Need good gunsmith for 303 wildcat work

[Member-Deleted]

Hoping someone knows...I'm in the process of collecting/restoring Aussie wildcat rifles, and am running into a few obstacles. Because of the decline in popularity, 303 based wildcat chambered rifles, all of the gunsmiths i have been in touch with don't have anything in the way of reamers etc for these older calibres. Specifically, I have a SMLE barrel that is chambered in 22 wasp, that I would like reamed out to the full length 303-22 that was once commercially offered. I then want this fitted to a nice Lithgow sporter that has a shot out standard 303 barrel. It would be e very straight forward job for a good smith with the correct tools. I have simplex reloading dies etc, but just need someone to do the work. Any suggestions, ideas, leads etc would be very much appreciated., cheers

[Heckler303]

Still no replies........must be harder to find a good gunsmith than I thought....

[bladeracer]

Can't somebody like Clymer cut you a reamer to match the dies you're using?

[Bazooker]

Contact Keith at Sprinter Firearms in SA, he does a lot of rebarrelling work

http://www.whitepages.com.au/sprinter-a ... -10414860B

Have you tried Rolf Hey at Acme?

Baz.




http://www.acmeengineering.com.au/Rolfs ... vices.html

[Supaduke]

You have deeper pockets than me. I can see mucho $$$ disappearing in this particular endeavour. All that money would buy you a rifle already done wouldn't it? I admire your quest to have something different though.

[Chronos]

Try RDT products in NSW. I'd say there's a few thousand reamers in that workshop and many of them would be 50 years old or more

Chronos

[Member-Deleted]

You have deeper pockets than me. I can see mucho $$$ disappearing in this particular endeavour. All that money would buy you a rifle already done wouldn't it? I admire your quest to have something different though.

I doubt if my pockets are much deeper than anyone else with a mortgage and putting kids through Uni, but its nothing to do with having about the quest for something different. I'm just a fan of Australiana, and once upon a time, we were innovators and actually made things here, instead of buying ready made or chinese clones. For a while, 303 'wildcats" were actually commercial, with factory made ammo and locally made barrels, and there were a large number of gunsmiths who made fine hunting and target rifles out of army surplus. Its a nostalgia thing for me as well, as I grew up with these sorts of rifles around me, as my father was a professional shooter, and owned his own Gunshop with hundreds of different types of firearms. None of these camo painted pardus lever guns and :tactical"BS that seems to adorn every second page of Sporting Shooter magazine. What was once common place because no-one could afford a "new" sporting or hunting rifle has become a relic or a curiosity, and so many modern day shooters and hunters are simply unaware of our rich and varied shooting history. As it turns out, I found a good gunsmith who has the reamers that I need, and only charged me $85.00 for the job, so all is well. Thanks to everyone who offered their thoughts on this thread

[Supaduke]

I will concede that was way less than I thought it would cost you. Congrats man, hope it's a straight shooter

[Bazooker]

G'day Aradour, can you let us know the name of the 'smith that did the work?

It's always good to let others know if you find somebody who is good and reasonably priced.

Baz.

[COLLECTOR 1]

Interesting how you refer to the "simple" days of Australian shooting history....what you say is so so true. It is with interest I find your need for "Australian wild cat 303 based"... Not many people around these days that go down that road.....who is your "smithy"...and what are we building...??....

Collector 1

[Member-Deleted]

I will concede that was way less than I thought it would cost you. Congrats man, hope it's a straight shooter

No Problem Thanks for the vote of confidence.

[Member-Deleted]

G'day Aradour, can you let us know the name of the 'smith that did the work?

It's always good to let others know if you find somebody who is good and reasonably priced.

Baz.

He's a fellow called Alan Swan, based in Brisbane. Easy to talk to over the phone, and is up front about spending money wisely and not wasting it on questionable projects. He's on the internet, plus has a mobile that he answers when not busy. Quoted me around $500.00 for a a brand new custom barrel in 303-22, which is pretty good, although $85.00 plus postage for a chamber job is very inexpensive. I'll get back to him when I weigh everything up....

[Member-Deleted]

Interesting how you refer to the "simple" days of Australian shooting history....what you say is so so true. It is with interest I find your need for "Australian wild cat 303 based"... Not many people around these days that go down that road.....who is your "smithy"...and what are we building...??....

Collector 1

Thanks for the interest in this area as well. I guess I'm just picking up where I left off 30 years ago.....Over the next few years I want to experiment with a number of 303 wildcats, as I never got to spend the time I wanted to with them; currently I have a number of Enfields, both full wood matching number collectors rifles, and some No 1Mk 3 and NO.4 sporters. I also have a P14 that was professionally sporterised in the late 50's early sixties by a Gunsmith in Sydney, and reamed out to 303 Improved ( or EPPs/magnum/ackley depending on what country you are in). Best sporting rifle I have ever owned, deadly accurate and a dream to reload for. With the P14 action, it has very long case life and marked increase in performance over the the standard 303 British, which as we all know is no slouch to start with.

