I had planned to build a .44Mag Lee-Enfield without using a barrel blank since a complete barrel or blank will need documents to import. Therefore a special barrel arrangement was came up with and discussed with gunsmithes(local and JBelk). The opinion was that it should work.

A brand new Winchester 94 barrel in .44mag from a fellow Canadian is used, along with the stock Lee-Enfield .303 barrel.

The LE barrel is removed by a gunsmith, being so tight as it were. Then the barrel is cut-off to be about 3" total from the breech. The "stump" is then bored out to have an adequately large hole in it. The Winchester barrel is then turned to create a male part that will mate with the bored-out hole in the Lee-Enfield barrel "stump"

As the two sub-barrel mates, the breech of both barrels are almost flush, with the inside Winchester protruding .001". The contour of the two barrels also mate very closely. It's very lucky to get such a good result considering the measurement before cutting was done by standing the 2 barrels next to each other on a table plus a lot of eye-squinting measurement with a dial caliper.

Tried to solder these two together but it turned out to be a dangerous job needing 3 fire-proof hands. Gave up the soldering idea after burning self. Cleaned the barrels free of flux and mixed up some Acraglas, spread all contact surfaces wet and joined them, wiped off excess.

Several days later the barrel was screwed back on to the receiver hand-tight. Put a drop of superglue on the barrel-receiver boundary after they mated, this won't glue them dead, just keep them together from being turned loose by whatever.

Off to gunsmith's, didn't have headspace gauge for 44mag so we crushed a piece of lead stuck on the rim of an empty .44mag shell and measured the total thickness. Changed bolt head from #1 to #3, now the headspace is at .066", adequate for a .060" rimmed cartridge(.070" headspace is said to be maximum).

Yesterday I test fired it, asked fellow shooters to back off the firing line, I wore a full-face shield and was crouching behind the buttstock.

"Slap!" the report sound quite unusual and the recoil was more acute than I imagined. Went to check the barrel, not loose, nor moved forward. Felt very relieved, I kept on firing 4 more rounds before removing the face shield. 5 more rounds, a total of 10 rounds, the barrel seem/feel solid as before. I now have a .44mag Lee-Enfield. A friend and the range warden asked how does the gun shoot. I said "Dunno, it has no sights, just came to test-fire today, haha." The gun seem to shoot straight though, with the clip-slot bridge and Winchester front sight base acting as mock iron sights.

The gun feeds beautifully as a single-shot, with rounds dropped on top of a regular Lee-Enfield magazine. Spent round extracts well(with modified weaker spring) but do not eject however. What is left to do are ejectors, Desert Eagle mag made to fit, and a scope mount, then the rifle will be finished as most of it now is in the white after I filed/sanded out the roughness.

Now I have built myself a gun that's not only a fun plinker, but is also good for short range deer/black bear, a good human-stopper too. I think when loaded with shot capsules it's supposed to get rid of snakes? However I looked at it, it's a great and memorable experience.

[ 08-01-2003, 06:17: Message edited by: Pyrotek ]

Interesting project Pyrotec. Please keep us posted about how it shoots and the magazine modifications. I'd like to see some pictures too, if possible.

Are you going to put a scope on it? I made a mount for my .303 sporter project from 1" angle iron and weaver rail as described on 303british.com but moved it forward for better eye relief. I also milled the bridge down a little to get the scope lower. Here's a link to my sporter project page:

http://www.hunting-pictures.com/members/beelzebubba/index.html

- John

That's a nice looking LE, Beelzebubba.

Right now my LE has a receiver sight(William?) that came with the gun when I bought it. It was mounted on a plate, and the plate is screwd on via the ejector screw and a screw through the "ears" which the original flip sight pivots on.

I also have a commercial scope mount that is attached through the same screws, a no-gunsmith mount, but is higher than the one shown in your picture. In the future the gun will use this mount with a scope or a red-dot sight.

I purchased a very tall front sight with a golden bead today, will go shoot the .44 once it's installed.

I saw thost .429" barrels for cheap and all I thought was I could replace the blown off muzzle on my Ruger carbine.

Now I read this I start to see more possibilties.

My No 4 scope mount based on the photo at the 303 reloading site did not turn out as nice looking as Beelzebubba's.

Today shot the .44mag scoped with a 4X, at 50 meters it shoots as good as 1.5" 5-shot group, or worst 3" 10 shot group.

Ammo is bought at the shooting range, consists of 240grn copper jacketed bullet and various brands of brass(they are reloads).

The gun will shoot even better if I clean up the barrel channel that put more pressure on one side, and then glass bed the forend and free float the barrel.

I ordered a .429" barrel today.
This thread is costing me money

Thats pretty good shooting Pyrotek. I'm glad to hear it. How do you plan to modify the ejector, just move the screw forward? Will you be able to hot blue the barrel? I don't normally like cold blues, but I refinished an old Weaver scope tonight with Oxpho-blue and it looks pretty good. If it wears as well as advertised, I'll use it on more small parts in the future.

Clark, looks like you did a great job on the scope mount. I like the cut out for the bridge. Where did you order the .429" barrel?

Its good to see some Enfield fans out here in Mauserland. They aren't the prettiest things, but they are cheap and available and fun to fool around with. Kind of reminds me of my younger days
- John

Beelzebubba [John],
I am often glad to see some Mausers in the larger Rem700 land.

I ordered a $39.95 sale price new lever action blued round Marlin .444 barrel , there are also new octagon Marlin 44 mag and 45/70 round barrels for the same price from Numerch. The add is on page 117 of July 10 Shotgun news. I don't know what the catch is. Knowing Numerich, they came out of Marlin's Material Review Board as discrepant matereal for scrap, because Marlin has not gone bankrupt.

John,

Still don't know about the ejector, the case rim is pushed against the receway, and friction will make the case flip as soon as it is free of chamber(but they just don't flip out). Still scratching head on that one. Might build a plunger ejector into that thing.

Talked to my gunsmith about the blueing job, they said the barrel must be removed if I am to hot blue the gun---The acraglass that holds the 2 pieces together can't stand the boiling solutions. I've cold blued the white part of the barrel(enfield part) at that time anyway.

Clark,

I am glad that this thread motivated someone to take action and build something alike