Shortening an Enfield. A Very Long Story.

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I have always wanted a pistol caliber carbine, a bolt action one to be specific.  Not a modern Ruger or Marlin but an old military surplus one.  Sure, one could argue that the US M1 Carbine may be an automatic version that could fill that niche, but, well, to be honest, I am cheap.  So, in looking around and talking with folks, I figured that someday I may be able to find and afford something like a Spanish Destroyer carbine.  I looked and looked, waited and waited, really to no avail.  I did not find any that I could afford what they were asking for, and, they were not all that available any way.  I sort of back burnered the idea for the time.

Then along came a Shotgun News ad.  You probably had seen it.  A small ad that depicted a shortened Mauser, rechambered to fire the .45 ACP pistol round.  At first, my thoughts were like, “what the heck”.  But then, over several months time, as I could not find what I wanted, I started to look into the conversion kits.  Not only that, was I hankering to do SOMETHING like building up a rifle just to DO IT. 

I contacted Rhineland Arms, the maker of the conversion kit.  Over many emails back and forth, and consultations with Jamie and Mark, I decided NOT to do a Mauser conversion, but rather do an “easier” Enfield conversion.  Also, there was the future option of making the carbine into something like a faux “DeLise” type carbine (see http://www.surplusrifle.com/shooting/delisle/index.asp), something that looked like it was CLOSE to being military.

So, I ordered the Enfield conversion kit.  It is basically two major parts, one, is, of course, the barrel, the other being the adapter that does into the receiver in place of the standard Enfield magazine. 

The barrels are made of 4140 steel and come “in the white”, that is, not finished, matter of fact, they are rough on the outside from machining, left that way to better accept a Parkerization type finish.  At 16.5” long, they are a BIG chunk of solid steel weighing in at 2.5 lbs with a rifling twist rate of 1 in 16.  They are made for Rhineland Arms by E.R. Shaw/Small Arms Manufacturing Inc.  The barrels use the Savage Arms lock nut system for installing and headspacing to the action.  The adapter is machined from 6061 aluminum and is hard anodized to Mil-Spec.  Very pretty to look at.

Now bear with me for what I am about to say……   I figured that I would buy one of the cheap and plentiful Enfield No 4 Mk 1 rifles that are currently on the market.  I ordered one from Centerfire Systems for around $80.  It turned out to be a 1943 Maltby, not in all that bad condition, the barrel being in a “so-so” acceptable condition.  On one hand I was going against what I always DID NOT what to do, that is ruining a Mil Surp rifle.  On the other hand, well, I would be stepping into new ground, working on a project that would yield a working different firearm and fill the niche of the pistol caliber carbine at a much cheaper expense…that was my thinking.

I tore down the No 4 Mk1 that I got, like all the way down to each individual part.  Every screw, every pin, everything.  Right down to leaving the barrel and the action.  This is where the plan fell completely apart. (see http://www.surplusrifle.com/no4/rifledisassembly/index.asp) for detailed instructions on tearing the rifle down.

The 4 pages of instructions that came with the conversion kit now left me high and dry.  Whereas the instructions said, “remove the barrel” and that’s IT, well…I ain’t no gorilla.  I called Rhineland, use a big vise, mounted to a cement base, a BIG breaker bar or receiver wrench and a barrel vise was what they said.  Or, it was recommended that a machine shop would be able to cut into the barrel, relieving the pressure on the thread, and then it would just come off.   Uh..huh….I took it to a gunsmith instead.   Unfortunately, even though the gunsmith had experience working with Enfields, even he could not budge the barrel off of this receiver.  Case closed?  Not quite…

Step back a moment before you go and email me and tell me what sort of a bubba type I am.  What I ended up doing was ordering just the receiver from InterOrdnance.  They had an ad in Shotgun News for a No 4 Mk 2 receiver, new, and only $29.99.  Inside my budget!  I figured I would have to work the carbine together using spare parts here and there instead of sacrificing the No 4 Mk 1.  Welllll…not quite (again).

When I got the receiver from InterOrdnance, boy, was I pleasantly surprised to see that they had in fact sent me a No 4 Mk 1 receiver!  Now I would be able to use all the parts off the “donor” rifle and not have to futz with trying to get the barrel off the old receiver!  So in the end, I did not completely mutilate the original No 4, I am just “borrowing” the parts so to speak.  After a month of sitting and collecting dust, it was back to the work bench.

