22 single six to centerfire?

[StarMetal]

If Alan Harton and Hamilton Bowen will do it, hell yes.

Why won't Ruger?

[Bret4207]

I'll expand on your post #43 more specific then. You'll not, and you've probably owned quite a few old milsurps, that many of them, if not all, have bore dimensions that, even when new, that are often larger then the bullet dimensions...particularly the groove diameter. Deep groove in other words. This was a precaution so there was ample space for the fouling from the lousy powders in use then. It also reduced the pressure. Another side benefit is that the rifling would would still be present after lots of use...take a while to shoot it out completely.

The jacket alloys were softer then too. In short I don't go along with your post about the rifles not being taken care of, bores fouling bad and high pressure in result and why didn't they blow up. You're correct the powder was bad, maybe there were instances that the rifles weren't taken care of, but with all the milsurps present today apparently they were taken care of pretty decent. I would assume in the heat of battle they were neglected which is expected. Consider too they used corrosive ammo and still yet we have plenty of milsurps with shootable bores. So even if they were fouled bad, the oversize bores along with the extra deep rifling grooves and softer alloy bullets....they didn't pressure up enough to blowup.

You need to go back and read Hatcher and Ackley and Whelen and Crossman and old copies of the Rifleman from the 20's and 30's.

[Bret4207]

A gunsmith once photo copied a several hundred pages from his shop manual on rebarreling the Mauser actions for my use.

Among the photos were many of blown up Mauser actions of various models with explanations of the causes of each.
These records were compiled long ago when a great many more milsurp Mausers were being used as the basis of custom sporters rebarreled for high intensity cartridges.

There were some really poorly thought out Mauser adaptations before WW2. One accident waiting to happen was a Central European copy of the Small Ring Mauser 98a artillery carbine. Instead of a small ring dia shank they'd fitted these with large ring dia shank barrels, the receiver rings left paper thin.

Near as I can remember the blown up Mausers, and those with too much setback to be worth rebarreling were almost all of pre WW2 production.

There were also a number of unmodified military configuration mausers that had blown up due to very corroded bore with excessive metal fouling adding to the problem. These were listed as reduced bore diameter due to rust and fouling. So bore conditions brought on by negligence and lousy ammo was a major problem back (early 60's and earlier) then at least when mostly non servicable rifles not worth refurbishing were likely to be sold off.

The quality of the metal and heat treatment of pre WW2 Mausers ranged from excellent to abysmal. The Chinese copies of the Standard Model export rifles are said to be among the worst.

A side note . Some FN manufactured bolts were found to be improperly machined, with no radius at the left hand lug where cut for the ejector slot.
A few of these bolts cracked there with half the lug snapping off. These rifles were usually repairable, with German manufacture K98 bolts fitted as replacements.
I don't know what FN serial number ranges to look for on this issue, but as far as I know only a few FN actions rebarreled to magnum cartridges suffered these lug cracks.

Another thing to look out for is excessive grinding of the receiver ring to remove NAZI markings of K98 rifles rebarreled to .30-06 by Norway.
Some workmen apparently didn't know enough about the depth of the hardened layer and cut away too much metal in creating a flat for the new serial numbers. Those ground too deeply can fracture under heavy loads.

I would agree with nearly everything you wrote. I've seen many "custom" rifles that were accidents waiting to happen and many other early Mausers that I'd have complete faith in, given common sense care and loading. The problem is that a lot of people seem to have either zero faith or 100x too much faith in their guns strength. Better to use a bit of moderation in all things and enjoy a long, happy life.

[StarMetal]

You need to go back and read Hatcher and Ackley and Whelen and Crossman and old copies of the Rifleman from the 20's and 30's.

It's funny I get that post from you, but yet you go on and praise or agree with most of what Multigunner says, yet we both are saying the same thing...not wise to build a modern high pressure cartridge on an old Mauser. Someone mentioned that you should have an old Mauser reheat treated. Another well known gun person that said that too was Jim Carmichaels. You, sir, need to go back and reread those books you mentions and "comprehend" what they said.

[Bret4207]

Hey Joe, after years of you doing it to me and getting your chuckles, your chain has officially been pulled......





HAR!

[StarMetal]

Hey Joe, after years of you doing it to me and getting your chuckles, your chain has officially been pulled......





HAR!

Hey Bret......you son of a gun. You got me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hey, we were nice about.

Oh yeah, that HAR, that's patented by old Jumptrap....remember his HAR HAR?

[Bret4207]

Hey, nobody wants to abuse those old girls, that's for sure. I'm somewhat amazed that many survived as long as they did. Use them with respect and care and save the 338 Monster Masher Magnum for a modern action. In truth, there's not much a guy couldn't do with a '93 Mauser ain 7x57, but that wouldn't make sales for Remchester now, would it?

