doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion Classic & Custom Single Barreled Sporting Rifles @ doublegunshop.com 22-3000 LOVELL RECHAMBER

Ditto all of the above advice. I wouldn't think of chambering it in anything larger from a safety standpoint if nothing else. Plus, even if that single locking lug is up to the task (and it may well be, but with zero-to-none safety margin), given its design I can't imagine the bolt not flexing upon discharge which would do nothing for accuracy and case life. Were it mine, I would shoot it with reduced loads and have a ball with it the way it is. If you want a set of dies for it, I have a spare set of CH-4D R2 Lovell dies I'll sell reasonably.

Gary D brought out a good point. The 1922 Springfield looks like the 1903, but the bolt is very different. The 1903 bolt was cut off, with the front piece (bolt head) containing the locking lugs discarded. The remaining rear part (bolt body, bolt handle and locking lug) were used. The forward end of the body, a hollow cylinder, was reworked to accept a new bolt head. IIRC, the alteration required female threads cut into the inside of the cylinder walls.

A new bolt head containing only a rimfire firing pin and an extractor was fastened (screwed or maybe pinned) to the bolt body. The Hornet conversion replaced the rimfire firing pin with a centerfire one and altered the rimfire extractor to function with the rimmed Hornet case.

The 1922 worked well as a rimfire. The Hornet conversion worked because the whole action was so massive. The 22-3000 and the R2, with their only slightly larger rimmed cases, worked also, but each pushed the limits of the design a bit further. The thrust from the cartridge is transferred from the bolt face via the screw threads in the bolt body to the single locking lug and its contact with the right side of the rear receiver ring.

These are great rifles but are becoming harder to shoot because the brass is so problematic. They are worth owning and shooting but are I think, at best, a "low volume" proposition. They are a significant part of the pre-war rifle development.