kit I worked on the gun to get it into a stock and up and running because it looked like a simple quick project.

    I am a highly skilled Machinist, Toolmaker and amateur gunsmith.

    It ain't that easy unless you get real lucky !

    Believe me this would be a very cool gun if I can get it to run right.

    Randy
    "It's not how well you do what you know how to do,,,It's how well you do what you DON'T know how to do!"
    www.buchananprecisionmachine.com

  10. #10
    Boolit Buddy
    Join Date
    Dec 2005
    Location
    Truckee Meadows
    Posts
    393
    I have been wanting to build one of these up, so this is good information. Do you think that chambering this in 45 win mag, or even a wildcat 45 super win mag would help with these feeding issues, in that the cartridge would be longer and more like the "parent" cartridge that these actions were chambered in? I know that you would need to use a different,(not the 1911) or the original magazine for this.

  11. #11
    Moderator

    W.R.Buchanan's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Location
    Ojai CA
    Posts
    9,872
    It would be more of the same, since a .45 Win is only about.1 longer than the .45acp. A better way to go "I think" is to use a different kit that is made for an Enfield.

    Artful posted the link to those earlier in the other thread. Some outfit in Nevada makes a conversion that is supposed to be pretty good. $300 for everything.

    Randy
    "It's not how well you do what you know how to do,,,It's how well you do what you DON'T know how to do!"
    www.buchananprecisionmachine.com

  12. #12
    Moderator

    W.R.Buchanan's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Location
    Ojai CA
    Posts
    9,872
    OK today I purchased a Wilson Combat magazine to try in my Rhineland conversion. It did no better than any other mag I have.

    It had a no tilt follower and did not nosedive the cartridges. That was the only positive thing. However it didn't hold onto the cartridge any longer than the other mags did so half of them didn't get picked up by the bolt face.

    Rhineland has to know this is a very marginal conversion.

    Randy
    "It's not how well you do what you know how to do,,,It's how well you do what you DON'T know how to do!"
    www.buchananprecisionmachine.com

  13. #13
    Boolit Grand Master


    Larry Gibson's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2005
    Location
    Lake Havasu City, Arizona
    Posts
    21,300
    Randy

    Sorry for the late reply, lost track of the thread......no excuse I know......

    I made a sheet metal modification to the feed ramp. Part is made to fold under the front receiver just in front of the mag well. It folds up and is form fitted into the feed ramp make a somewhat gentler slope and taking up some of the space that the bullet nose dives into. I'll take picture of it in place and post tomorrow.

    The extractor does have to be tweaked so the rim slips up under it prior to the rim being released from the mag. I get better feeding now with standard GI mags. The case must fit up into the bolt face with only a bare amount of tension to hold it. If there is too much tension the extractor pushes the case sideways which jams the bullet into the side of the barrel or pops the rim out ahead of the extractor. Take a little off at a time. I'll post a picture of the modified extractor also.

    Mine feeds GI ball and RN cast bullet loads with 100% reliability and #68 and Lee's 190 SWCs with probably 99% reliability. A lot has to do with the mag and how smoothly I operate the bolt. So far I am pleased with my conversion and don't consider it "marginal" at all. I've done 3 of them now on M98s and once tweaked correctly they feed reliably.

    I also blocked the empty space behind the mag to prevent cases from spinning around and jamming things up in there. Additionally I made a new ejector to max dimensions my action would allow.

    Larry Gibson

  14. #14
    Boolit Grand Master


    Larry Gibson's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2005
    Location
    Lake Havasu City, Arizona
    Posts
    21,300
    Photo's; Here is the sheet metal ramp.

    Attachment 86919

    The block made to conceal the hole in the mag well behind the ACP mag.

    Attachment 86920

    The case into the bolt face before it meets resistance from the extractor. The case must slip in this far while being pushed out of the mag to ensure the rim slips under the extractor and the cartridge nose does not cant off to the right.

    Attachment 86921Attachment 86922

    The case with the cartridge up under the extractor when chambered just before the bolt is closed.

    Attachment 86923

    Close up of reshaped extractor.

    Attachment 86925

    New ejector made to max dimensions action allows.

    Attachment 86926

    Hope this helps. Will be glad to answer questions.

    Larry Gibson

  15. #15
    Moderator

    W.R.Buchanan's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Location
    Ojai CA
    Posts
    9,872
    Larry: Thanks, I see what you did and if I have more q's I will PM you. Everything you did makes sense.

    I had cut back the extractor a little per the instructions however it could go a little further. I have seen the pushing of the cartridge to the right malfunction many times.

    Randy
    "It's not how well you do what you know how to do,,,It's how well you do what you DON'T know how to do!"
    www.buchananprecisionmachine.com

  16. #16
    Boolit Master
    redneckdan's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2005
    Location
    Some where on the Iron Range
    Posts
    2,106
    Quote Originally Posted by W.R.Buchanan View Post
    Larry: Thanks, I see what you did and if I have more q's I will PM you. Everything you did makes sense.

    I had cut back the extractor a little per the instructions however it could go a little further. I have seen the pushing of the cartridge to the right malfunction many times.

    Randy
    Any one ever take one of these barrels and ream it to 450 bushmaster?
    Some where between here and there.....

  17. #17
    Boolit Master


    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Location
    East Texas
    Posts
    3,624
    I got mine to work with a Wilson Combat #608 1911 Service Mag Plus.
    It has 7 rnd capacity , no tilt follower & extra power spring.

  18. #18
    Boolit Master


    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Location
    East Texas
    Posts
    3,624
    Took my rifle out Sunday and it fed all 7 cartridges! Extractor still needs a little work.

  19. #19
    Boolit Grand Master


    Larry Gibson's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2005
    Location
    Lake Havasu City, Arizona
    Posts
    21,300
    Quote Originally Posted by deltaenterprizes View Post
    Took my rifle out Sunday and it fed all 7 cartridges! Extractor still needs a little work.
    Just tweak a little at a time until it feeds reliably. Can't put back on what you take of that extractor. Just go slow a bit at a time with several mags fed between "tweaks".

    Pictures?

    Larry Gibson

  20. #20
    Boolit Master


    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Location
    East Texas
    Posts
    3,624
    Not sure how to post pics from my phone, PM me your email address and I will send you some.

Page 1 of 3 123 LastLast

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  
Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check