It's been a long time since last time I said I want to rebarrel one of my already bubbalized SMLE's into a .44mag pistol carbine. Shameful that nothing is done. Well, the main reason is lack of barrels, since cheap .44 barrel blanks dried up in Canada and a freshly made blank from USA or Canada will be expensive(350+$CDN). And nope! don't wanna buy a Ruger .44 bolt gun.

However, a thought has been brewing in my mind for several days : Why not using barrels from another gun and re-fit to an SMLE?

This is what I have in mind :

1.
Saw off the SMLE barrel about 2"(undetermined) in front of the receiver, this leaves a "stump" with original barrel shoulder(1.250") intact on the receiver ring.

2.
The cut-surface is faced-off, the "stump" is bored through to become a "secondary receiver ring", but original receiver ring is untouched.

3.
A new, .44mag barrel from a Winchster 94 is worked, base of barrel turned to the same diameter and length as above said bored hole.
This step fits "secondary receiver ring" and "secondary barrel" together.

4.
Headspacing, indexing the barrel so the sight bases on the Winchester are pointing up. Cutting extractor slot.

5.
The barrel is slightly pressure fitted, drilled through and pinned.

6.
Magazine is left as is right now(single shot), maybe in the future I'll fix a Desert Eagle magazine into an SMLE mag. Or maybe something can be done to reduce bolt travel/move ejector screw forward to accomdate shorter cartridge length. The synthetic stock have about 0.20~0.18" of material on both sides of barrel channel that can be worked in case the new barrel contour disagrees with the old channel.

7.
Have SMLE scope mount, can attach red-dot or scope.

This is what I can think of as of now, maybe when the actual Winchester barrel arrives, things will be different. This is my first hobby gunsmith rebarreling job, there's gonna be a lot of fumbling. and cursing

if you've got the time (and the machine shop), I've got the beer. I could watch a professional work all day.

Pyrotek---

That's a great batch of creative thinking.

I think you have it pretty much nailed but I'd suggest a couple changes for technical reasons...

What you're talking about is "Mono-block" construction. It's done all the time on shotguns but to apply it to a rifle is a good idea as long as pressures stay down.

Make the stub (mono-block) as long as you can up to 3 inches. Make it a slurp fit and soft solder it in.

If you feel like extra work for extra securiety make a "headspace ring" that threads over the very end of the insert barrel and fits into a counter-bore in the mono-block then is faced off after soldering. That gives a mecanical lock on barrel and gives more than just the shear strength of the sleeved joint.....which is WAY high........

A .562 shank in a three inch mono-block has more than five square inches of solder joint.

That's about 40,000 psi in shear, but has enough elongation to take the load as long as it's "pushy" instead of "hammer" loads.......slow powders and heavy bullets at 1100 fps or so, you'll be amazed at the performance.

Congrats on a great idea. I think it'd be neat.

If you REALLY wanted to screw up somebody's understanding of rifles.....and be a little strange.......which is always fun, I'd cut the old barrel just long enough to thread internally to accept the Winchester barrel and headspace with the sights up. Blend the big step the best you can and blue it.

Then I'd mount a magazine tube under the barrel and inlet it into the stock just like it went somewhere. Then I'd have make a barrel band to fit the stock and barrel.

I'd just have to drill a hole in the front of the magazine well and then one in a stripped magazine box. (and throw about three important looking parts wrapped in VPI paper in the mag box.)

Haul it to a gunshow and say your buddy's uncle used to work for Winchester and was a Canadian spy........and you have no idea IF it works or HOW......

It's a great way to spend a week-end.

It's amazing how many "gunshow geniuses" will tell his buddy, "Yeah I had one one time but it didn't shoot fer shit."...... and say it about something that just crawled from a warped mind THAT week!!

You guys are sick.

Hi Guys - forgive me - maybe I'm missing something here.

Why not just thread the replacement barrel into the the 0.303 stump and then silver solder them together.

No pressure limits needed. Give the stump a 1mm chamfer and end up with a nice Leupold type golden line at the join after cleaning up.

cheers edi