First thing to work on was the new receiver itself.  It was apparently brand new, or at least newly painted.  Black paint to be exact.  That paint proved to be an issue by itself.  The bolt slid into place easy enough, but would not close.  When they had painted the receiver, they did not care to clean out the various pin holes and the inside of the bolt channel.  Hence, I ended up using a bit of emery cloth to clean up the paint to make the bolt slide cleanly.  Also had to do that to the holes where the trigger pin and magazine catch went to.  No big deal really.

2.  The new receiver had black paint inside of it that hindered the working of the bolt.  Some of the receiver pin holes also had to be reamed out as well.

Once I figured that the receiver checked out and all the standard rifle parts would transfer over, I earnestly started into the conversion project itself.  The short instructions had the installation of the barrel coming first.  At this point, I should point out that the conversion is easily accomplished because the barrel uses the Savage lock nut attachment design, that is, there is a large nut that is tighten down and locks the barrel into any head space configuration, so the fact that you may have an Enfield #0 or a #3 bolt head does not matter.  You can adjust the headspace easy enough.  Before you install the barrel, you will need to make up at least seven .45 ACP dummy rounds.  Why seven?  That is the load of a standard 1911 magazine (well, a standard 1911 magazine anyway.  I suppose you could get one of those extended magazines that holds 15+).  I have a .45 ACP maximum cartridge gauge from Midway that I used to make sure that the dummy rounds were in spec. 

Figure 3.  Midway max cartridge gauge on left, 10 dummy .45 ACP rounds on right.

You will need these dummy rounds for head spacing purposes as well as function testing.  I WARN you now DO NOT USE LIVE ROUNDS to check for head spacing!   That is an accident just BEGGING to happen!  MAKE SURE YOU REMOVE ALL LIVE AMMO FROM YOUR WORK AREA!  So that you eliminate any chance of mixing live and dummy rounds.

Barrel installation:

1. You will need to remove the extractor from the bolt head.  You need to head space on a dummy round so that it sits flush against the bolt face.
   1. To remove the extractor, unscrew the bolt head from the bolt
   2. Hold the bolt head in a vise and using a small screwdriver, push the leaf type extractor spring out of the opening at the rear of the bolt head.  It has a small detent type nub on it, so once you get past that point, it will pop right out.  (Of course, dried grease and other crud will make it much harder, you may want to soak the bolt head in some mineral spirits if it is exceptionally dirty)
   3. Remove the screw that holds the extractor and then remove the extractor
   4. Screw the bolt head back onto the bolt

2. Clean the chamber of the new barrel.  You want a very clean chamber when you do head spacing work.  There may be some metal bits left over as well as oil in the chamber.
3. Clean the threads of the receiver well using some sort of degreaser (I used acetone) and make sure that there is no paint or crud on the threads.
4. Screw the barrel part way onto the receiver. 
5. Insert one of your dummy rounds into the chamber.  Close the bolt on the round.  Screw the barrel in all the way until it comes to a stop.  Cycle the bolt several times to make sure that the dummy round is seated all the way into place.  I placed a piece of tape with a reference mark on it to give me an idea if the barrel shifts while I am working on it.

Figure 5.  Note the piece of tape used as a registration mark.

Figure 6.  A dummy round is inserted into chamber, the extractor is removed from the bolt head and you try to close the bolt.  Adjustment of headspace is accomplished by threading the barrel in or out.  The Savage style barrel nut is incorporated to lock the barrel into position.

6. Again, recheck the barrel to make sure that it is tightly seated against the dummy round, then back it out 1/8-1/4 of a turn.
7. Remove the dummy round and insert a NO-GO .45 ACP gauge (available from Clymers)
   1. If the bolt does not close, then you can proceed to the next step
   2. If the bolt closes, you will need to go back to step 5 and repeat the dummy round set up.
8. Hand tighten the locking ring on the barrel.  There is a notch on the ring that used by the M16 spanner wrench.  If you consider the end location of the notch to be a problem, you can remove the locking ring and grind down a few 1000^th on the front of the ring to make it rotate a bit more (this is according to Rhineland.  In my case, the notch ended up on the side, I did not think it was an issue and did not do any grinding).

Figure 7.  M16 style spanner wrench is needed to tighten down the barrel lock nut.  Note, the notch where the wrench latches on the barrel nut just to the left of the spanner wrench.