[StarMetal]

You got that right Bret and I think the 7x57 is an all time great cartridge, one of my favorites.

[leftiye]

I can put him on ignore, but then the blanks mess up all of the threads anyway.

[Bret4207]

It's those little nuggets of occasional wisdom that keep me coming back.

[StarMetal]

It's those little nuggets of occasional wisdom that keep me coming back.

When you going to give that Swede of yours a try after learning what the big secret technique was?

[Bret4207]

After I get the other 11,957 "emergencies" around here cleared up.

[StarMetal]

I know exactly what you mean Bret. Couple weeks ago I was in bed and my son wakes me up all excited says "Dad, your water system blew up in the basement". He went on to say my work shop room was all wet and full of fog and you couldn't see. My basement is finished and divided into two rooms. One is my gun side (thank God that wasn't were the problem was) the other is the workshop with lathe, drill press, tools, etc.. The water system he mentioned is I put in a new water softener and also an iron extraction system. We have well water and it has tons of iron in it. I don't have the type of iron problem that stains your clothes. Water taste like, well iron, and smells like hydrogen sulfide. Well it wasn't "my" system that was bad, the hot water outlet on the hot water tank cracked. It's the only piece of galvanized pipe in the whole system. The rest is plastic. Because we like our water hot and dishwashers require a little hotter water, the small crack atomized the water and it's hotness turned it to steam. The steam knocked out half the fluorescent lights and everything was totally wet. I got it back to normal and it required lots of work and a dehumidifier.

Sorry this is off topic but I know the emergencies that crop up when you own your own place and what it takes to keep it running.

Bret when you get caught up give me a holler and we'll see if we can get you shooting some decent HV groups with that Swede if that is what you want.

[McLintock]

I had Alan Harton built this set of Old Model Single Sixes converted to 32 H&R, but just sold them earlier this month. They were neat little guns but I just got too many gun sets to shoot in Cowboy Action, so they just sat in the safe. Alan once said he could make a Single Six in 32-20, and he did, but said it'd cost about $2000 so I opted out of that one. He's doing the 327's now, but making the longer cylinder is still kind of expensive I'd think.



McLintock

[Multigunner]

So far the only stretched and/or cracked topstraps I've seen were on cheap Spanish double action .32-20 revolvers. The cylinders of those were bulged a bit at the front about even with the case neck.
I'd figured those were due to using the higher velocity jacketed rifle .32-20 cartridge in a gun intended only for the lead bullet original pressure level cartridge.

The Single Six topstrap is far more sustantial than the top strap of those old revolvers, and with more meat than most small and medium frame revolvers for that matter.

That the converted pistols don't blow up is obvious, but I have to wonder if theres enough margin of safety to be certain the frame will hold up in the long run.

I think if any problems crop up they'd show themselves gradually, with looseness first.

[StarMetal]

The first time Chevrolet put a 396 cubic inch engine in their Chevy II (Nova) it twisted the body on their test track. Actually talked to some of the engineers in that and they said that it was resting on two wheels, that you could push on it and make it teeter totter. Back to the drawing board for stronger front and rear clips and some toughing inbetween those and the rest was history.

The point is the 396 was just too much for the small frame. Didn't blow it up or rip it apart, it loosened it substantially. I agree with Multigunner in how will the 327 hold up in a long run. Ruger didn't want to take the chance on that.

I feel those custom pistol smiths will build you anything for the money.

[Bret4207]

I wish I could find it in myself to fall in love with a single action. Those 32's look great, right up until I get then in my hand, then "Bleah!" as Snoopy says. I'm just a Smith DA guy, though and through. The closest I've come to fondness is my 45 convertible BH, but thats mostly 'cuz it shoots so darn good. I like the Bisley better but even then they fell "wrong". Kind if like the diff between and 1911 and a Hi Power, the Hi Power/CZ75 grip just feels right, the 1911 feels "funny".

I know, I'm either insane or just a total loser. What can I say?

[StarMetal]

Bret,

I told my best friend Bob I grew up with that I'd never own anything but a SA. Now I have more DA's then SA's and he makes sure he reminds me of my quote back when I we were young and my first revolver was a SSS and my first center fire was the old three screw model Blackhawk in 45 Colt that I still have today.

To me shooting the SA's is like driving an old truck and shooting the Smiths is like driving a Mercendes.

[McLintock]

Well, back in about 1970 or so, I bought a Smith in .41 Mag, the cased model, don't remember the number. A guy in college in the early '60's had a whole set or two of them in both .357 and .44, and he so impressed me with his shooting of them that I had to have one. Then I bought a Ruger Blackhawk in .41 and both had 6" barrels, actually 6 1/2" on the Ruger. I shot the Ruger so much better than the Smith that I sold the Smith and it's been SA's for me ever since; it's just a personal preference thing and everybodies got one and it only comes from experience.
McLintock