Found an interesting rifle today while cleaning things up.

It is a Swiss M1889 Schmidt-Rubin that was, I am assuming, relined in the chamber area, then chambered in 30-30. .300 bore dia.

One site said it was semi-common to see them in 30-30. Anyone else ever seen one?

Bore dia should be a little closer to .296 inches. And the groove dia(original barrel should have three lands) a number of people may say is .304 inches as they measure from the top of a land to the bottom of a groove. .308 cal will work OK. You might get better results if you shot .309 or .310 lead projectiles (w/checks). The original ammo GP-90 was a(~.32 cal) paper patched fairly round nosed lead slug(~230 grains moving about 1900fps-it may not be exact but should be close).
Check out SwissRifles.com I own a few Swiss rifles(K-11's and K-31's) but not the 89 in any configuration but I have picked up a little info from that site and others. Working pressures should not exceed 38-39K CUP. Any typical factory 30/30 type loading should do okay. Just like the 7.62X51(308) and the 7.5X55.5(GP-11) are near ballistic twins. The same can be said of the 30/30 and the 7.5X53.5(GP-90). best-o-luck

I figured as much.

I found a scroungy old 30-30 cartridge, pulled the bullet, seated a lead 186gr by hand and test fired it.

It didnt blow up (good for me and the gun) and the case looked fine coming out.

The bore actually did measure .296

I guess we will see how it shoots.

I think I have a magazine around here somewhere...

-Spencer

If my memory isn't failing me again, I seem to recall that in the very early 60's, there were a great many of those rifles converted to 30-30 and sold by either Winfield Arms Corporation, or Ye Olde Hunter's Lodge. If I get the chance in the next few days, I'll dig into my trove of magazines from that era and see if I can find some ads for you.

AC is correct in that several people made conversations and a number more sold them. Pulling a jacketed bullet and using a larger lead slug is not really neccessary, although you may get a little better accuracy. The last series of ammo that was availble to all the 89's(not suitable for conversion to the 7.5X55.5) and the 96's(that were not converted by the Swiss to 7.5X55.5-Not many 96's escaped this conversion) models was called GP-90/23 and this was a non-paper patched spitzer type, jacketed, and lead-cored round(~190grained bullet moving about 2200-2300fps still in the 38-39K CUP range).
I'm curious. Does it still have an original 3 groove barrel? Is it set back about an inch and a half to allow a good rechambering? If no, can you tell what type of barrel it now sports?
best-o-luck

Seating a lead bullet was not for accuracy, it was for safety.

I found a couple more today, one might be a 96.

When compared to the 1911, the barrel looks set back, but it has the sma e shape as the other 89.

If you compare the dimensions of a 30-30 to the 7.5 Swiss, you will find that no amount of set back would allow a 30-30 reamer to clean up the Swiss chamber. The 7.5 Swiss has a much larger body diameter.

I assume the chamber was re-lined.

-Spencer

I stated incorrectly that the 30/30 was a near twin with the 7.5X53.5, what I should have posted was that the 30/40, not the 30/30, is a near ballistic clone of 7.5X53.5 or the 7.5X54.5 Date of manufacture(model) is determined by the serial number. An original chamber and barrel would have to be set back about 1&3/4" for the 30/30. I'll assume that your 30/30 fired brass from the 89 looked like normal 30/30 brass after firing. I just spied SwissRifles.com again and noted GP-90 had about a 210grain(not 230) bullet moving 1970fps in the 89 and the later GP-90/23 used about a 190grain bullet with no speed stated only a pressure of 37K CUP. So my high of 2300fps might be closer to 2100fps for the GP-90/23 ammo. You say the ?96 has barrel set back, is there set back on the 89/30/30's barrel? If not then a chamber insert maybe is being used or it could be a replacement barrel and not original. Back to barrel grooves, original barrels for the 89's and 96's were three grooved and they both had rear locking lugs on the bolts. Does the questionable 96's bolt have the lugs more forward than on the 89? Most of the 96's were converted to 96/11's. Coverted they had 4 gooves instead of three and lugs moved forward along with other changes. More modern pressured GP-11 should not be fired in any of the earlier 89's or nonSwiss converted 96's. But GP-11 will chamber in a 7.5X53.5 or a 7.5X54.5 chamber. It should not chamber in your 89 with the 30/30 conversion. And if your 96 is a 96/11 with a set back barrel, I'd be willing to bet that the GP-11 won't fit in it's chamber either. If you can chamber a 308 then you have a 96/11 rechambered to 308. If the 308 doesn't chamber, then a 30/30 cartridge would probably confirm a scarce 96 that was converted to 30/30.

Ok, here is the breakdown:

I have:

1 1889 in 30-30
1 1889 in 7.5x55
1 1896 (or 96/11) in 7.5x55

plus a 1911 or two.

None of the barrels have been setback.

I will check grooves tomorrow.

Can you explain what the difference is between a normal 1896 and the 96/11?

A couple of the stocks have a portion of the wrist routered out on the bottom just to the rear of the trigger guard. I assume this is for a rubber insert?

THanks,

Spencer

1-89 in 30/30 check
1-89 in 7.5X55(55.5) no way, GP-11 will chamber but do not shoot this combo, even though you and the rifle would probably survive intact, the Swiss said to use GP-11 only if GP-90(7.5X53.5), GP-90/03(7.5X53.5), and GP-90/23(7.5X54.5) were unavailable and the situation was a last ditch effort. Banzi, that would be a 46K CUP round in an action designed for a 37-38K CUP round
1-96 in 7.5X55 no way as above
1-96/11 in 7.5X55 yes way, but GP-11 will chamber in all three of those Schmidt-Rubins types. The /11 designation means that 96 and some of other pre-1911 rifles had been converted to handle the GP-11 safely. The 89 was one of several models the Swiss fielded that could not be upgraded to /11 specs. Rifles that can handle GP-11 will have 4 grooved barrels not 3, bolt locking lugs positioned several inches further forward from the 89's postioning of the bolt lugs, the rile's pistol grips will be spliced/glued on in most if not all of the /11 conversions by the Swiss, and others. The 89 and 96 models were made with no pistol grips, just straight stocks. The 1911 and 1931 were made with integral pistol grips not splices like the /11.
Maybe someone was planning to put a new/different/modified pistol grip on? rubber insert? Who knows? Not I. best-o-luck

Both the 89 and 96 have 3 groove barrels, with the locking lugs positioned in the same place.

It seems the only differences between the two is that the 96 has a different more Mauser-type rear sight as well as a magazine like the 1911.

If I can remember to take pictures, I will post a photo of the routered portion of the wrist.

Thanks,

Spencer

89 and 96 both should have 12 round mags but different actions and bolts. The 96 has more metal. An original three groove barrel with no set back for the 30/30 conv. Have you found out if an insert is soldered, pressed in, or what?

I have not looked hard enough at the cone portion of the breach to see what kind of insert has been put in, I can just recall that it is really rough as compared with a not altered barrel.