9. At this point, take a very close look at where the reference mark is on the barrel.
   1. If you have not already, loosen the locking ring of the barrel without moving the barrel itself.  Then back the barrel out slowly, counting several revolutions, backing out enough thread on the barrel so that you can put some Loctite on the threads to lock it into position.  Once you have the Loctite on the thread, re thread the barrel back to its original staring point. 
   2. Keeping the barrel in position, first hand tighten the locking ring, and then finish tightening it with the M16 spanner wrench.

Figure 8.  There are a couple of different types of Loctite brand Threadlocker.  Blue is a semi permanent type, it was what I had on hand.

3. Before the Loctite dries, you will want to test fire the rifle using PRIMED ONLY BRASS.  That means NO BULLETS, NO POWDER.  The idea is to check and see that the headspace is correct and that the firing pin does not puncture the primer, nor is it too set back not to hit the primer at all.
4. The extractor is still removed from you bolt head, so manually insert a PRIMED ONLY .45 case and close the bolt.
5. Using hearing and eye protection point the barrel downward onto a towel and pull the trigger.

                                                               i.      If the primer does not go off, open the bolt.  You will need to use a small screwdriver or dental pick to pop the brass out.

                                                             ii.      Inspect the piece of brass.  If the primer is untouched, there is probably too much head space and you will need to adjust amount the barrel is threaded into the receiver.  Go back up to step 5.

4. If the primer went off, (it’s a loud pop, you cannot miss it), open the bolt and pry out the casing.  Inspect the primer.  You are looking to see a nice indentation, not a complete piercing of the primer.  If the primer is pierced, you do not have enough head spacing and you need to turn your barrel out.  Go back up to step 5.
5. If the primer fired and looks good, fire off at least 5-10 more casings to make sure they all look the same.
6. Set the carbine aside and let the Loctite dry.

Stock considerations:

Before we move on to the installation of the adapter, we will have to consider the stock that you will be using.  The Rhineland Arms web site shows several different types of stocks being used by the Enfield carbine.  I chose to use the wood stock off of the donor No4 rifle.  This is the ONE part that was irreversible changed from the donor rifle! 

The No 4 uses a stock that is 4 pieces.  The butt stock can be used unaltered.  The two upper pieces are not used at all, being that the new barrel is thicker compared to the original Enfield barrel.  The bottom portion of the fore stock is what will need to be modified. 

I put the barreled receiver into the stock.  Of course the stock is way to long, so I got an idea of how long I wanted the wood to be.  I decided to cut the wood right behind the barrel band.  Using a miter saw and box, I made a straight cut.  No big deal.  I figured I could always hack off more later if I wanted to.

Figure 9.  The carbine barrel/action in the full length stock.  Stock was cut just behind the mid barrel band.

There were a few other areas that needed to be “adjusted” with a wood working tip in my Dremel tool.  In my case, the new receiver was just slightly different in size than the original one, so I had to remove a bit of wood inside the receiver area to make it fit nicely.  Most of the wood working was in the area right at where the barrel is threaded into the receiver.  The locking ring and the width of the barrel necessitated a fair bit of wood removal.  Work slowly and check your fit repeatedly.  Another area that needed work was along the barrel channel itself.  I opened up the channel so that the barrel was free floating, enough to slip a piece of paper along it.  At this point, I took the stock pieces and cleaned them up.

Figure 10.  Two views of one area wood needs to be removed from the stock in order for the carbine barrel to fit.

Figure 11.  The barrel channel was modified to allow a piece of paper to slip between the barrel and stock.

Figure 12.  The barrel channel was modified to allow a piece of paper to slip between the barrel and stock.

Installing the Adapter:

The adapter is a pretty solid chunk of aluminum that is machined to fit into the magazine well of the rifle.  It has contours similar to the regular Enfield magazine, but has another magazine well built into it where the 1911 magazine slides into.  The adapter is held in the rifle just like an Enfield magazine is, by the magazine catch.

1. From the adaptor, remove the nut, catch and spring of the 1911 magazine release.
2. Remove the bolt from the rifle.
3. With the receiver installed into the stock, test fit the adapter.  In my case, I had two areas that needed a lot of work.
   1. The trigger guard area was too narrow for the adapter to slide in, so I had to remove it and use a Dremel tool to grind away the inside of the guard to make allow the adapter to fit.

