So I have a bunch of these actions and decided to try a small caliber chambering. I bushed the bolt face to 223, bought a "short" magazine kit and installed that, and barreled it in 20 Practical. I put a Ruger small bolt face extractor on it. I did nothing to the feed rails or magazine width. The RHS feeds OK off the floorplate, the LHS jumps out of the mag box as soon as the bolt touches it. So I am thinking I need to Tig the left rail for about the first inch, but before doing that, I am wondering if anyone has been down this path and come up with an easier fix.

Yes. Put an M16 magazine in it. Mill out the feed rails until the mag seats in and feeds. Mill out the Mag box to allow the detach box to fit in. Make a release, or weld in a retainer.
I just did one for a 450 Bushmaster. I should patent the idea.

quote:

Originally posted by dpcd:

DUDE how do you make your pinky finger do that? That is freaky.

John

I did one years ago. I took 2 pieces of sheet metal and cut them the length of the magazine box. Curved the tops to fit the bottom of the receiver. Welded them in place and put a piece in the rear to shorten the box. Used a short follower and spring. Worked better than I expected it would. Bill

My hands and fingers are so flexible and steady that I could remove your spleen in your sleep without waking you up.

I was never wild about the looks of that "hangy down thing" Think it 's called an AR -15 magazine??? HAR!

Anyway, made a 22 Hornet and just studied the M-70 idea...including the cartride pusher and adapted.

Made the agazine out of stainless (welds easily) and could not leave well enough alone..shortend the action. Lots of modifications to the firing pin/cockng piece (firing pin nut)

Probaby ????? in todays dollars and I have no idea where that rifle is now.

It's not made for looks; it's strictly for function, which it does very well.

quote:

Originally posted by dpcd:
It's not made for looks; it's strictly for function, which it does very well.

A lot of very pretty firearms are only looked at and not used.

I'll take a some what ugly firearm that I can drag around on a hunt. Then one that sits in a safe.

That looks counter intuitive. Would have thought the mag moved as far forward as possible would work better.. ah but then maybe the ejector wouldn't work....

It's done that way for sound reasons, and it does, indeed, work 100% perfectly. Note that more than one design parameter comes into play, one of which is the ID of the existing mag box won't allow an M16 box to fit into it. There would be no box walls left. And the position of the retainer; it is welded into the rear of the box and the front spacer is made from aluminum.
Feeding, and ejection, are perfect, or I would not have built it.
Realize that, the existing receiver rails now have zero to do with feeding so it doesn't mater where the box sits.
Critic; easiest job in the world.

quote:

Originally posted by dpcd:
Yes. Put an M16 magazine in it. Mill out the feed rails until the mag seats in and feeds. Mill out the Mag box to allow the detach box to fit in. Make a release, or weld in a retainer.
I just did one for a 450 Bushmaster. I should patent the idea.

Dp, did you do that Parkerizing? Beautiful...

It's paint code 24087, semi gloss Military paint; I use it on my Jeep restorations; it is a post 56 OD. There are different shades of OD; WW2, Post war, Post 56, CARC, and USMC Forest Green.

quote:

Originally posted by gasgunner:
DUDE how do you make your pinky finger do that? That is freaky.

John

try to fold your pinky finger.. if the ring finger doesn't follow it, you should have been a musician, if it does, the tendons have grown together.

I am lucky, as a guitar player, that my left hand works great... right hand is just for picking and strumming

It doesn't but I am not a musician, but I do play the radio.

I had a pre 64 Win 70 in 223 that was originally a 22 Hornet. The builder used a Rem 722 magazine box and follower. The gun fed flawlessy as a repeater. A lot of the 22 Hornet to 222 or 223 conversions were single shots.

ETA: I would think a Mauser would have similar results.

Russ,
No experience with a swap to a narrower shoulder in a 93. Just wider as in 7X57 to 6.5 Creedmoor in a small ring 98. Removing material from the right rail solved that along with a .223 Rem follower.

However, I think you are on the right track. Assuming the kit inclded a rear spacer, going from a 7X57 or 7.65 argy (.430 / .429 shoulder) to the .354" .223 shoulder is the issue here. Spot welding (or even crazy glue) an inch or so piece of .08" feeler gauge onto the top of the magazine wall on the forward top left might be all it needs. Plus, if it improves and still has some to go, just swap it out for a thicker gauge. Whether or not you allow the piece to extend up next to the rail (doubt this will be necessary) as opposed to keeping it flush with the upper edge of the mag box is up to you.

I soldered a piece of 40 thou flat brass stock to the left side of the mag box, the size of the area that is already milled out, and let it stick up to be more or less level with the action rail when assembled; and bent the top edge so as to contact the square chin of the bolt along the entire length of travel. Well I took about 25 thou off the left side of the chin as well to get it right.

Surprisingly, the right side feeds just fine. Even better now that the follower (Numrich short follower supposedly specifically made for 222 ctg) is pushed over a bit. Numrich had these as a kit (short follower, short spring, and a piece of delrin to block the rear of the mag well) but they are out of them now. I don't know who made them.

For an extractor, I used a Ruger 223 model 77 extractor. I had to do a lot of fitting to get any bite on the ctg rim.

I had to bush the bolt face of course. Including the lower left piece.

Now that Sunny Hill is making bolt shrouds for this action, the ugly factor is gone and they make very nice sporters in the appropriate calibers. Mine is actually a 20 practical not a 223. I made another for myself, it's a 375 JDJ Rimless (using 30-06 brass) and I converted the mil safety on that to a bolt-mounted ghost ring (yes it fires when vertical, safe when laid down!). As you can see I like these odd chamberings. I would think any of the 223 ctgs would work aok. 7mm TCU would be a dandy, you can use long bullets in this action. Of course this action is made for the 7x57 and 257 robts; 6mm Rem if you load it conservatively. The 300 sav and 250 sav will also work, but watch the pressure on the latter. The Dayton speedlock/cock on open conversion is the icing on the cake, it reduces the rather long striker travel. Well, that and a Timney safety trigger.

Eh. 223 case. Nonetheless, a fun project from the sound of it.
Hope you get to update us on how it groups.

get some "steel stix" and prototype your intended mods before welding

Needs some Vaseline on the cases. They will chamber slick as all get out.