hi all, newbie here, info for browning 71 to 50-100-450 wanted

[hard88cast]

Hi all. Long time lurker first time joining and posting. little about me. My favorite firearms are my 86 win 45-70 and 45-90, both antiques, i reload both and have taken many whitetails with both but other then that I am a newbie to working on leverguns but have extensive experience in building and working on semi auto older military rifles.
I gold prospect here in Montana and find myself not being able to concentrate on my prospecting or just staying away from some of the best gold prospecting areas because of the ever present Grizzly population.
Of course I wear a pistol but that isnt the protection that makes me feel comfortable so I just purchased a browning model 71 in 348 that i would like to make into a 50-100-450 short rifle.
Would like to do 1/2 octagon barrel.

Cant seem to find dies at this time but sounds as if they are usually available.
This rifle is designed for a 50' and under shooter. Hoping for a moderate recoiling 500 gr slug at 1700-1800fps.
Anyway this is a project I have been thinking about for a long time but really dont know much about this process so any help and tips are much appreciated.
Looking for somewhat tech info on parts that need to be whittled down in order to make the case function properly.
I noticed back in 2019 John Taylor posted a little about this process but have been unable to contact him due to his inbox is full.
Thanks

thank you

[indian joe]

Hi all. Long time lurker first time joining and posting. little about me. My favorite firearms are my 86 win 45-70 and 45-90, both antiques, i reload both and have taken many whitetails with both but other then that I am a newbie to working on leverguns but have extensive experience in building and working on semi auto older military rifles.
I gold prospect here in Montana and find myself not being able to concentrate on my prospecting or just staying away from some of the best gold prospecting areas because of the ever present Grizzly population.
Of course I wear a pistol but that isnt the protection that makes me feel comfortable so I just purchased a browning model 71 in 348 that i would like to make into a 50-100-450 short rifle.
Would like to do 1/2 octagon barrel.

Cant seem to find dies at this time but sounds as if they are usually available.
This rifle is designed for a 50' and under shooter. Hoping for a moderate recoiling 500 gr slug at 1700-1800fps.
Anyway this is a project I have been thinking about for a long time but really dont know much about this process so any help and tips are much appreciated.
Looking for somewhat tech info on parts that need to be whittled down in order to make the case function properly.
I noticed back in 2019 John Taylor posted a little about this process but have been unable to contact him due to his inbox is full.
Thanks

thank you

moderate recoiling 500grain slug at 1800FPS out of a 7.5 pound rifle ????????????????????

I have a Browning model 71 in 348 .......would rate it moderate recoiling as is

If you going in Grizzly country one thing you need to do
get rid of the stupid firing pin with its little spring loaded safety blocker bits

my rifle is one of the first run of these, it has a proper half cock notch - no lawyer safety - so it was easy to convert it over to solid firing pin - It had done maybe 400 rounds, had sat in the rack a fair bit, and I took it out one day and fail to fire !!! not a problem with an angry bean can but not a good plan with an incoming bear.

there is a rebound spring ahead of the firing pin that I left in but it should have come out too, the ears on the lever retract the firing pin off the primer like a proper 86 is designed to do so that spring is just more lawyer baloney - dont need to be there. (gun works fine so I leave it be for now)

If you google this conversion there is a fair bit of stuff comes up - magazine mods - cartridge lifter - I think I would go for the 50 Alaskan - case is a tad shorter, brass more available, less problems ?

[pietro]

.

Welcome to the board !

As stated, the .50 Alaskan is the Gold Standard for .348/M-71 conversion - because it gets a lot easier due to being based on the .348 cartridge.

.

[Harleysboss]

Wondering if JES Reboring in Oregon could do it? He lists 50 Alaskan on his web site. I had him do a 38-55. Nice work shoots great. Worth a call.

[dverna]

Why not leave it in .348?

If buying for bear protection, a Mossberg 500 is cheap and effective up close.

[indian joe]

Wondering if JES Reboring in Oregon could do it? He lists 50 Alaskan on his web site. I had him do a 38-55. Nice work shoots great. Worth a call.

my B71 measures .632 at the muzzle - thats gonna be awful skinny after a rebore - would be real interested in whether or nor he would do that.?

[Shawlerbrook]

Regan Nonneman will do the 50 Alaskan conversion.

[pietro]

my B71 measures .632 at the muzzle - thats gonna be awful skinny after a rebore - would be real interested in whether or nor he would do that.?

Most re-borers, Jes included, will only do a re-bore that leaves a minimum barrel wall thickness of .125" @ the muzzle.

.458" + .125" + .125" = .708" minimum muzzle O.D. for a rebore to .458".

For a re-bore that I had Jes do to make a .35 cal from a .308" cal rifle with .500" muzzle O.D., I had to cut the barrel shorter to the point that the muzzle O.D. was acceptable for a re-bore to .35.

.

[hard88cast]

hi folks, thanks for responding.
indian Joe, my 71 is an early one, close to #0350. Has a typical 1/3 cock lever safety. I am not familiar with the firing pin issue you mention. Ive tried to find blow up schematics on this rifle I can actually read on line but no luck so far. More info is appreciated.

Ive emailed noneman a month ago and no response.
Jes got back to me but I am looking for a new barrel anyway and he says he doesnt sell new barrels..

Sure a shotgun is great, not the energy of a 50cal load though, plus i need something new to reload for and a new rifle to tinker with, plus ive always wanted to do this conversion.