Figure 18.  The sides of the trigger guard needed to be ground down a bit so that the adapter would fit nicely.

2. Once the adapter fits through the trigger guard, see if you can lock it into position with the rifle’s magazine catch.

                                                               i.      If you are unable to make the catch work, you will need to adjust the location of the catch on the adapter.  You can do this by loosening the allen head screw on the adapter and sliding the catch up or down to make it work with the rifle’s magazine catch.

                                                             ii.      In my case, the adapter is held in pretty tight, which is what you want.  It is much tighter than a standard Enfield magazine.

3. The other area that I had a problem with was the length of the ejector pin in the adapter (just behind where the .45 ACP magazine protrudes).  This is a straight 3/32” diameter pin.  The length was too long and it was getting in the way of me fully seating the adapter.  For the time being, I sort of “forced” the pin to one side to allow me to seat the adapter.  The final cutting and shaping of the pin would come later in the process.

                                                               i.      On that note.  At first, the adapter that I got did not have the ejector pin installed on it.  This pin is suppose to “kick” out the empty brass from the bolt head when the bolt is retracted.  I had to send the adapter back to Rhineland to let them drill and install the pin because it was unclear where the pin was suppose to be and it used a special drill bit to get through the hard adapter metal.

Figure 19.  You can see how high the ejector pin is protruding from the adapter.  It is still being determined whether or not you actually need it installed.

4. The top of the adapter should seat flush like a regular Enfield magazine
4. Once the adapter is seated, you will need to further modify the trigger guard with some grinding to make the 1911 magazine release work.
   1. With the adapter in place, mark the areas on the trigger guard where the 1911 magazine release is located, remove the adapter and trigger guard from the rifle. (see figure 20)

Figure 20.  Note that the 1911 magazine release mechanism is blocked by the trigger guard as well as the stock.

2. Using a Dremel tool with grinder bit, remove metal from both sides of the trigger guard in order to get the 1911 magazine release to work.   I also had to remove a small patch of wood from the stock so that I could reach the 1911 magazine catch button.

Figure 21.  Using a grinding wheel on your Dremel tool, make a notch in the trigger guard where the button for the 1911 magazine release.

Figure 22 & 23.  Two views about the 1911 mag release.  Top:  note the release is blocked by the trigger guard.  Bottom: The size of the notch is pretty big to accommodate the longer side of the 1911 mag release.

Figure 24.  Using a Dremel tool and a wood file tip, you can easily cut a notch in the stock to accommodate the mag release button.

Figure 25.  Notch in wood and trigger guard so that the mag release works.

3. Install the 1911 magazine catch parts back into the adapter.  Install the adapter back into the rifle and latch it into place.
4. Test the 1911 magazine catch to make sure it works by using a pistol magazine.  It should move freely from right to left.  You may have to do further grinding of wood/metal to get it work properly.

Modifying the extractor :

The Enfield rifle uses a rimmed cartridge, so the extractor claw needs to be re shaped to take on the rimless .45 ACP round.

1. One option, according to Rhineland, is to use a .308 extractor from an Indian Enfield.  I chose to modify the existing extractor.
2. Reinstall the extractor to the bolt head
   1. Put the extractor into place and tighten down the extractor screw
   2. Place the bolt head into a vise to install the leaf spring
   3. With the bolt head facing to your right, install the spring with the LONG side down into the back of the bolt head behind the extractor.
   4. I used a pair of needle nosed pliers and gently nudged the spring into the bolt head until the little detent clicked into place.
3. Using a Dremel tool with a cut off wheel (using the side of the wheel only) or small grinding wheel, carefully grind down the face of the extractor straight flush.
   1. Unlike the original Enfield barrel, the carbine barrel does not have a notch where the extractor goes when the bolt is closed and locked into place.  Therefore, you will have to shorten and flatten the front of the extractor to fit against the barrel.

Figure 26.  Top is un modified.  Bottom: shows the two areas that need to be ground and/or shaped.

