.30-.30 semiauto

nyforester

I would like to make a 30-30 semi auto rifle. Does anyone have any starting suggestions on what rifle to use. I want a detachable mag. I was thinking of starting with a model 742 ?

Iroquois Scout

This was tried many years ago in a rifle called the "Standard" it did not work very well and had a short life span. I would think that one of the big problems would be the rim of the case and getting the cartridge to feed. Remington solved this problem by designing a .30-30 case without a rim and calling it the .30 Remington. I think that this would be the place to start, after all the Remington Model 8 semi-auto was very popular at one time.

Iroquois Scout

Hello Mark,
Yes, in almost 50 years of collecting I have had exactly 1 Standard in my hands. There was a collector from NJ who belonged to the same collector's association that I did and he was the one who had it.
You are right, it looked like it had been designed by a committee. I remember that the fore arm was a brass shell and that the rifle was heavy. It was a long time ago, but, I seem to remember that the gas piston and return spring were wrapped around the magazine tube. The fore arm also held the action bars for the slide action. I just don't remember what you had to do to change from one mode to the other.
I am sorry that I can't be of more help, but I had it in my hands for about all of two minutes. The gentleman who owned it has since passed away and I don't know what happened to the rifle.
All the best,
Scout

v35

Designing autoloading rifles for rimmed cartridges is starting off with an unnecessary handicap because of the rim . However, the Lewis and Bren guns handled a rimmed cartridge successfully and so did the Chauchat but not so successfully. The weakness of the Chauchats' was not due to the rimmed cartridge though.
Bill Ruger as a lad converted a 99 Savage to semiautomatic. Some of the older 99s were in 303 Savage which might be a good starting point.
You may be able to research how he did it. I believe it was gas actuated.

Jody Commander

The Standard used the pump style forearm to cock the mechanism and to chamber the first round, there was a release built into the forearm that locked the "pump" handle so it did not run back and forth with the action when fired, the recoil spring is located in the barrel housing and there is an adjustable gas valve under the outer housing that can be cut off and the weapon can the be used as a pump, but to "pump" the action, you have to compress the recoil spring each time instead of just once in semi mode, guaranteed to build up your arm muscles,neat old guns....

Hardrada55

I was too poor to buy lever action rifles, so I bought old semi-autos. Remington Model 8s and 81s, Winchester .351 and .401 self-loaders and one .30 caliber Standard Model G that is broken. I also bought a booklet, "Big Game Hunting" which is the pamphlet for the Standard Arms rifles. Additionally, there is an article by Layne Simpson from several years ago called "A Fresh Look at the Old Standard" which is very imformative. He doesn't think they function well in the cold or if the ammo is old. In "John Henwood's book "The Great Eight" there is a whole section about the Standard Arms Model G. Anyway, the Standard rifle is very interesting. Wish mine wasn't broke.

sir-kull

My Remington Model 8 in 30 Remington shoots very well and it is essentially a rimless 30-30. Most load data books say to use the same data for the 30-30 and the 30 Rem. The one advantage the Model 8 has is you can use pointed bullets due to its box magazine.

Ben

nyforester

Thanks for all the info !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!