Out of curiosity, is it possible to convert a 30-06 cal M1919 to .308? If so, what would be involved?

thanks,
JJ

The best way is to buy a new barrel. You should also get a new extractor; the rims are similar but not identical.

The "cheap" way is to buy a chamber adapter. The cartridges are similar enough that you can get away with adapting the chamber, effectively shortening the chamber to fit the .308.

One source.

ETA Just noticed... I didn't see you were talking about a full-auto M1919. The adapters may not work.

yeah no problem-the Israeli's guns were 7.62 There was a company called FAKTS that was selling conversion kits.  hope this helps TG

That sounds remarkably easy. The conversion would be for FA

Well, the same conversion for M1 (garand and springfield) involves cleaning the chamber to remove all grease, putting some Lok-Tite on the conversion piece and installing it, then firing 10 or so rounds to seat the conversion piece. I'm wondering if shooting FA would loosen it though.

Geez- no Browning guys here yet?

To convert to .308 you need a barrel in that caliber, a replacement booster with the appropriate aperture (It's smaller than the one for .30-06 and 8mm) and a set of spacers for the feed tray to position the rounds correctly.

An original .30-06 bolt might work, but might not if it's crispy and new, as the t-slot in the front of the bolt is narrower.  The rims of the .308 (7.62x51 for the purists) are a bit thicker and may not slide freely down the t-slot of a .30-06 bolt.  The extractors are the same.  The easiest way to convert is to buy one of the Israeli parts sets that are still available.  All the parts are set up for .308 and the top cover is modified to allow the use of linked .308 ammo.  The original top covers don't like the combination of .308 and links.

The 1919 is very easily converted to .308 or 8mm Mauser from the original .30-06.  With the price of ammo going sky-high, conversions are now available for 7.62x54R and even 7.62x39, but they involve more parts to be altered and are more expensive.

Mucho info available over at 1919A4.com.

All 3 of my 1919s are in 308, not hard to convert one to 308 but if you dont care to shoot 06 at all you should be able to sell the GI 30-06 kit for enought ot buy a Izzy Kit and have enought left over to pay a fair part of the cost on a  54r conversion from barrel exchange if they have any.

Piece of cake.

Get a .308 barrel, booster, front and rear cartridge stops.  Verify headspace.

If you have a fabric belt loader, you can convert it to .308 as well.

http://www.1919a4.com/tutorials/tutorial15.php

Thanks guys, good info as usual.