I will be leaving for a while until I have my SMLE 405 Win completed. I will post pics of this rifle when I return.

Axel

Axel,
Good luck. Hope everything comes out just as you want it.

Take your time.....

Hey AX, we will miss you, but only because a target that is absent, is hard to hit! Just kidding you, build your rifle, and post those pictures when you find them on the net!

Damn, I'm all misty........

I sometimes wonder why I even argue with the guy.

Axel- One piece of good advice! When you do build you 405 SMLE have it checked out by a COMPETENT gunsmith before firing it! We will all await your pictures!-Rob

Why you all pickin on Axhole?? Good luck with your project and keep us advised.....

is this before or after he finishes his 22 dgr and 458 soemthing or other? Does this one replace his previous commitment to leave until he posts picks of the rifles he built (jan/dec time frame)?

Word of advice... if you DO build a 405 on an SMLE, start with the 308 ishtapor, and replace the bolt with a 303. The action should be harder.

If not, I hear that the non-issued aussie's a nice

jeffe

Do you really believe he is going anywhere?

Thanks to everyone for their kind words. I am not sure how long it will take to complete the project. Robgunbuilder, don't worry I have been speaking to an experienced rifle builder I know who has agreed to supervise me.

Jeffeosso, to answer these questions,

is this before or after he finishes his 22 dgr and 458 soemthing or other? Does this one replace his previous commitment to leave until he posts picks of the rifles he built (jan/dec time frame)?
I have completed the 22 DGR it is out being blued. I have decided to build the SMLE in 405 Win instead of the 458.

Word of advice... if you DO build a 405 on an SMLE, start with the 308 ishtapor, and replace the bolt with a 303. The action should be harder.

If not, I hear that the non-issued aussie's a nice
Thank you for the recommendations. I have heard these same recommendations from others. My own research supports these recommendations also.

Regards,
Axel

Off to concoct more lies, are you?

Don't let the door hit you in the ass.

Well I am back for the moment. I went out and handled some SMLE today and was NOT impressed! These guns are scary to me! The bolt pops open with the slightest bump of the handle, and the you can fire it while it is coming loose!!! That would make a bad headache I think!

I am now seriously considering making a 10.75X68 on a mauser. Has anyone heard of this round being chambered into a M48 Yoguslovian Mauser? I think it will work since this round has the same COL as a 8X57.

Axel

Jesus this wanker has never even handled a SMLE before?

More BS.

Axel, I've heard of this being done before but you have to open the bolt face up to .903". Makes for some tricky extractor work though. Be sure to keep everyone posted.

Axel, sorry but I mistakenly said the bolt face was opened to .903 and is really .703". You should have no problems at all. Send some pictures after testfiring.

NitroX, shocking isn't it! At least I figured out how to take the weapon down. The salesmen, yes plural, could not! It amazed me how simple and crude the SMLE was. Not at all in the same class as the Mauser or even the Mosin Nagant for that matter!

vip, which action are you talking about? The SMLE does not require any bolt head modifations for the 405 Win. The rim of the 10.75X68 is only 12.6 mm diameter versus a rim diameter of 12.15mm for the 8X57 Mauser.

Axel

Axel, I thought you were talking about the Sako Vixen. Good luck.

Axel

So tell us about the next project you are reading about in a magazine.

So tell me sparky, how does a SMLE action lock up?

Axel
I do not know what type of budget you are on but there is a 10.75x68 Mauser for sale in the AR classifieds.

NitroX, the SMLE locks up via diametrically opposed locking lugs at the rear of the bolt. The RH lug engages the front of the rear bridge at the ejection port. The LH lug engages a notch on the LH side of the rear bridge. The striker spring tension is such that a small bump of the bolt handle will cause the action to unlock and pop open. This is, in my mind, a bad thing for any dangerous game rifle. BTW, I cannot think of a more dangerous game rifle than a BATTLE RIFLE. Converting to a cock on opening would eliminate this issue with the SMLE.

Axel

Axel

Sure. If you know so much about the SMLE but did not know how they handle in practice, why ever come up with this silly project.

At least you now know they are a rear locking action.

Have you tried shooting one yet?

Good reference material you have. Keep reading.

Personally I like the .303 as a .303 or one of the .303 wildcats.

"BTW, I cannot think of a more dangerous game rifle than a BATTLE RIFLE. "

What is a "BATTLE RIFLE" ?

[ 05-27-2003, 19:22: Message edited by: NitroX ]

Orion 1, really! Perhaps, but at least in the Vaterland we used a good rifle! In fairness to the British the German Mauser was 17 years newer than the Enfield and benefited from many lesson learned. BTW, the British government, recognizing the deficits of the SMLE on two seperate occations sought to replace it with a MAUSER type rifle.