I also have all the simplex full length vice dies to form 303-270, 303-25 and 303-22, and a good supply of cases. Throw in cast bullet molds, and there are many years of experimenting, trial and error and a lot of fun over the the long wet cold Tassie winters. I also found a local smith in Launceston called Andrew who works under the name "Wildcat Prescision", who is very good to deal with and has a fondness for .303's.

Sure, I could buy a new rifle and head down the range, or dress up in camo and pretend that fallow deer are big game, but I'll leave that for the blokes who who want to do that...to each his own, cheers

[Tripod]

I have used Allan Swan many times and used to live close to him which made life easy.Currently have a few wildcats waiting to go to him.

[gunnerjacky]

No knowledge in this respect.... I always prefer to buy a new gun with all its part checked.

[Varmtr]

With any 303 based wildcat to get to best out of it a P14 action would be the go. It's what I'm using for my build.

Wildcat Precision

Andrew Cowling

Telephone: 0437 105 886

[NukeBOMB88]

You have deeper pockets than me. I can see mucho $$$ disappearing in this particular endeavour. All that money would buy you a rifle already done wouldn't it? I admire your quest to have something different though.

I doubt if my pockets are much deeper than anyone else with a mortgage and putting kids through Uni, but its nothing to do with having about the quest for something different. I'm just a fan of Australiana, and once upon a time, we were innovators and actually made things here, instead of buying ready made or chinese clones. For a while, 303 'wildcats" were actually commercial, with factory made ammo and locally made barrels, and there were a large number of gunsmiths who made fine hunting and target rifles out of army surplus. Its a nostalgia thing for me as well, as I grew up with these sorts of rifles around me, as my father was a professional shooter, and owned his own Gunshop with hundreds of different types of firearms. None of these camo painted pardus lever guns and :tactical"BS that seems to adorn every second page of Sporting Shooter magazine. What was once common place because no-one could afford a "new" sporting or hunting rifle has become a relic or a curiosity, and so many modern day shooters and hunters are simply unaware of our rich and varied shooting history. As it turns out, I found a good gunsmith who has the reamers that I need, and only charged me $85.00 for the job, so all is well. Thanks to everyone who offered their thoughts on this thread

I understand where you are coming from Supaduke. I'm only a young fella but sometimes I wish I had been around for the glory days of the Australian firearm industry

[Supaduke]

Pre 96' were the good old days. You could have what you wanted rather than what you are allowed. The anti gun movement hadn't really gathered any real momentum yet either. Mind you, on the flip side, research was much harder back then pre-Internet. No forums, just magazines and guys you knew to answer questions. Often you would buy a gun because it was what they had on the shelf to look at. After market parts were virtually non existent.

I remember trying to buy a torch attachment for my Remington 870 pump and every store I went to basically laughed at me like I was some sort of wannabe swat member. Camo was only from the disposal store and it was basically American woodland, British (Falklands era) , Sth Vietnam tiger or khaki. And somehow we survived without a mobile phone. Military surp rifles were at giveaway prices, AR-15's were bloody expensive and rare. SLR's were slightly better value. No inspections, less red tape, was certainly simpler times. I miss them

[NukeBOMB88]

Pre 96' were the good old days. You could have what you wanted rather than what you are allowed. The anti gun movement hadn't really gathered any real momentum yet either. Mind you, on the flip side, research was much harder back then pre-Internet. No forums, just magazines and guys you knew to answer questions. Often you would buy a gun because it was what they had on the shelf to look at. After market parts were virtually non existent.

I remember trying to buy a torch attachment for my Remington 870 pump and every store I went to basically laughed at me like I was some sort of wannabe swat member. Camo was only from the disposal store and it was basically American woodland, British (Falklands era) , Sth Vietnam tiger or khaki. And somehow we survived without a mobile phone. Military surp rifles were at giveaway prices, AR-15's were bloody expensive and rare. SLR's were slightly better value. No inspections, less red tape, was certainly simpler times. I miss them

Ah man that'd be good

[Jezz]

Can't believe I missed this thread, I'm becoming more and more of a .303 Wildcat fan. Im collecting Lithgows at the moment but my next rifle will have to be one of the Sportco conversions on a Lithgow action with ammo reloaded in my Simplex press..... Cant get more Aussie then that.

[Tank]

Hey Arador,
Was there a necked up variation?
I reckon something in .375?
Always thought something along this line based on a Jungle Carbine would have been the mustard on pigs.
Good luck with it all.
Regs,
Tank.

[COLLECTOR 1]

I've seen and used I might add a 303/375........it was on a No1mk3 action and was down right scary.....but the concept has been successfully done on m17/p14 actions with great results....but we are talking 50 years ago.....

Collector 1