4. Screw the bolt head back onto the bolt. 
5. Remove the adapter from the rifle and install the bolt in the rifle.
6. Close the bolt.  If the bolt does not close all the way, you will need to grind a bit more away from the front of the extractor.  Repeat this step until you can get the bolt to close.
7. If your adapter came without the ejector pin installed, you can proceed to the next step, which is modify the extractor claw so that it wraps around the .45 ACP base.  If your adapter DID come with the ejector installed, jump down to the section titled “The Ejector pin” before you proceed to step 8.
8. You really only want to cut enough of a notch to grab the .45 ACP rim without weakening the extractor itself.
   1. Remove the bolt head from the bolt and place it in a vise.
   2. Using the Dremel with the cut off wheel or small grinding wheel , carefully cut a notch behind the head of the extractor.  Create only a small notch, you can always grind down more.
   3. Install the bolt head back on the bolt. 
   4. Insert a .45 ACP magazine loaded with dummy rounds into the adapter.

                                                               i.      Some instructions on loading the magazine into the adapter.  Push it all the way up and then pull down on the magazine to latch it into position.  If the magazine does not want to stay, you will need to tighten the magazine release screw for the adapter.  It has spring tension on it so adjustment may be as little as a ¼ turn or less to make it tight enough to hold the .45 magazine in place.

5. Operate the bolt, smartly.  Do not run it too slowly, it will hang up and just strip/pop a .45 dummy round onto the floor.  The dummy round should chamber smoothly. 

                                                               i.      If the round does not pick up, you may need to cut the notch a bit deeper.  Try it a few times before you cut more of a notch.

                                                             ii.      One problem I had was that the .45 magazine kept popping out whenever I chambered a round.  I had to tighten down the magazine release a bit more to hold.

                                                            iii.      Another problem was that if you went too slow, the Enfield bolt “dragged” on the next round in the magazine, making it hard(er) to chamber the round.  Working the bolt smartly helped with that situation.

6. Uncock the bolt and attempt to eject the round.  The extractor should grip the round enough to pull it back ONTO the next round in the .45 magazine, which seems to cause the dummy to flip out of the chamber. 

                                                               i.      If the extractor fails to pull the dummy out of the chamber, the notch will need to be modified.

The Ejector Pin:

As I previously stated above, my adapter came with the ejector pin installed (and protruding so much that I had to modify it before I could even work the bolt with the adapter in the rifle).  In talking with Rhineland, it appears there is some question whether the ejector pin is even needed in the adapter.  It seems that the next round in the .45 magazine is more of a “kicker” of empty brass than the pin does.  Rhineland says that the adapters come with the hole drilled and two pins (not installed).  I guess I would say to try out the adapter in the completed rifle before installing the pins and see if it is even worth the hassle.  However, if you want to install the pin, read on.

Figure 24.  Notice how high the extractor pin sticks up from the adapter.

1. The hole is located immediately to the rear of the 1911 magazine in the adapter. 
2. Insert one of the pins into the hole and tap it into place. 
3. It will be way too long to install into the rifle and have the bolt close, it needs to be cut down and shaped
   1. Put the adapter into the rifle and run the bolt in.
   2. The idea is to cut the pin and shape it as high as possible, and still allow the bolt to pass it.  In order to make it as long as possible, you will cut it long and then shape it like a wedge so that the bolt can go around it essentially.
   3. Using a pencil or pen, mark the pin such that it is barely too high to let the bolt close.

Figure 25.   Use a Dremel and cut off wheel to shorten the ejector pin.

4. Remove the adapter and using a Dremel tool with a cut off wheel, shorten the pin. 
5. Re install the adapter and see how much you will still need to shorten the pin and shape it into a wedge shape.  (see diagram).  I used the side of a Dremel cut off wheel to shape the pin to a wedge or chisel.

Figure 30.  Use the side of the cut off wheel to shape the pin into a wedge or chisel shape.

The Final Installation:

It took me awhile but I managed to get to the final installation.  There are a few considerations that you may want to address.  First off there is the issue of a front sight.  Secondly, if you want to do any trigger modifications, now would be the time to do it.  In terms of trigger work, I simply replaced the original trigger with a Huber replacement.  Using the Feather River Sports trigger scale, it releases at about 3 1/2 lbs in one smooth action.

As for front sights, there are many options what to do.  Rhineland sells a front sight ramp that needs to be drilled and tapped OR epoxy/soldered on.  Brownells also has some options for front sights.  In my case, I wanted to get away cheap, because I have OTHER ideas what to use the carbine for.  One of which is the possibility of installing a scope mount (Rhineland will be offering a scope mount in the near future).  The other possibility is change the carbine into a “faux” DeLisle-type carbine complete with barrel shroud. 