Occation 1: Pattern 14 rifle, which was cut short due to WWI and not implemented as sufficient tooling was not in place to support the required production demands, nor was there time to retool.

Occation 2: The British requested from the US governement M1903 Springfields chambered in 303. This attempt was terminated when the Japanese bombed the US naval base at Pearl Harbor and the US needed all the rifles they could get!

Britian finally replaced the SMLE with a cock on opening rifle in the late 40's. This time there were no wars to get in the way!

Do I need to provide historical references for you or can you dig them up yourself?

NitroX, the "BATTLE RIFLE" title was taken from Jeffeosso's post above. I think the term is self explanatory, myself. I need no reference materials to evaluate the workings of the SMLE action. Merely handling one is all that is required. They are quite simple! However, they are more complicated than a Mauser K98 so they are more likely to FAIL! I particularly liked the complicated safety linkage! Does it handle mud and dirt well? BTW, I may still do the 405 Win project, I haven't decided yet. The real reason for considering the SMLE was the potential for a high capacity magazine. I could realistically get 7, and possibly 8 405 Winchester rounds into the magazine. Also, there would be no need to modify the bolt head since the rim sizes are almost identical. Simply put, it should be a rather straight forward modification. To be certain I need to get ahold of one and see how well it feeds the 405 Win. This will tell all. I think I could live with the cock on closing, but will need a new bolt handle design.

Axel

[ 05-27-2003, 20:37: Message edited by: Axel ]

Axel,

I thought you went away.

Axel,

Be careful. I know you think that your powers of analysis are considerable, and perhaps they are. However, facts, even those not always evident by analysis, are sometimes available to those with experience. Most important, facts sometimes have a way of revealing themselves that makes you or your next of kin wish you had known them before they they revealed themselves to you, personally.

Also, sometimes people who have experience can analyse, as well.

To translate, the first paragraph says, "Be careful; you don't know everything." The second says, "Be respectful of your elders."

Hope that translates well into German on Babelfish.com or whatever you use.

Good luck.

Axel,
I hate to break the news to you but the SMLE, is basically a piece of crap in the first place..your back in La La land again, I told you that you were hard headed...

Ray, I agree with your comments about the SMLE. However, that was part of the reason to do the project. To make it better!

Recono, I do not quite understand your post. I am not a amateur. I am confident in my analytical abilities and in my machining skills. Of course no one knows everything, this is true. I know this and appreciate it when others with more experience share with me that experience.

Axel

Axel-how about taking that leave of absence, or no sense

Once again Ray has fully analyzed the situation most succintly, and in only two lines. Does Axel think he is the axle of the universe?
Cheers,

Cripes, you guys bought in again?

You really thought he changed his ways?

Come on Axel, see if you can convince everyone, one more time.

Hell, I know I'm convinced....I'm too polite to say of what, but I'm damn sure convinced..

Axel

Undoubtably the Mauser 98 action is a better action, but as for the SMLE and "how does it handle mud and dirt well"?

Well you will have to ask the British, Australian, New Zelander, Indian, South African, Canadian, Kenyan, Egyptian etc troops that used it in such diverse locations and battlefields such as Southern & Eastern Africa including Eithiopia, the mud of the Somme and Poziers in France in WW1, the deserts of Libya, Palestine, Syria, the jungles of Burma, New Guinea in WW2, the frozen ice and dusty heat of Korea. Not to mention the hundreds of thousands of ex-mil rifles turned into sporting arms since WW2 and still in use eg with the Parks Department of Kenya, the Indian Army and elsewhere.

Guess the millions of soldiers over the last hundred years or so were not as experienced as you in picking up the obvious defects which makes it so defective and useless.

A SMLE in rapid fire could easily outshoot a Mauser if both were in experienced hands in terms of speed of shot as well as the obvious magazine capacity.

What a goose!

[ 05-28-2003, 10:38: Message edited by: NitroX ]

When are you all going to convince yourselves that Axel is a fake and a troll?

Orion1, why do you insist that I am a troll? You need to grow up!

NitroX, I never said that the SMLE was a "piece of crap" Ray Atkinson said that! I simply stated that it was disappointing to me. I was comparing it to the Mauser system, which is not fair and truly unrealistic. I think the action still holds some promise, and I may still make a 405 Win out of one.

To the rest of you I am glad you think you are convinced of something!

Axel

Recono & Orion1, IF anyone here is a troll it is you two!!

Axel

The reason he hangs around is because a lot of the nice guys here(in a fit of magnanimity)give him pats on the head like a good student if he posts something half normal.

Then everyone's duking it out with his old style bullshit on another thread.

Karl.