Hello, I was just inquiring as to whether or not a surplus military bolt action rifle could be rechambered to 50 Alaskan ? I know that the 50 Alaskan is a rimmed cartridge which complicates things a bit, but could a Lee Enfield, Arisaka, Siamese Mauser, or Mosin Nagant be rechambered to 50 Alaskan ? Since CZ 550, or 98 Mauser since have a large aftermarket support would they be easier for conversion to 50 Alaskan than the above listed surplus rifles ? Thanks in advance for any and all thoughts, opinions, or answers.
Yeah considering that the 50 Alaskan was chambered in Lever guns I didn't foresee action strength/cartridge over pressurization being the problem or a problem. I just wanted to use an Lee Enfield since it's one of the fastest bolt action rifles ever made.
I converted a smokeless powder Remington Rolling Block rifle to .50 Alaskan. No problems with pressures what so ever. Your lead is so long for the 750 grain bullet that as soon as the bullet starts to move the pressure drops, Accuracy is really outstanding at long range even though the trajectory is that of a cinder block.
I use blown-out .348 Winchester brass as the base cartridge. My barrel is a set back,turned down M2 barrel. Recoil is no worse than shooting 12 gauge slugs.
I found a target I shot a few years back.
That's impressive Rapidrob MOA or better with a 50 Alaskan. My I ask what rifle you were using? Thanks in advance for any and all thoughts, opinions, or answers.
I converted a 7x57 Mauser Rolling block to .50 Alaskan. I kept the original wood because it was to be a range rifle. The barrel is set back and target crowned. The chamber is cut to take any .50 BMG projectile. Trigger is 5 pound pull. Rear sight is custom made for me being left handed.
The three loaded rounds are Armor Piercing Incendiary , Heavy Ball and 600 grain round nose expanding soft point. .45/70 next to .50 Alaskan round.
Nice looking rifle to go with a nice looking group Rapidrob congratulations on both.
I have been seriously thinking about a subsonic 50 Alaskan pushing a 725gr Lehigh Defense Controlled Fracturing Subsonic Bullet (prefered), 750gr Hornaday A-Max bullet, or 800gr Barnes Bore Riding Solid bullet to around 1100fps out of a barrel with a 1in 10 inch twist. However the only rifle platform that seems readily available is the Thompson Center Encore Rifle, not that there is anything wrong with that rifle platform, but if I was going to go with a single shot rifle platform I would much rather prefer a Ruger No. 1, or a custom Marlin Lever Action, or better yet a bolt action of some sort. The only problem is is the 50 Alaskan (348 Winchester parent case) is a rimmed cartridge so there aren't very many bolt actions that can handle/feed/eject rimmed cartridges especially rimmed cartridges with rim diameters as large as the 50 Alaskan (348 Winchester parent case) .610 just slightly larger than a 45-70. I realize that price wise a Thompson Center Encore Encore would probably be the easiest and cheapest way to do this with Ruger No. 1's being pricey even before a rebarrel, and that a custom Marlin Lever Action would also be pricey not to mention that only one round could be in the tube magazine since my prefered bullets are all pointed so I wouldn't be gaining much over a single shot except maybe that I wouldn't need to break the rifle open to reload as I would with a Thompson Center Encore. Does anyone have any ideas for possible bolt actions that might work? Thanks in advance for any and all, thoughts, opinions, or answers.
If you can find a shot out 8MM Siamese Mauser bolt action, You could open up the bolt face a little and have a fine single shot rifle.
Thanks for your response and input Rapidrob, yes a Siamese Mauser opened up would possibly work, although like you said it would have to be a single shot rifle unless extensive modifications were made to the rifle.