You guys may be right, maybe i should go with the 50alaskan, i can find dies for that cartridge(a month ago), really just wanted the 50-100 to be the big brother to my 45-90, keep it all in the family so to speak, sentimental reasoning lol.

[hard88cast]

Is there less internal receiver work with the Alaskan or basically all the same amount.
I want to do the majority of the work myself just need to find out what that entails.

Would like to buy a complete barrel including all dovetails and an 11deg crown. Not sure were to buy that from. There is a website called "winchesterbarrels.com" i talked with him and he says he can build a barrel and it will "time" perfectly without having to send my receiver to him, That doesn't seem possible to me. Any thoughts on this?

[John Taylor]

The inside of the action needs some work. The feed rails need about .020" removed, I usually take a bit off each one.I ended up using an 86 left rail that meant the bolt had to be relieved to clear. The lever need the end shaved down at an angle so the loading gate will open a little more. The inside of the frame needs to be opened up on the right side to allow the fat cartridge into the mag tube ( the 50 Alaskan may not need this). The carrier needs to be opened up for the larger body diameter ( rim diameter is close to the same as 45-70). Bottom edge of chamber needs to be rounded and polished. Chamber should also be polished. Nose of the bullet has to be close to the same as the 50 EX, some short jacketed round nose bullets work.
The 50 Alaskan will do the same as the 50-100 power wise using smokeless powder and is a bit easier to do the conversion. The 50 EX brass can be shortened for the Alaskan. Hope this helps

[John Taylor]

https://www.gmriflebarrel.com/wl86-5...octagon-blank/
Twist is for the 300 grain bullet.

[hard88cast]

hi john taylor, thanks for chiming in and work description. I have looked at those green mtn barrels but think they only do 1-54 twist, im looking for somewhere around 1-20 for heavier longer slugs but have not decided yet on what twist will work the best..

Just found a 1-24 twist at green mtn. Its says chrome molly 4140 barrel but it also says BPCR barrel...

Actually would like to find a completed barrel, will call them and see if they do a complete barrel.
thanks

[Jim22]

If it were me I would try to find a 71 in either 450 Alaskan or 50 Alaskan and try shooting it. I have not tried the 50 Alaskan but I did fire Bud Leibing's 450 Alaskan in Palmer, AK. It bent my nose over almost til it bled. It was my thumb that hit my nose. There is something about those 71 stocks that causes that. I have fired many other hard recoiling rifles. I have owned two in .458 Win. and one in .416 Rem.. When I lived up there I regularly hunted with a Sako in .338 Win.. So I don't think I was overly sensitive to recoil. Just bent noses.

[hard88cast]

hi jim22, you definitely have the recoil game on me with the 458s and 416. Thanks for the thoughts. Im building this cause i can, if its too much for me I will just use a 12ga with slugs. But thats the good thing about reloading, i can dial it in for what is comfortable for me. AND,,,,,i just need to build this rifle and get it out of my thought process. 35yrs of dreamin on this subject its about time i get over it and do something about it.
thanks

[missionary5155]

Good morning
We have two 50 Alaskan rifles. One is a 86 (jap) 26' Octagon that we had JES rebore near 10 years ago and it turned out an excellent shooter and great for a sit and wait rifle.
The other is a mid range # Browning 71 that was rebarreled (we bought it here) 22" barrel and makes into an excellent "stalking" type. Also a 50 Alaskan.
50 Alaskan brass / dies are far more available and affordable.
Your desire to launch 500 grainers at 1850 is easily done and with a proper recoil pad and not sitting / laying behind a rifle at a bench is no real issue. I weighed myself yesterday and came out a whopping 139 pounds. I shoot your goal regular sitting on my padded part and roll with those big monsters. Our plinkers are a 400 grain FNGC at 1650 fps and will thwap any critter onto the dinner table I have ever been near.
So charge ahead. I do recommend rebarrel as it is cheaper and keep your original barrel for the rifle. Our 71 has both barrels.
If you need any more info ask away.. Happy to help you down this trail...

[John Taylor]

Forgot about the recoil part, one customer sent his gun back to have a shotgun stile butt stock made for it. While my rifle has a 30" octagon barrel I have not finished it yet so don't know how hard it is going to kick. The chamber is 50 EX and the barrel is marked 50-100. I think I did this one with a 1-28 twist.

[hard88cast]

Missionary5155. Good morning, thanks so much for chiming in on this. I will definitely be asking more questions.

Do you have any guidance on barrel twist for launching 400+ grainers?

Bullet company to get those boolits with gas checks? (coated boolits w/gas checks would be ideal).

Powder to be looking for reloading those big ole thwrappers?

is the alaskan chamber/rifling designed for lead .512" boolits?

thanks very much

[444ttd]

bullet companies are

https://bullshop.weebly.com/-50-cali...t-bullets.html

https://www.montanabulletworks.com/p...tegory/pistol/

https://www.mattsbullets.com/index.p...index&cPath=90

https://www.beartoothbullets.com/bulletselect/index.htm (he doesn't do email or phone calls, he does boolits)

http://www.moyerscastbullets.com/rif...lets_pricelist


and yes the 50 alaskan is .510" rifling. i have a tc encore with 23" MGM barrel in 500 Linebaugh and 450gr lfn gc(.512" boolit) and hs-7 or 2400.

[hard88cast]

444ttd, thanks for the great links ,info and powder recommendation.
missionary5155, yes i am looking for a new finished barrel.