M1909 Argie in 30-06

[Maj Dad]

I have a friend who has a M1909 Argentine re-chambered to 30-06 which, he says, has "never been accurate at all." I asked all the pertinent questions and it seems he has a 7.65 Belgian/Argentine bore rifle, given to him by his father (& not a candidate for sale or otherwise re-doing - I asked ), chambered to 30-06, and the undersized bullets are rattling down the bore with less than stellar results. I told him that he could reload and use larger bullets and probably improve accuracy significantly, but he doesn't reload. I can ruminate on the proper approach, but I'd like to ask for input on this from anyone who might have already done it. I've got 7.65 Belgian/Arg dies, 30-06 & 303 Brit. Years back I loaded 30-40 Krag with .311 lead bullets and used the Argie expander in the Krag sizer, I think, and avoided lead shaving etc. I know this is in the ballpark, but my brain has turned to mush now that I am trying to assist with the filling out 2 dozen college applications for my baby girl (17, last of 4! Yeayyyyyy!), government scholarship documents, and mollify my irascible and irritated wife. :banghead: But I digress...

Any suggestions would be appreciated, and imminently useful!
Cheers,
George J.

 

[NCsmitty]

If it's the original barrel, it seems that you are on the right track. Has the barrel been slugged to verify?
If it has been rechambered to '06, then it makes sense to expand the '06 case to fit .311 bullets.
It should be a fairly straight forward procedure, unless I'm missing something.



NCsmitty

 

[loadedround]

Maj Dad:
I have a take off original 1909 Argentine 7.65 barrel in excellent condition that could be had cheaply and I also have a nice walnut checkerd sporter stock for the 1909 if interested. PM me.

 

[Maj Dad]

Thanks for the validation Smitty - I was going to do it, but I am of the age where I no longer charge off into the bush without at least some semblance of a plan. He has not slugged his bbl, but it is the original Argie M1909 action and bbl (showed me detailed pics he took) and I'm sure it was 7.65x53. I am going to load some 06 starting loads for him to try (lowest starting, probably 4350). He's going to stop by with the rifle & I will check bore diameter before we shoot it (haven't gone totally mush )

loadedround, I replied to your pm - thanks for the offer.

 

[EMC45]

I have the same rifle and my barrel is .312 IIRC. It sits and waits to get rebarreled to 30-06.

 

[Maj Dad]

Went to the reloading cave & got our the 7.65 & 30-06 dies, swapped the expanders & sized up 10 06 cases using the 7.65 expander. ID of the necks is about .307 vs .3025 for standard 06 sized necks. Too easy - now I just need to verify my buddy's bore diameter but I am sure it is ~.312 as it is the original Argie bbl. I will load up some 174 gr .312 Hornady RNs with starting loads & see what happens on down-range.

Emc,
Bullet selection is not as extensive as .308s but Sierra has 130, 150, 180 and 200 (or 220, I forget, and some MKs) plus Hornady's selection. All in all, a 7.65-06 would be an acceptable compromise if you have a good bore & decide to rechamber. My old 91 has won HP Rifle Matches using handloads with 150 grs & 4064...

 

[NCsmitty]

You can also extend your bullet range into the many pistol bullets available in .312, for light plinking loads.



NCsmitty