Some possibly useful info on BSA rifles... - 05/30/08
My first rifle, at age 14, was a 30.06, which Dad bought from the widow next door (really!) for $20 about 1968.
It's an Enfield carrying the BSA logo. These are quite common in Canada. A tidbit of info regarding these for anyone who owns one...
I had it customized about 20 years ago. It always had a bit of trouble feeding, the bolt would slip by the shell unless you worked it vigorously. The gunsmith related some history for me, which explained this problem.
Several versions known as P17s were built in the US for their military in 30.06, one of them by Remington. I'd assumed, because this gun is 30.06, that it also was a P17.
Not so.
Rifles bearing the BSA logo are based upon P14 Enfields which were built in 1914 for England going into WW1. They were built as .303 British, but not to be confused with Lee Enfields, an entirely different rifle.
Apparently BSA at some time after the war modified numbers of these rifles with sport stocks (of that era), and to several calibers, mostly 30.06, I assume for the North American market.
The reason 30.06 shells feed poorly is that the magazine is designed for width appropriate for the rimmed .303, which is slightly larger in diameter than the 30.06. In fact, just enough larger that the 30.06 staggers too much to the point of almost jamming in the magazine. Essentially the magazine is about 1/8 to 3/16 of an inch too wide for 30.06 cartridges. Working the bolt with energy literally snaps the loads free enough for the follower spring to lift them into place to be picked up by the bolt.
At that time, some 20 years ago, there was no marketed cure for this, at least that neither the gunsmith nor I could come up with.
What I did do, however, was cut up some plastic from a bleach bottle and built a relatively slippery shim for the side of the magazine, which worked not too bad. Not perfect, but better. Mickey Mouse to be sure, but it's an otherwise great shooting rifle, with one of strongest Mauser style actions ever built. Indeed the metal in the action is so hard the gunsmith had a helluva time getting any kind of bluing to work on it.
One other tip...
The original trigger is a military type 2 stage, which is just awful. I ordered a Dayton Traister trigger for it in the early '70s, which didn't work at all 'cause it was made for a P17. I determined the problem, sent it back to Dayton Traister suggesting a cure, which, while mystified, they did and returned, and it's worked great ever since. I learned the history of the rifle some time after this, so I don't know to this day whether Dayton Traister is aware of the difference between the two types of rifles.
Anyway, there's still lots of these rifles around up here in Canada, they're darn good guns, and I thought maybe this might be of interest to some.
It's an Enfield carrying the BSA logo. These are quite common in Canada. A tidbit of info regarding these for anyone who owns one...
I had it customized about 20 years ago. It always had a bit of trouble feeding, the bolt would slip by the shell unless you worked it vigorously. The gunsmith related some history for me, which explained this problem.
Several versions known as P17s were built in the US for their military in 30.06, one of them by Remington. I'd assumed, because this gun is 30.06, that it also was a P17.
Not so.
Rifles bearing the BSA logo are based upon P14 Enfields which were built in 1914 for England going into WW1. They were built as .303 British, but not to be confused with Lee Enfields, an entirely different rifle.
Apparently BSA at some time after the war modified numbers of these rifles with sport stocks (of that era), and to several calibers, mostly 30.06, I assume for the North American market.
The reason 30.06 shells feed poorly is that the magazine is designed for width appropriate for the rimmed .303, which is slightly larger in diameter than the 30.06. In fact, just enough larger that the 30.06 staggers too much to the point of almost jamming in the magazine. Essentially the magazine is about 1/8 to 3/16 of an inch too wide for 30.06 cartridges. Working the bolt with energy literally snaps the loads free enough for the follower spring to lift them into place to be picked up by the bolt.
At that time, some 20 years ago, there was no marketed cure for this, at least that neither the gunsmith nor I could come up with.
What I did do, however, was cut up some plastic from a bleach bottle and built a relatively slippery shim for the side of the magazine, which worked not too bad. Not perfect, but better. Mickey Mouse to be sure, but it's an otherwise great shooting rifle, with one of strongest Mauser style actions ever built. Indeed the metal in the action is so hard the gunsmith had a helluva time getting any kind of bluing to work on it.
One other tip...
The original trigger is a military type 2 stage, which is just awful. I ordered a Dayton Traister trigger for it in the early '70s, which didn't work at all 'cause it was made for a P17. I determined the problem, sent it back to Dayton Traister suggesting a cure, which, while mystified, they did and returned, and it's worked great ever since. I learned the history of the rifle some time after this, so I don't know to this day whether Dayton Traister is aware of the difference between the two types of rifles.
Anyway, there's still lots of these rifles around up here in Canada, they're darn good guns, and I thought maybe this might be of interest to some.