I'm very impressed by the way Form Members help each other out...case in point....Butch Lamberts Mexican custom botton metal request. My cause is similar except for the P14/1917 Enfield...any calibre.

I've talk to Jim Wisner who at one time made bottom metal for the Enfield however he has no more left...even willing to take something unfinished however I struck out!

Also contacted Sunnyhill and was treated very cordially. No bottom metal however they would offer me separate mag boxes which would have some possibilities if custom bottom metal was made up.

I see Williams is starting to develop bottom metal for other models .....is Enfield a possibility??????there's a ton of these rifles out there that make great custom guns and if the parts were available. I'm certain there would be a demand.

Any and all ideas welcome.

If you don't want to post your thoughts here, send me a PM or email rgg_7@hotmail.com

Thanks, Ron

track ebay by searching "gun parts enfield".

Last week there were two straightened 14/17 trigger guards. one had a curve in it like they get. both sold for around 16 dollars

you can email the sellers for better photos of the items, usually.

not exactly what you're looking for, but might be worth a try.

http://search.ebay.com/gun-parts-enfield_W0QQfromZR40QQfrtsZ0

I should mention that I have straightened military trigger guards. All on guns...some by gunsmiths from bygone years and others by BSA. They are well done and are described in MacFarland's book on gunsmith.

A friend on the west coast thinks there may be an old Rifleman or NRA article showing how to hinge these type of guards. If anyone has the article, I'd like to get a copy at my cost.

I was hoping to take a couple of these rifles to the next level in custom gun making by using the "Blackburn" type.....staddle floorplare, release in the bow, intergal mag box, etc.

Any and all help greatly appreciated, Ron

I. T. and D. Cutom Guns will straighten your bottom metal for $60: http://itdcustomgun.com/_wsn/page4.html

S40

if you have a mag box, making the bottom metal is not all that hard. It just takes a mill, some files, a big chunk of steel, and most importantly an artistic eye. You can have bottom metal equal to Blackburn, Grisel, or anyone else. PM me if you would like to discuss specifics.

Brownells used to sell a jig to weld 17 floorplates flat. can't find it in their catalog now.

quote:

Originally posted by Marc_Stokeld:
if you have a mag box, making the bottom metal is not all that hard. It just takes a mill, some files, a big chunk of steel, and most importantly an artistic eye. You can have bottom metal equal to Blackburn, Grisel, or anyone else. PM me if you would like to discuss specifics.

If one has the expertise to make a complete trigger guard assembly I would think making a mag box would be childs play for them.

of course it can be done-that was not the point. The point was a 2 piece bottom metal is easier to make manually, and he already mentiond mag boxes being available. Why pay someone custom rates when you can purchase the box far cheaper? Of course nothing is wrong with doing it, I just personally think there are better places to spend money on a custom rifle.

If you have made bottom metal from a chunk of steel then you know exactly what I am talking about. If you haven't, well then you are just speaking theoretically anyway.

Mark,

Your post started out by saying “if you have a mag box, making bottom metal is not all that hard.â€

Excuse me if I drew the logical conclusion based on the way you chose to express your thought. I read your statement to mean that if you didn’t have a mag box making the bottom metal would be hard, but if you did it wouldn’t.

Got any pictures of your bottom metal?

-1st fiquire out the depth of mag box you want
-2nd measure your bolt centers at that depth
- 3rd build a a jig with pins at that measurement
- 4th cut and weld the front
-5th shape the hinge and solder to the floorplate
-6th mill the hinge slot
-7th design and make a latch (this one is harder than mausers,I'm working on Mk II)
-8th shape the trigger guard
-9th blue

A couple of years ago at the Syracuse NY gun show I saw an Eddystone .270 sporter with a hinged floorplate and guard release, aluminum too. Seller said the bottom metal had been made by Holland & Holland.

rgg,
some good advice here.. and some hot air, but that's pretty normal.

look, here's the deal.

"enfield" specific bottom metal TENDS to be as hugely wide as the enfield military bottom metal, the concept being that it's easier to open up a stock to accept a slightly larger bottom metal than doing a new stock turning to fit a "mauser" wide bottom metal.

IF you are willing to have a stock turned afterwards

if you have a friend that can tig weld worth a darn (or you can) you can start with a mauser bottom metal, fill and then mill/drill the screw holes (you can safely cut off the front "post"), and using a seperate box, you can line it up to work.

then you'll have to putty up the stock and fill in the sides of the action, as even a mag mag aint nearly as wide as an enfield factory bottom metal.

then have the stock turned.

when you weld, you MUST remove the cladding material on the tig rods, as it will not blue very well if you don't

turn the gas up very high on the torch, and keep it there slightly too long

DO NOT QUENCH THE WORK, as it WILL harden and may warp.


btw, if you are building a "pretty much" standard caliber, this makes a nice looking stock, that you can make a little thinner on the bottom, which, to me, looks a little nicer

I very much appreciate the comments...always learn something from these posts. I'll summarize what I've been told todate.

1. GunParts formerly Numrich Arms sells two preformed boxes for standard 25/30 calibres and a magnum box that works on belted cartridges like the 375 H&H and 505 Gibbs.

2. The P14...303 British and 1917 Enfield 30-06 boxes can also be modified for various calibres including the 375 H&H. This work is described in the MacFarland's book.

3. Jim Wisner did make bow release bottom metal back the late 1980's and 90's however nothing has been offerred to me....Just got an old catalog to torment me!!!!!

4. SunnyHill offerrs their box if you don't like the GunParts' mag boxes.

5. Military metal can be straightened as per MacFarland's book however requires a fixture to a good job. Some gunsmiths still offer this service at a reasonable price or you can shop on eBay. This is what I've currently got on these rifles.

6. Lastly....make or arrange to make your own. Anyone interested?????

7. Hinge details apparently were in an old NRA publication however no info surfaced.

I would like to locate Wisner metal in any condition for these rifles.....any and all leads greatly appreciated.

Cheers, Ron

Years ago Dennis Olson reworked some P14 bottom metal for me, straightening the front tang and adding a hinged floorplate with a M70 style release. I don't recall what he charged (it was at least 10 years ago), but I remember that the price was very reasonable.

As for thinning it up, that's easy: simply file the side rails of the guard (I'm talking about the portion around the magazine box cutout) as thin as you can then silver solder it to the box. Basically you end up with a 1-piece bottom metal. You can then trim the floorplate by almost a full 1/2" inch. It doesn't hurt to leave the floorplate a hair wider than the guard to cover any slight gaps in the inletting.

Ron,

Al Linden had an article in the May-June 1933 issue of American Rifleman magazine on sporterizing 1917 Enfields.

If you contact the NRA they can provide photo copies of most back issues and/or specific articles. His article also appears in his book Stockmaking which can still be bought.

Also, if you look in the back section of Bolt Action Rifles by de Haas you will find articles on Enfields that have appeared in American Rifleman. Not the articles themselves, just the issues they appeared in.

oh, don't bother with the gunpartsco/numrich HH full length mag box.. it's SOFT sheet metal, total junk...

if you have the riveted box, grind off the rivets, file/sand out the ends (you'll see where)reverse the ends, solder up ... spacers as needed.

30 mins, tops.

jeffe