22 to 17 conversion

D

dan586

Inactive
I have an old J C Higgins which appears to be a marlin model 100. After stumbling across some information on converting a 22 to shoot 17 mach 2, I was wondering...how difficult would this be? I have found information on doing something like this with a 10/22, but have not saw much on this dealing with other makes. What options are available to me? Aside from a sleeve could I just source a 17mach2 barrel from a distributor like numrich? Or is this a lost cause better left alone?
 
I doubt anybody makes a .17 barrel for that old rifle.
The choice would be to line the factory barrel or to replace it with one made from a blank. Perhaps $200 in gunsmithing. Or are you set up to DIY?
 
I was thinking of trying to source a barrel from a newer rifle from somewhere like numrich in 17, then modify if/as needed. I am not set up for this project personally, but have a friend with equipment whose arm I could twist I suppose.
 
New barrel blanks are available, reamers are available, and ammo is available. So what's keeping you? Take off the old barrel, insert a newly fitted barrel, reblue, reassemble. Done! Cost wil be somewhere around $200-$250 if you do the work yourself, about $200 more if you pay to have it done.
 
My brother got a Marlin 25 for $20 at a gun show.
I gave him an old take off 17 Remington barrel with shot out throat.
I loaned him my 17M2 reamer.
He cut off the bad throat and chambered it on his lathe.
He drilled and tapped and put a scope on it.
It is very accurate, but he is disappointed in the terminal ballistics of the cartridge on prairie dogs. They make it to their hole.

Meanwhile I put a 17M2 barrel on a 10/22.
It is a very thin barrel stretched in a fat tube.
It make two holes touch at 50 yards, and then a flyer, and then a jam. It is a failure.

I think it would be a fine cartridge in a bolt gun for ground squirrels.
 
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