I did not want to mess with drilling and tapping a front sight, so I went to the Numrich Arms parts catalog and started searching.  I figured the EASIEST thing to put on would be a front ramp that would slide onto the barrel, then I could silver solder it into place.  I measured the diameter of the barrel at approximately ½” down from the muzzle at ~0.7inches.  There is a very slight taper, but I figured that I would find something that would fit at ½” down and ream it out if it needed to.  I found exactly what I wanted with part # 542000 described as “Band Front sight Ramp, 0.7in ID”.  At $3.50 cost, it was perfect.  I picked up a front sight post as well (part # 559380 cost $4.85), basically guessing as to the height that I may need. 

When the front sight arrived it was perfect.  I had to only ream out only a little of the band and it slid right into place.  The front post was a bit harder to install.  Even though the front ramp was supposed to take 3/8” dove tail type sights, there were a lot of issues with the width and base height of the post.  I really mucked it up and had to drill it out, but in doing so, I actually made it fit quite nicely.

Figure 31.  The Enfield original front sight is on the left, the barrel band sight with post on the right.  You can see the difference of height.

One thing that I thought of as I was going about messing with the front sight was the fact that the post that I had bought was obviously way too short and that the carbine would be shooting WAY high.  So using some Acraglas, I built up a BIG blade on the post, figuring that I would cut and shape it to size later at the range.  You can see this technique in the article, “A non permanent way to adjust a front sight “ at: http://www.surplusrifle.com/sights/frontsight/index.asp

Figure 32.  Using some thin brass as a mould, a front sight was built up using Acraglas gel.

Silver soldering the front sight band was next on the list.  I cleaned off the area under the front sight and the barrel with some acetone to degrease it.  Then I applied a liberal amount of flux paste.  I wrapped a water soaked towel about 3” down on the barrel to absorb the heat.  Using a propane torch, I proceeded to heat up the sight/barrel.   When it was hot enough to melt the silver solder by touch, I proceeded to TRY to get the solder to wick between the barrel and the front sight.  It was not very successful, partly because of the coarse texture of the barrel.  Still, I managed to get some solder into place, enough to hold the sight tight, besides, I figured I would be removing it sooner than later anyway.

That done, it was time to completely assemble the carbine.  A couple of screws holding the trigger guard and the big bolt in the butt stock, and (as Gomer Pyle would say..) SHAZAM!  Gooollyy  gee…would you lookdat thar beauty…. 

Figure 33.  The Enfield carbine weighs in at about 7 lbs 14 oz.  The No 4 weighs in at a hefty 9 ½ lbs.  Total length on the carbine is 35 ½ inches.  The one thing that would look really nice on the carbine is a shiny brass butt plate instead of the dingy aluminum one.

Off to the Range:

The one thing that I wanted to test out was some different bullet types and ammo that people would be using.  Of course, without digging too far, I was only able to procure round nose ball ammo, but then again, that is what the most common bullet there is for the .45 ACP.  I did manage to hand load some hollow point bullets though.  I picked up 4 different brands of ammo to test as well as my hand loads and headed to the range.

Figure 34.  Several different brands of .45 ACP ammo were tried.  All were 230gr RNFMJ, except the hand loads which were 230gr BJHP backed by 5.0gr Bullseye.

It was a cold and blustery day when I got to the range.  I loaded up a few rounds into the 1911 magazine aimed it down range (without my face close to the rifle) and fired.  From the angle I was viewing (slightly above the barrel) I was surprised to actually SEE the bullet go down range!I have seen that happen a number of times with carbines firing pistol sized ammo.  Besides, you CANNOT miss seeing a nearly ½” hunk of metal go down range!  I fired off 4 or 5 rounds like this just to test the integrity of the carbine. 

After the initial test firing was done, it was time to settle down for some target shooting.  The first clip I loaded full up with 7 rounds of the generic .45 ammo and proceeded to shoot at a 25 yard target.  I had to remember to push the .45 magazine all the way UP into the adapter and then pull DOWN on the magazine to get it to latch to the magazine release.   The carbine grouped low and to the right, but it was pretty decent.  From this point on, because my fingers were so numb from the cold, I loaded only 5 rounds per magazine.  I fired the other brands of ammo that I had brought along as well as my hollow point hand loads. 

