Curious conversion

[Somethingbigandorange]

[h=2]Many years ago I inherited an 1889 Schmidt-Rubin. It is a straight pull bolt-action rifle, and fore-runner to the famous Schmidt-Rubin 1911 and K31. Unfortunately, it was chambered in 7.5x53.5, and could not handle the pressure of the more modern 7.5x55 cartridge of its famous descendants.

Before it even came into my hands, the stock had been cut ("sporterized"), as well as having various replacement parts - there were no 'matching' serial numbers. The collector value was zilch. What to do besides hang it on the wall?

After much research, hemming and hawing, and fast talking to a custom gunsmith, the barrel was bored and chambered for 410-bore shotgun. Completely safe in the action. The only modifications I needed to make were to open up the bolt face, change the angle on the extractor claw, and adjust the feed lips on the magazine.

In the end I had an 11-shot bolt action shotgun with a LONG barrel. It was wickedly accurate and took a dove on its very first shot. [/h]

 

[JPaul]

That's pretty interesting. I was into the curio and relic stuff for a while (since a good portion of it was pretty cheap back then, nowadays not so much). I don't blame you for doing something to a piece like that, particularly since it had already been butchered. I have a Swedish Mauser that is similar, the previous owner had cut and re-welded the bolt handle to bend it down and it wasn't a collectors item anymore, so I finished the sporterizing of it. I really need to get some good pictures of it to put on here.

 

[Shortbus]

That's a cool idea..I have an old Beretta 9mm rifle, and a 6.5mm Arisaka (w/ Chrysanthemum intact) I've been mulling over...guess I should get off my butt and do something other than look at them.