So if you wanted to re-barrel the action to something that has a comparable chamber pressure as the old original cordite rounds or lighter I don't see why you could not do so.įor myself I'd likely try cleaning it and keep it in the original format if the damage from age and storage has not taken its toll. I've also got a Martini action that is doing just fine with a 12Ga barrel on it. 303 British smokeless cartridge using the original cordite smokeless propellant. The original 577-450's were converted to the early versions of the. The look to be about in the same shape to me as well. Thatsaid unless you are good at making parts and doing your own stocks I would pass and buy something else. None of the IMA guns should be shot with anything other than Black Powder. The other one I rebuilt to look like the original Gahendra and after shooting it for test purposes It lives in my safe. It took a lot of work but the sporter one I made will go to 855 yards which is as far as our range goes. I had several43 Mauser barrels and rebarreled them with the 43 Mausers barrels
I have 2 of the Gahendra parts rifles that I rebuilt and rebarreled. The Francotte parts rifles are a crapshoot and unless you are pretty good at metalurgy I would not buy one to use for anything other than a wall hanger That said about the Sniders I was lucky and got a reasonablly good one and after rebuilding it I fire it with no qualms. They wind up as wall hangers more often than not as they are not strong enough to rebarrel to anything modern using smokeless powder. The main problem with the Nepal sniders is often a bad chamber ( all out of specs) miserable sights and sewerpipe barrels. It is a hoot to shoot as most people at the range have never seen one.
I have one that I got from IMA and restored. Of the three you posted the Snider is the best buy! I will give you my answer and I am sure it will draw flac but here goes.