Greetings all, back when they were cheap I picked up two of the 1919a4 machine gun barrels for about $35 each. These have never been fired and have bright shiny bores. I believe that they are of Israeli manufacture and have a 1x12 twist. They are about 24” long and basically a straight tube except for two sections where the barrel jacket would be. Has anyone ever tried them mounted on a suitable action with cast bullets?. Nowadays I see them going for about $85 and up as to cost. Would seem that one would have to cut the existing threads off, or take about 2” off to get rid of the 308 chamber then refit to a suitable action. I have a winchester model 54 action that was made in 1928 that was origionally made for the 30-30 cartridge and a winchester model 70 marksman stock that with a little work would take the '54 action and heavy barrel. Any comments or suggestions would be most welcome. Thanks, Frank
308 machine gun barrel
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- Last Post 10 April 2014
I think it is a great idea, but if the Marksman stock is in any kind of condition, you could sell it for the cost of two benchrest stocks.
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I believe that the butt has been shortened but the steel strip with the screw holes for the hand stop may still be there. It has been glass bedded at one time, but either the stuff wasn't mixed right or it deteriorated over time. Was very easy in a lot of spots to just stick a small knife blade and lift it off. Will have to find the box its in to check. I have an origional model 70 target rifle so I can check the stocks out. Thanks, Frank
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Greetings all, back when they were cheap I picked up two of the 1919a4 machine gun
barrels for about $35 each. These have never been fired and have bright shiny bores.
I believe that they are of Israeli manufacture and have a 1x12 twist. They are about 24” long and basically a straight tube except for two sections where the barrel jacket would be. Has anyone ever tried them mounted on a suitable action with cast bullets?. Nowadays I see them going for about $85 and up as to cost. Would seem
that one would have to cut the existing threads off, or take about 2” off to get rid of the 308 chamber then refit to a suitable action. I have a winchester model 54 action that was made in 1928 that was origionally made for the 30-30 cartridge and a winchester model 70 marksman stock that with a little work would take the '54 action and heavy barrel. Any comments or suggestions would be most welcome. Thanks, Frank
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A friend of mine that has a lathe put one on a very nice VZ24 action. It also is chambered in 308. He has never finished the outside of it or put it in a stock and it is very heavy.
Where was I going with this?
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I'm not sure about all machine gun barrels, but some were made with Stellite chambers. The Israeli are probably not. If you trid to rechamber a Stellite chamber you would knock the edge off your reammer.
I have heard of shooters doing this years ago in the height of the cheap surplus age and having a good shooter for highpower. It would be an interesting project for yourself, but not to pay to have it done.
I agree with Ric it would be a shame to mess with the old Win54. A used Remington 700 action would be easier to convert and buy aftermarket trigger etc. for accuracy shooting......Dan
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All I have from the winchester 54 rifle is just the action. I have a fajen wood stock but the forend will not open enough to take the heavier barrel. So thats my reason for using the chopped marksman stock.And as far as I can see neither bbl has the stellite liner.Thanks, Frank
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fRANK46
What I remember of my Army days, machine gun barrels were designed to produce more of a pattern then tight group.
The idea was to stop mass charges on your position not to put all rounds through one enemy trooper.
Duane Trusty
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I had one built on a commercial Mauser action with a .30-06 BMG barrel. It wasn't a benchrest gun by any stretch of the imagination, but it shot well under an inch with my loads. Mine was stellite lined, and wasn't going to wear out any time soon. I sold it many years ago, and rather wish I still had it.
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The Ma duce 50's were stellite lined as well, At least some were. Why not save your Mod 54 and get the rest of the 1919a4. Be one “ell of a cast bullet shooter.
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Fortunately the liners are not so thick they can't be cut out in the proposed chamber area with a carbide or ceramic tipped boring bar and then chambered. Carbide reamer very slow as you get to the throat of the chamber.
I have done it on a M2 barrel and I will never do it again. Not worth the time and effort IMHO. Could never afford to pay someone to do it. It does eat tooling.
Dave
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how can I tell if my barrel is stelite lined? mine is 8mm and made in sweden for some 8x63 round brand new nicely made. thanks
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Your barrel was/is chambered for the 8x63 machinegun cartridge.The swedes also issued 98K mausers chambered for the same cartridge. Rifle came equipped with a muzzle brake to help deal with the recoil. SARCO used to sell these barrels sometime back. I believe that most of the rifles were sold to Israel and converted by them to either 8mm or 7.62mm nato.
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they had the barrels about 6mo ago might still have some. they were 30 or 35 dallars
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Back in the early 60's, I fitted a USGI 30 cal macnine gun barrel to a Mauser 98 action and chambered for .308. It ended up about 20” long. The rifle shot very well.
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Back in the early 60's, I fitted a USGI 30 cal macnine gun barrel to a Mauser 98 action and chambered for .308. It ended up about 20” long. The rifle shot very well.
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Also back in the early 60's I cut most of the chamber off a machine gun barrel, fitted it to a M93 Mauser action and chambered it for the .300 Savage. Shot inside 1” all day with 150gr Hornady's. Had a Timney trigger, D&T, and rust blued it. Got stupid and traded it off, sure do miss it. Goat
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A friend of mine just cut a 308 chamber in his Browning Machine gun barrel tuesday night. Mounted it on a very nice VZ24.
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Just checked this thread and am suprised that its still going on. Guess I'm not the only one with this idea. And am happy to see the results of such experiments have been accurate as well as fun. Frank
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Greetings all, back when they were cheap I picked up two of the 1919a4 machine gun
barrels for about $35 each. These have never been fired and have bright shiny bores.
I believe that they are of Israeli manufacture and have a 1x12 twist. They are about 24” long and basically a straight tube except for two sections where the barrel jacket would be. Has anyone ever tried them mounted on a suitable action with cast bullets?. Nowadays I see them going for about $85 and up as to cost. Would seem
that one would have to cut the existing threads off, or take about 2” off to get rid of the 308 chamber then refit to a suitable action. I have a winchester model 54 action that was made in 1928 that was origionally made for the 30-30 cartridge and a winchester model 70 marksman stock that with a little work would take the '54 action and heavy barrel. Any comments or suggestions would be most welcome. Thanks, Frank
I know of someone that would grab that barrel in a heartbeat. Which would allow you to get a better barrel. PM me.
I've worked around a lot of the Israeli stuff. See below. That one was for a different use (30-06), but I know the .308 1919A4s well. Not at liberty to discuss some of that stuff. To the right is a BAR and the case of'06 is empty. This was around 1980.
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Greetings all, back when they were cheap I picked up two of the 1919a4 machine gun
barrels for about $35 each. These have never been fired and have bright shiny bores.
I believe that they are of Israeli manufacture and have a 1x12 twist. They are about 24” long and basically a straight tube except for two sections where the barrel jacket would be. Has anyone ever tried them mounted on a suitable action with cast bullets?. Nowadays I see them going for about $85 and up as to cost. Would seem
that one would have to cut the existing threads off, or take about 2” off to get rid of the 308 chamber then refit to a suitable action. I have a winchester model 54 action that was made in 1928 that was origionally made for the 30-30 cartridge and a winchester model 70 marksman stock that with a little work would take the '54 action and heavy barrel. Any comments or suggestions would be most welcome. Thanks, Frank
The Israeli barrels are 7.62 LMG chamber, not SAAMI .308. I know, I've worked on a lot of them including the converted BARs.
Talk to Ed Harris, he's been interested in this kind of thing too.
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