Anyone slug a #4 Mark 1* Savage Enfield?

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CowboyTutt
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Anyone slug a #4 Mark 1* Savage Enfield?

Post by CowboyTutt »

We are getting real close to having my 1.5 inch bullet in .303 Brit designed for ultra long range shooting done. Jim Kelley 4 inch Seoul sight almost has its adapter done to use with stock mount. I couldn't find a bore slug kit that wasn't on back-order forever a few months ago. I bought some lead fish weights and a wood dowel and was able to get the chamber end at .2135 I think it was. I could not get the muzzel end. I will order up a proper bore slug kit I think as they appear to be available now, but hate to wait until it arrives to finish the bullet design. So far the design weighs 249 grains estimated and sized to .313 with a round nose boat-tail design at close to a 50/50 weight balance. The design is way more balanced than any jacketed bullet. If you have a similar rifle and you slugged it, I would appreciate knowing what you got if possible. Thanks all, -Tutt
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2ndovc
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Re: Anyone slug a #4 Mark 1* Savage Enfield?

Post by 2ndovc »

I haven't done any of my No.4s but I did do one of my Lithgow No.1s. Sort of. I didn't use a real "slug Kit", but a .315 Hornady bound ball. It's been awhile but if I remember right, it did come out just a bit over .313.
If you like, i can run one through my Savage No.4. That's the most accurate of my Enfields.

What you're up to, sounds really interesting. :D

jb 8)
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Re: Anyone slug a #4 Mark 1* Savage Enfield?

Post by JimT »

I once slugged a savage halfback on the Arizona State football team .... much to my sorrow.
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Re: Anyone slug a #4 Mark 1* Savage Enfield?

Post by JOG »

I always wanted a lend lease Savage #4 Mark 1 Enfield from WW2!
I haven't seen one in 20 years.
Good luck finding a slug kit Cowboy Tutt!
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CowboyTutt
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Re: Anyone slug a #4 Mark 1* Savage Enfield?

Post by CowboyTutt »

2ndovc wrote: Fri Nov 05, 2021 6:11 am I haven't done any of my No.4s but I did do one of my Lithgow No.1s. Sort of. I didn't use a real "slug Kit", but a .315 Hornady bound ball. It's been awhile but if I remember right, it did come out just a bit over .313.
If you like, i can run one through my Savage No.4. That's the most accurate of my Enfields.

What you're up to, sounds really interesting. :D

jb 8)
Jason, what I'm trying to do here has repercussions beyond my own rifle and load. My plan is to make the mould available to others, hopefully in a diameter that works for everybody. So, yes, if you could slug your #4 Savage, that would be good information to help me make a bullet that works not only for me, but for others as well.

Thank you Sir,

-A-
"It ain't dead! As long as there's ONE COWBOY taking care of ONE COW, it ain't dead!!!" (the Cowboy Way)
-Monte Walsh (Selleck version)

"These battered wings still kick up dust." -Peter Gabriel
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Re: Anyone slug a #4 Mark 1* Savage Enfield?

Post by Jay Bird »

JimT wrote: Fri Nov 05, 2021 8:36 am I once slugged a savage halfback on the Arizona State football team .... much to my sorrow.
Yea! I killed some slugs the other day with Corry's Slug Killer.


Tutt, that's a no brainer...as most of those guns run around .312-313, .have it cut to drop a .315 bullet when used with #2 alloy ....you can always size down a thou and shoot a thou or two over and if you want wheelwright bullets they will come out at .314 then shoot as is or size to same.

Get a 32-20 Slug of any diameter and bump it up in a sizer or a vise to .315....load it over 1.5 grains of Bullseye and shoot it in a pile of towels.....do the same with a 32 Spl/32-40 lead bullet......heck, I've cut pieces of lead and hammered em to a few thou.over in a steel pipe cut in half using shims of thin sheet metal if need be.

I find it easier to keep about every size of round ball ever invented around here and shoot em or pound em.

Just be careful of the muzzle diameter...if it's bigger than the rest of the barrel, trash it.......the barrel....in fact, you could be the big deal there just by having a custom barrel put on the gun.....a nice tight .311........you'd be the guy with the trophy's.

Birdman of Leverguns (covering for 6...Old Savage had him 302 ed...)
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Old Savage
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Re: Anyone slug a #4 Mark 1* Savage Enfield?

Post by Old Savage »

It was for his own good. ;-)
In the High Desert of Southern Calif. ..."on the cutting edge of going back in time"...

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2ndovc
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Re: Anyone slug a #4 Mark 1* Savage Enfield?

