Chambering Problem

[Pittsburgh Pete]

I have been looking for an M47 Madsen for some time and finally found one at auction which I bought.

Got the rifle home, cleaned it up and everything seemed fine- bolt cycles smoothly, safety works, dry fired it. I grabbed a .30-06 dummy round and put it in the magazine and tried to close the bolt- didn't work, about 1/4 inch of the dummy round was sticking out of the chamber. I pulled it out, thought I had the wrong caliber round, and tried again- no luck.

So, I dropped the bolt out and tried to push the dummy round into the chamber with my finger. Same thing, about a quarter inch is sticking out. The M47 is one of the Columbian surplus ones so it is supposed to be .30-06 and it says ".30 Cal" on the side of the rifle.

Any thoughts ? I'm thinking a broken shell I can't see (my workshop is a bit dark) or somebody rechambered this thing for a different caliber. Am I missing something ?

Thanks.

[aubie515]

It could be as simple as the headspace is off. Does not sound like you have headspace gauges to properly check.

Surplus firearms should be headspaced to ensure that it is safe to fire.

Contact a local gunsmith and see when they can headspace it for you or rent the headspace gauges and do it yourself.

[pennlineman]

Could it be chambered for .308?

[762xIan]

.30 cal is to vague...could be .30-06, could be .308....could be any number of .30 cal chamberings.

BUT if it is a true Columbian it should be .30-06. As a surplus rifle I would check/clean the chamber very well, could be cosmoline or crud of some kind in the chamber. Dried up cosmoline can be a bitch to remove, how does it look with a bore light?

Last resort is taking it to a smith and getting a chamber cast made (or do it yourself...it is pretty cheap, product is called Cerrosafe and has a low melting point), the smith can then measure the casting to determine the what cartridge it is.

[Pittsburgh Pete]

All good advice, thanks !

[ianb1116]

The Madsen was advertised in quite a few calibers, including 7.62 NATO. Might try and chamber one of those? Do you have a date on the gun?

[Pittsburgh Pete]

The Madsen was advertised in quite a few calibers, including 7.62 NATO. Might try and chamber one of those? Do you have a date on the gun?

I was just looking at it again and the dummy round sticks out about half an inch. It was low 300's serial number made in 1958. I'm beginning to think it may not be a .30-06. I'm going to run it over to my gunsmith, see what he thinks.

[gghbi]

I was just looking at it again and the dummy round sticks out about half an inch. It was low 300's serial number made in 1958. I'm beginning to think it may not be a .30-06. I'm going to run it over to my gunsmith, see what he thinks.

30-06 = 7.62 X 61 and 308 = 7.62 x 51 or 10 mm less which is 4/10 inch. I put my money on it being a 308 chamber. Do let us know what the gunsmith finds.

EDIT: you can download a marketing brochure from here: http://www.forgottenweapons.com/mads...ilitary-rifle/

[PA-Joe]

It could also be a 30-06 with a 308 sleeve glued in.

[JC Blauvelt]

PA-Joe is right. I could have the 30/06 to 308 chamber bushing in it. Have your gunsmith bore scope the chamber and take a look.