Hey guys,

Here is the challenge, and my opinions, preferences, and thoughts:

Subject rifle is a 1917 Enfield, I believe the Winchester version with the oval counterbore over the rear receiver ring. The sight ears have been ground off and some bubba drilled and tapped the receiver ring. There is currently a heavy contour .444 Marlin stainless barrel screwed into the receiver. The rifle retains the safety, the doughboy proof follower, and the stepped floorplate.

I would like to start with a fairly stiff contour barrel in .458 Lott. Have the usual quarter rib with flip up sights and a big front sight dot with V rears. Next, the recoil lug looks miniscule, and I would have that beefed up as well as an auxiliary lug on the barrel. As for other fittings on the barrel, I think a sling swivel base would be nice.

I would have the magazine and floor plate modified to handle the Lott with a small dropped belly for 3 or 4 cartridges.

The trigger is pretty good as is, and I might leave it alone.

I am ambivalent about the safety. Any ideas?

That sinkhole in the rear receiver ring has to be plugged and blended. And the drilling and tapping made to accomodate some heftier 8-40 screws and good bases in the event I decide on a scope.

The stock would be a nice, straight grained English walnut with crossbolts, glass bedding, 20 LPI checkering, a black forend tip, and a length of pull suitable for these gorilla arms and my stock crawling tendencies. Good recoil pad, of course, and a shadowline cheek piece.

Oh, and budget would be around $4,000.

Okay, guys look at the photos and bang away!

if you are investing $4000 how about starting with a new action?
sell that one to add to the pot.
if you have to keep that one...why not go bigger than the lott???

500 a2 or 470 mbogo?

I think you are on the right track and certainly should be abel to stay within yur budget if you aren't planning on a show piece.
My first advice would be that, since you plan on it being a DGR, stay close to the KISS principle.
The original trigger is good, as is the safety. You could change those later if you wish and are under budget.
I like your choice of the Lott for both practical and performance reasons. You could choose a larger "classic" round like the Rigby or Jeffery but the Lott also allows you another round or two in the magazine and generally is easier to fine - standard 458 Win certainly is.
Good luck and keep us all updated.

Thanks for the input. I wouldn't sell the action because it is already a long action, and because of the hassle of marketing/ selling/ etc. Yes, I know my gunsmith could do it for me, but what will I really gain?

As for caliber selection, I like the Lott for the reasons stated, but also because I can make up practice rounds with cheap bullets. It is certainly powerful enough and has the capability to digest the Winchester round if necessary.

It occured to me that I hadn't specified a barrel length. I like the idea of a 23 incher.
And I don't plan on a muzzle brake.

Thanks again for the input!

Elk, sounds like a well thought out project to me. If you prefer a single stage trigger, the Timney trigger has worked out for me. I do not think that the Enfield saftey or bolt handel has any flies on them. I like them very much, they are positive and easy to work. The only thing I would do to the bolt handle, is plug and dome the knob.

Here is my Lott on a Rem 30S.



Keith

tip burns is building a .416 taylor on an eddystone enfield for me....#5 contour shilen barrel, timney trigger, negc front and rear sight... barrel band front sling, boyds pepper laminate stock... parkerized finish....action bedded, barrel length to be determined....i'm keeping the enfield safety, bolt and bottom metal as-is....just a pickup/carry gun....i think that you've picked a good action to bui;d on...

3584ELK

PM sent!.

Les

sell the enfield. take the 4 K borrow 4.5 more and buy the merkel in classifeds and live happily ever after.

3584Elk,
Off topic ... but does the 444Marlin feed? If it does ... would you mind adding some pictures of the rail, bolt and magazine modifications ... please!! There's one locally but it doesn't feed ... interested to see what was done with this one to make it work.
Cheers...
Con

I have no problem with the concept ... and the .458 Lott has a lot of flexibility!

I swear that if I had the $4K starter ... I'd talk to the folks at www.satterleearms.com and either start with their action or have them build me a rifle. You can always replace a stock ... the action is forever!

Con- I would have to see if I have any 444 cartridges laying around. I would be glad to check it out and shoot more photos for you!

Give me 24 hours, and I will check it out.

Con:

Okay, so I blew the 24 hr limit I placed on myself.

I loaded the magazine with 4 rounds and the rifle fed the top two, but not the bottom two.
The last 2 kept hitting the forward end of the magazine well, shown in the pic.

You can see from the other photo that the geometry of the loaded rounds is not very good.
Someone messed with the follower, but obviously, more work is needed.

The one thing it doesnt do is pop them all out when you yank the bolt handle back.

Is it already a cock on opening bolt? I think that should be a must have item.
ER Shaw has barrels for just over $100ish that are chambered and threaded.
FWIW.

FWIW I have a second opinion on the cock-on-closing feature. I like them as when you operate a bolt on a DG rifle, as it is meant to be operated, ie fast and hard, you will not notice whether it is cock-on closing or opening. On military weapons the feature was incorporated to relieve the amount of pressure the shooter had to overcome in order to extract a round that might be dirty ( or, now in Africa during the hot climate, over pressured ) The shooter did not have to cock the bolt AND extract the round at the same time. The cocking was done when they slammed the bolt closed. It is not a bad feature in a DG rifle.

3584ELK,
Thanks mate. The one I looked at had a portion of the rails about 1" from the rear opened through which I assume the rim was meant to rise and release and come in under the extractor. It didn't work! Seems touch and go getting a rimmed round to feed from the M17s without an angled magazine ... some do, some dont. Yours looks like the rails are untouched?
Cheers...
Con

Con,
I sure like the .458 Lott but I wouldn't waste that big long action on a caliber that can be had on a std. Mauser 98 or M-70 Win...

Those nice big Enfield actions are getting scarce, and they are crying for a big round like the 500 Jefferys, 505 Gibbs, 500 A Square, or something along those lines IMO..

4k and a 458 lott?

well, buy a ruger RSM, send to brockman or griffin for feed tuning and keep the other 2k for hunting?

get a CZ in 458 lott, send to either of the above for the same, and keep the other 2.7k for hunting? .. oh, and have them cut the front sight base for NECG inserts.

or buy and restock the CZ and have 1700 left?

or, of course, spend at least 3500 for a good build on an enfield.


the ruger barrel alone is worth 1200bucks as an add on, and the CZ, with sights, is a great starting point.

your call, but a 458 lott doesn't need to start with an enfield... and if you are certainly serious, you need to add up all the parts and pieces BEFORE even labor.

trigger - 75 bucks
sights 200 bucks
mauser CORRECT 458 dropbox bottom metal 450 bucks
pacnor barrel, 200 bucks
stock blank 250
parts and pieces 150 bucks
1375 bucks...

get a CZ..

Thanks for everyone's continued input- My $K figure was a maximum number, and I had to think about a nice, straight grained stock with 3 steel crossbolts bedded into it. I did consider some nice sights, and the work necessary to install them in a professional manner.

So, since I have this big Enfield action, should I re- think my caliber choice? This is why I threw this thread up here- to get some opinions!

I do like the CZ, but I also want to use this Enfield action. Your thoughts are welcomed and appreciated!

550?

did I mention my 550 Gibbs wildcat? Hornady makes dies, Neal Shirley has a selection of cast and jacketed bullets, and you can get four in a Jim Wisner bottom end sheet metal package. He has done a few in 505 Gibbs, check my posts from a year ago for details.

Rich
DRSS

yep.. any of the 550s, the 550 gibbs, the 550 mag, or the 550 express...
heck, even the first 550 flanged, was done on enfields