Post by 2ndovc »

Tutt,

Tried the .315 RB but didn't get a good fit. Just couldn't get it "squish" into the grooves. I've done it in a similar way as Jack suggested and I'll give it a "shot" this weekend. :D

jb 8)
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CowboyTutt
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Re: Anyone slug a #4 Mark 1* Savage Enfield?

Post by CowboyTutt »

Jason, thanks a lot for trying Buddy! I did order up a bore slug kit from Meister and it will arrive Friday or Saturday. Little expensive way to do it, but the kits work well and they sent it out Priority right away. So no need to do anything more on my behalf unless you want to know about your rifle for yourself. I don't have anything in .32-20 so can't do it Six's way. Thanks again Bro!
-Tutt
"It ain't dead! As long as there's ONE COWBOY taking care of ONE COW, it ain't dead!!!" (the Cowboy Way)
-Monte Walsh (Selleck version)

"These battered wings still kick up dust." -Peter Gabriel
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2ndovc
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Re: Anyone slug a #4 Mark 1* Savage Enfield?

Post by 2ndovc »

CowboyTutt wrote: Tue Nov 09, 2021 7:31 pm Jason, thanks a lot for trying Buddy! I did order up a bore slug kit from Meister and it will arrive Friday or Saturday. Little expensive way to do it, but the kits work well and they sent it out Priority right away. So no need to do anything more on my behalf unless you want to know about your rifle for yourself. I don't have anything in .32-20 so can't do it Six's way. Thanks again Bro!
-Tutt
Well Andy,

Some things just don't go as planned.
I'd completely forgotten that I'd ruined my .303 sizing die trying to remove a stuck case. I have a LOT of loaded .303 ammunition and haven't had them out in quite some time. Fortunate that your .303 project came up!
So as we were talking, I did put together some 7.62x54r rounds with a .315 RB and 2.5 grains of Unique. Thinking I didn't want anything to get stuck in the bore, but the powder charge was a bit much! :shock:
A five gallon bucket with 10" of water and an old towel caught the bullet, but it's a little hard to get a good measurement on the diameter of the bore.
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I'll use a .32-20 bullet next time and w/ the new .303 British dies when the get here. :D

jb 8)
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CowboyTutt
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Re: Anyone slug a #4 Mark 1* Savage Enfield?

Post by CowboyTutt »

Well, I finished slugging the chamber with a Meister kit. First off I used a .314 slug for the chamber but it was very hard to get in there. I managed to get it out, and it seemed .313 near as I could tell. But no rifle engraving. This was after I had thoroughly cleaned the bore with Sweets and Butch's Bore Shine and then lubed with white mineral oil. Well, I forgot to lube the slug a second time to seat it again, and while I did get it in their deeper, I also got it stuck. Then some dowels on top of it to drive it back out. So, I guess when I choose to screw up, I go big or go home! :shock: Anyhow, I could not get them out. Took it to Jim's house after getting down here to SoCal. I did soak the chamber end overnight in Kroil to hope to loosen it up. Jim welded a wood screw to the end of a steel rod, and screwed it into each wooden dowel, and pulled them right out. They were all perfectly intact and not broken like I thought they would be. Then he easily hammered out the slug with a brass rod from the muzzle end. No damage to the bore. Jim slugged the muzzle end without incidence. These guys are sheer genius!!!

So the results were a bit shocking. Near as I can tell, after making multiple measurements on my Lee Enfield #4 Mark 1* made by Savage in 1942, the chamber is .311 most of the time when I measure it. Sometimes .314 depending where I measure it. So I'm a little vague on that one and will measure it more again later. What I can say for certain is that the muzzle end is .305 (sometimes .3048 with a more precise tool) so it has a strong taper and perhaps choked bore, which McPherson says is most usually a blessing. I was really surprised to see the tight tolerances on this rifle. The rifling is very shallow 2 groove that is supposed to reduce leading with lead bullets according to Bill Falin in his testing.

I did not drive a slug all through the bore to check for choke points. I probably should have, but after all the mishaps, I decided to leave it alone. It is what it is.

Will post pics of the new ultra long range Jim Kelley Seoul sight soon. We are revising our round nose boat tail bullet design, that Jason has seen the prototype of. The new sight is drop dead gorgeous and looks like it belongs. The brass components match the brass buttplate and brass pins on the rifle. It will be for serious ultra long range shooting.

Pics later.

-Tutt
"It ain't dead! As long as there's ONE COWBOY taking care of ONE COW, it ain't dead!!!" (the Cowboy Way)
-Monte Walsh (Selleck version)

"These battered wings still kick up dust." -Peter Gabriel
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