What rifles have you converted to pistols?

[Sawney Bean]

Back when I was a kid in the early 80s, the Mad Max movies were big and I converted a Crosman 766 into a Mad Max style sawed off “shotgun”. I instantly regretted it, but I was already pretty good at wood and metal work and I was able to fill in the gaps between the barrel and the shroud and at the back of the pistol grip and all my friends thought it was pretty cool. From what I remember its performance didn’t seem to change a hell of a lot.

 

[RobM123]

Here's my converted BSA Ultra JSR PFT pistol which started out as a youth rifle.

I chickened out, lol!!! Sorry Bobby but I couldn't find it within myself to take on the walnut stock project from scratch. I got to looking at the walnut blank that was given to me and it's warped, also not as thick to use for what I had in mind so I'm giving it back to Kent.

First thing I realised when holding the rifle before I did anything was that the highest part of the rear most of the trigger guard was so close to the grip that my fingers couldn't get up high enough to be comfortable so I lopped off the trigger guard with the dremel just behind the trigger. That problem was solved.

I then dremeled out a thumb rest you see in the photo which is just below the back of the bolt high up on the grip, and also fashioned the back and right side of the grip to fit my hand perfectly, part of that was making a shelf for my palm to rest on which it does nicely. You can see this in the photo. Sanded all that with 60 grit then 220 grit and stained the bare wood with ebony stain for some contrast.

I didn't think about it until I got to shooting the gun but because the cocking force is substantial I can use the back of the top of the palm rest to push against when I cock the gun. It actually helps a lot so that was a plus!

Speaking of substantial - I turned the HST all the way up and got 890 fps with jsb .177 8.44 grain pellets which is almost 15fpe. So I kept turning it back down until I got 792 average fps which is just shy of 12fpe and which is the power limit in the PFT. The gun came from the factory at 10.3 fpe.

I adjusted everything on the trigger I could and got most of the take up eliminated, then adjusted the trigger weight as light as it would go, as well as the sear engagement. It was probably 4lbs as set from the factory and now it's 15oz with a crisp break. I might cut a coil off the trigger weight spring later on but it's much better than before.

I've got maybe 2.5 hours of labor into the pistol so far.

It's pretty darn accurate. It wasn't any problem touching shots on paper sub 1/4" or knocking down my crow target with a 1/2" KZ at 17 yards this morning.

The 6-24 Athlon Argos is temporary but I have been using it on 12x.

Now to get my dope down and practice.

I'll update with groups, etc, in the next couple weeks.

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that looks really good , well played sir

 

[Motorhead]

THEOBEN MFR Rifle .... Rebarreled, Some internal mods then fitted into a modern RAW chassis. Cantilever scope mount and some attention to getting eye relief correct and efficient high shot count. ( AAFTA pistol legal too )

 

[steve123]

I kind of forgot about this thread over the years.

I sold the BSA a couple years ago. It was reasonably precise but it needed to be filled often to stay within the sweet spot to avoid the POI shift.

Around that time frame my Thomas FT was finished and shipped after a 9 month preorder and backlog.
I use it in rifle form for unlimited FT/named Purple Reign, and in pistol form for HPFT/named the Purp. It's a killer gun in both forms. The cool thing is a few times I won HPFT using it at state so to me the concept of using a rifle converted to a pistol worked out well.

Rifle

Pistol

Bonus pic of my new knife.

 

[PianoGun]

Nice Thomas. I have a lot of respect for the designer of this air rifle. They are top performers, very flexible configuration, and built like a tank.

Why did you decide to throw it in the fire stove and burn it? Were you not happy with it any more?

 

[steve123]

Nice Thomas. I have a lot of respect for the designer of this air rifle. They are top performers, very flexible configuration, and built like a tank.

Why did you decide to throw it in the fire stove and burn it? Were you not happy with it any more?

I totally agree. Mike N is quite a unique and talented guy that has integrity.

That day I felt like melting down the Thomas because I wanted to forge a knife. Turns out it wasn't easy stuffing gun in the stove, didn't know I could shove that hard.