Blind magazine question

[MRogersII]

Good evening, All. Maybe a bit off the wall question here but....

I'm building a 300 H&H hunting rifle on a P-17 Enfield (Winchester). I have the bolt face opened up and the barrel installed, headspaced to 3.73 with a 190gr LR Accubond. My intention all along has been to go with a blind magazine. Of course there is some modification necessary given the length difference between the 30-06 and the H&H. My first thought was to modify the original heavy steel box and install that in the stock but, having given it some additional thought, I'm wondering why not just machine the stock to provide the proper internal "magazine box" dimensions, and not bother with modifying and then installing the original metal box. Hopefully the question is somewhat clear. I guess the question is, can the magazine box just be wood?
Qualified assistance is much appreciated.
Michael

 

[MRogersII]

Also, as for the magazine spring, I thought I would mill a channel in the bottom of the "box" to fit the bottom of the spring, drill the bottom of the leaf and then use a small screw to secure the spring in the channel.

 

[M60A3TTS]

You will need some kind of feed ramp to the chamber mouth. With out the mag, the front of the wooden mag well will be too far forward. I have a 14 and a 17 that I made mags for by cutting and welding two stock mags together and fitting them in. One is on a 7RM with COAL at 3.480, and 300 WM chambered out to 3.640. Next one is probably a 300 RUM out to about 3.9. But after all of the cut and welding , I'm thinking I'll try modding one of the Wyatts boxes that go to 4in, this time.
You should probably work the feed ramps a little too. There is a bump for the 30.06 and 303, that is a bit far back for the bigger cartridges and tend to push them in sideways a bit too much.

 

[MRogersII]

You will need some kind of feed ramp to the chamber mouth. With out the mag, the front of the wooden mag well will be too far forward. I have a 14 and a 17 that I made mags for by cutting and welding two stock mags together and fitting them in. One is on a 7RM with COAL at 3.480, and 300 WM chambered out to 3.640. Next one is probably a 300 RUM out to about 3.9. But after all of the cut and welding , I'm thinking I'll try modding one of the Wyatts boxes that go to 4in, this time.
You should probably work the feed ramps a little too. There is a bump for the 30.06 and 303, that is a bit far back for the bigger cartridges and tend to push them in sideways a bit too much.

This one seems to feed fine with the longer H&H, one of the benefits of the long gentle shoulder. The feed ramp on the bottom of the receiver could benefit from a bit of slope change, and a considerable amount if polishing though. Been trying avoid removing metal on the front end, and just trying to get the extra length in the back.

Question, what did you mean by the There is a bump for the 30.06 and 303? I wasn't sure what you were referring to.

Thank you for taking the time to respond.

 

[M60A3TTS]

The feed rails have a cast in bump, on the 14 it's 303 profile on the 17 it's 30.06 profile, as the cartridge comes up and catches under raceway. If you don't have that, they have been massaged at some point. It's not good or bad unless the cartridges fly out as you cycle the bolt. Sometimes they are fine as they are, sometimes, depending on case size or profile, they aren't. Another area will be where the belt passes the rails.. I found that cutting back in this area, helps keep the cartridge straight as it feeds, otherwise the belt, as it passes the rail, kicks the back of the cartridge out, and sometimes enough for the cartridge to pop out and misfeed. The rails are cut for a narrower cartridge case then the belted mags.

 

[MRogersII]

Got it. Looks like someone ran a ball mill on both sides of the under side of the receiver to mimic the taper of the cartridge. Thank you, Sir. I'll look at it tomorrow.

 

[SBS]

Not to pour cold water on your idea, but I've seen many a rifle made with a military action. I don't recall ever seeing one without a magazine box of some sort. I have a 1917 .30-06 sporterized with a cheap aftermarket stock that has a blind magazine. I think Century Arms did a bunch of them years ago and it's obvious they were making them as cheaply as possible, but it still has a metal magazine box. I can't imagine wood having the same smooth surface as metal and staying hard, smooth/slick over a period of time. Years ago when sporterizing 14/17 Enfields was popular, Numrich Arms sold aftermarket magazines for use with the .300/.375 H&H rounds, which were popular chamberings. You occasionally run into them at gun shows, leftover from someone's planned project.
Trying to reduce weight on a 98 Mauser conversion years ago, I fitted a Winchester 70 magazine box cut to the right depth and tack welded it to the bottom of the receiver to make a blind magazine. The post 64 M70 mag. boxes for the .30-06 length have a spacer in the back that can be taken out for the H&H lengths. There was also a Mod. 70 factory made box without the spacer for the H&H chamberings that you might run across. I think you'd be better off with something like this (properly fitted) than leaving the box out altogether.

 

[MRogersII]

Not to pour cold water on your idea, but I've seen many a rifle made with a military action. I don't recall ever seeing one without a magazine box of some sort. I have a 1917 .30-06 sporterized with a cheap aftermarket stock that has a blind magazine. I think Century Arms did a bunch of them years ago and it's obvious they were making them as cheaply as possible, but it still has a metal magazine box. I can't imagine wood having the same smooth surface as metal and staying hard, smooth/slick over a period of time. Years ago when sporterizing 14/17 Enfields was popular, Numrich Arms sold aftermarket magazines for use with the .300/.375 H&H rounds, which were popular chamberings. You occasionally run into these days at gun shows, leftovers from someone's planned project.
Trying to reduce weight on a 98 Mauser conversion years ago, I fitted a Winchester 70 magazine box cut to the right depth and tack welded it to the bottom of the receiver. The post 64 M70 mag. boxes for the .30-06 length have a spacer in the back that can be taken out for the H&H lengths. There was also a factory made box without the spacer for the H&H chamberings that you might run across. I think you'd be better off with something like this (properly fitted) than leaving the box out altogether.

Nor can I say that I've seen it either. Wasn't sure if that was for a valid reason or just because it's always been done that way.

Thank you for taking the time to respond. I appreciate it.

 

[Ggmac]

Have you checked with Numrich lately . They use to have magwells in magnum length . You could try looking in the gunsmith section , usually a little hard to find on there website but worth it .

 

[MRogersII]

In the interest of being thorough, I thought I would ask once more, has no one seen this done successfully?
Thanks again.