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In another thread by nemhed we've been talking about converting a SMLE to .44 Mag. I've thought for a long time that a bolt rifle in .45 Colt would be a really nice firearm. I could be built on a short bolt action, have a 16"-18" barrel and not give up balistically, the ammo could be factory, or really hot handloads, and with today's ultra-light stocks, you might get away with six pounds for a complete rifle. Certainly not a be all and end all, but with cowboy loads you've got a plinker for even young kids, factory ammo available everywhere, and with the "Linebaugh" hot loads (345 grain cast at 1550 fps) you could take cape buffalo if you've a mind to.
Anyone ever see one of these beasties????
Lobo in West Virginia
Old List Veteran..Five Years..Five Hundred Posts
A 6# rifle with some of Linebaugh's loads would stomp the snot outa you.
Personally if I was gonna go that route I'd just stick with ....... CAPE BUFFALO with a .45 Colt!?..... that's just plain nuts. Now for sure I know I'm sticking to a Barrett 50 BMG rifle from the top of an APC.
Lobo you got more courage than me, and I ain't 'fraid of nuthin.
Joe
***Be sneaky, get closer, bust the cap on him when you can put the ball where it counts .***
J Miller wrote:Sado masochistic tendencies are abundant here .
A 6# rifle with some of Linebaugh's loads would stomp the snot outa you.
Personally if I was gonna go that route I'd just stick with ....... CAPE BUFFALO with a .45 Colt!?..... that's just plain nuts. Now for sure I know I'm sticking to a Barrett 50 BMG rifle from the top of an APC.
Lobo you got more courage than me, and I ain't 'fraid of nuthin.
Joe
It's been done --- successfully -- several times. Ross Seyfried was one of the first, using the 345-gr hard-cast bullet, out of a Linebaugh-bilt Seville conversion.
Like Hobie, I've run that same load through a Miroku '92 with no real discomfort.
Regards
Buck
Life has a way of making the foreseeable that which never happens, and the unforeseeable, that which your life becomes...
J Miller wrote:Sado masochistic tendencies are abundant here .
A 6# rifle with some of Linebaugh's loads would stomp the snot outa you.
Personally if I was gonna go that route I'd just stick with ....... CAPE BUFFALO with a .45 Colt!?..... that's just plain nuts. Now for sure I know I'm sticking to a Barrett 50 BMG rifle from the top of an APC.
Lobo you got more courage than me, and I ain't 'fraid of nuthin.
Joe
300 gr LEE GC and 21.5 H110 out of a .45 Colt Marlin was plenty off the bench
I actually made serious inquires about converting the M77/44 to 45 Colt, but was told the rotary magazine wouldn't work with the slightly larger Colt cartridge. I was bummed.
Lobo in West Virginia
Old List Veteran..Five Years..Five Hundred Posts
The Ruger 77/44 is really a sweet little rifle. Around here they are going for about $580 which makes them about $50 more than a stainless Marlin in 44mag, if you can find one. I can see where re-engineering the Ruger rotory mag could be a problem, maybe not impossible though. The funny thing about the 77/44 is that even though it only has about 2 inches of bolt throw, the action is still rather long, comparable to a standard short Ruger action. You might as well start from scratch with some type of small action Mauser or even a short Savage action and buy a barrel to fit. But the sky is the limit with enough money. You could even chamber it for the .454, which I think has a lot going for it in a small carbine.
My Enfield project (which is all just theoretical at this time) will only require a re-bore and re-chambering of the original barrel to make fairly economical 44 mag carbine. I do realize it will kind of be a waste of the Enfield's long action. .444 Marlin would be an easy option later on if I decided to change my mind but for now "longer" centerfire rifle cartridges are not allowed for deer hunting here in Indiana.
It's all fun to dream and scheme about while waiting for spring.
J Miller wrote:Yeah, I know. Just trying to be silly. Maybe I should stop, I'm not too good at it.
Joe
Hey, it never stopped me! It's taken YEARS of practice for me to be this goofy...
AFA the original question, an Enfield or Siamese Mauser that was converted to .45-70 might be a good choice. It would require a rebarrel AFAIK but if you could find one with a bad bore, etc it might make for some haggling room.
Nothing so needs reforming as other people's habits.
-Mark Twain
Proverbs 3:5; Philippians 4:13
Got to have a Jones for this
Jones for that
This running with the Joneses boy
Just ain't where it's at
Loaded as long as possible and then finding a powder with the right speed to get every bit of speed outta the rifle as possible and you have quite a killin machine with the .44 mag. If Ohio follows Ind with the pistol cart allowed I will be looking for yer another gun. Right now we can use any straight walled cart in a handgun for deer. Hopefully if changed it will be any straight wall in a long gun. My 38-55 Marlin 1893 works just dandy on medium sized game. The bolt gun could be pushed into the 50-60K psi range.
Jay
nemhed wrote:The funny thing about the 77/44 is that even though it only has about 2 inches of bolt throw, the action is still rather long, comparable to a standard short Ruger action. . . You could even chamber it for the .454, which I think has a lot going for it in a small carbine. . .444 Marlin would be an easy option later on if I decided to change my mind but for now "longer" centerfire rifle cartridges are not allowed for deer hunting here in Indiana.
Ruger should make a run of the 77 rotary-mag guns for .45 Colt (I do think you could do some filing and get a magazine to work for it), but .454 Casull would be definitely another thought for a bolt-gun, and from an "Indiana Deer" standpoint, the .357 Maximum would be awesome in a bolt gun. I've often wondered what pressure limits they could make their 96's to stand as well - I'd love one of them in .454 Casull or .357 Maximum.
Doctors for Sensible Gun Laws "first do no harm" - gun control LAWS lead to far more deaths than 'easy access' ever could.
The Remington-Keene.
A tubular magazine fed, bolt action, 45-70. It would not be any stretch of the imagination to upgrade the steel, revamp the action to get rid of the exposed hammer, and slightly modify the feeding system for the shorter .45 Colt round.
There, problem solved. I'll order two, a carbine and a rifle.
Joe
***Be sneaky, get closer, bust the cap on him when you can put the ball where it counts .***
. 
.***