Figure 35.  Target with first shots of carbine.  7 shot group in red using generic, 5 shot group in green, Winchester.  This was prior to knocking the front sight loose. (NRA SR-1 target)

Shot counterclockwise from bottom right, Blazer ammo, hand loads, Winchester, Wolf.  The front sight was knocked loose after the Blazer ammo shots.  (SR-1 SurplusRifle.com target)

There was one problem that cropped up that I did not think was going to be an issue.  One of the brands (Blazer) uses a “rough” aluminum case (non reloadable).  I noticed that this ammo caused the bolt to be pretty hard to operate.  This did not happen with the brass or smooth steel casings.  I figured that as the bolt moved over the .45 magazine, the aluminum was binding on the bottom of the bolt.  I would recommend staying away from this type of ammo for that reason.  I did not have any feed issues with the brass or smooth steel cased ammo.  Nor did I have any issues with the hand loaded hollow point bullet ammo.  It chambered just fine.

Extraction/ejection of the case was pretty decent.  There were a few cases that did not completely leave the receiver area, but they were easily tipped out of the action.  However, the final fired case always ended up laying on top of the adapter.  Apparently, the empty .45 ACP magazine did not have enough “spring” to it to pop the last case out.  The ejector pin was pretty much a non issue, it did not seem to do any thing, other than make sure that last round did leave the extractor.  A quick tip of the rifle and the case fell out.

Another issue I had was that SOMETIMES, I would chamber a round and the .45 magazine would drop out of the bottom of the adapter.  I had to tighten down the magazine release to hold it in tighter, which worked, but it made ejecting the empty magazine pretty hard.  Turns out the easiest way to eject the clip is to push UP on it first, push in the magazine release and then pull DOWN on the magazine.

The carbine was firing pretty good.  I decided to drift over the front post to the left to fix the point of aim.  It started to work out well, but then I managed to knock the band loose!  Obviously I did not do a good enough soldering job.  Undeterred, or perhaps frustrated, I proceeded to check the function and accuracy out to 50 yards.  I think the carbine has the ability to firing accurately out to 50 yards using irons sights, but with mine being loose, it did not take me long to figure that it was really a waste of ammo.  I fired a few rounds through the chrony to get some velocities and packed it up.

Back to the range I went.  Once again, the weather was not very cooperative.  Although sunny, it was far from warm.  I set up to shoot out to 50 yards.  First off, I noticed that even though I had shaped the front sight thinner, it was still pretty wide in size.  Out came the file and I shaped it a bit more.    I fired several magazines of each of the ammo types out to 50 yards.  It is quite evident that the carbine can accurately shoot, especially if you use the flip up ladder micro sight on the Enfield.  For me, the carbine was shooting way to the right, but I could not for the life of me drift my front blade to correct for this.  I did not have the right tools with me, so I ended up Kentucky Windaging it once again.  And it shows on the targets.  I only make the statement that the carbine can do better than I can given the sights the way they are.

When I started this project I was led to believe that it was a very simple set up.  Having now gone through the entire process, I would say that it is harder than it is advertised to be, however, not impossible for the average non-gun smith degree holding person to handle.  The instructions were seriously lacking, but hopefully what I have done here is really given some BODY to them.   It can be done, and you will end up with a carbine that shoots quite well. 

Another issue I have serious misgivings about is the lack of real help for front sights.  This was a project item that is basically forgotten and then quickly added as an after thought at the end.  I think that there are some decent sights that are available to builders out there, but, while cruising through the Brownell’s catalog looking for sights, I came to the conclusion that many of them are quite expensive, especially when I really did not know WHICH one would be the best choice.  Rhineland does offer a front sight ramp, but I wager it is much harder to attach then a band type sight like I used.  Rhineland is thinking of looking into such front sights as those from M1 Carbines and M14/M1A rifles, but I have not heard any thing more about them.   

In the near future, Rhineland should be offering a scope mount to complement their carbine kits.  If you want to get out beyond 50 yards, this is the way to go.  Hopefully they will provide us with one for review to complement the kit article.

So, in the end, I did get my pistol caliber carbine.  I did manage to actually build a working and accurate firearm that is a hoot to shoot.  I have now the option to proceed to converting the carbine into something like a DeLisle looking firearm.  Or I may just leave it be and enjoy the fruit of my efforts.

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