and safety negatives. My good local gunsmith was doing really nice conversions before Navy's issue, and when they came out, he had no safety remarks regarding them. Normally Navy bought guns, and then they were converted/sporterized under their name. However, perhaps someone will know who did the actual work. In any event, that's a lead lobber that got a fair amount of play in the gun magazines of the time. There were loads written up for it that were always labeled in the article "Not for trapdoors & etc" A carbine version floats up in memory, but whether Navy's ofr qgun-writers i don;t recall,

and the details are a bit sketchy, but Navy Arms did sell converted Mausers in 45/70. I don't know who did the actual conversions, but remember thinking they were pretty cool and wanting one badly back in the day.

Nice little review of the original rifle. http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mHfjol3Ar9U&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DmHfjol3Ar9U

but wanted to build my own. Never stumbled over an action, tho. No idea who/where the Navy Arms version was converted.

If you have Ken Water's Pet Loads, look in the 45-70 section. He did a two part article on 45-70s with the first part covering the guns he would use and the second covering load data. IIRC, he divided various guns into three "levels" or groups - trapdoor, medium, strong, and remarked the Siamese belonged in a class by itself.

Also just checked a 1991 Navy Arms catalog and price list - the Siamese conversion is not listed.

I saw one at the same gunshow where I bought my P17 Enfield sporter. Didn't pay much attention to it at the time, now I wish I'd taken more time to look at it. Funny that it stuck in my mind all these years when I didn't even pick it up and fondle it. Someone said something about them being problematic in the repeater area, that the one they had was essentially a singleshot. Don't know if that was common to the genre or if it was an individual rifle thing.

I remember them. Thought they were heavy at the time. I think they made a shorter barrel version as well. IIRC, NA glommed onto a stack of the Siamese Mausers and converted/contracted them out to somebody for conversion. The action is a Mauser and suitably strong and Ken Waters treated them as among the strongest actions for the .45-70.

You've got one now, you might as well enjoy it!

--
Sincerely,

Hobie

Gun Digest by a guy who had one in 45/70 he used for deer hunting.

the rifles were contracted out to Japan and made in the same arsenals as the best of the Arisaka's. Basically, hell for stout. Knew a guy, fellow hack, in the prison service who had one and regarded it as the best elk rifle he ever had.

I have to finish fitting scope mounts and then take it to the range. I have wanted one ever since reading about them many years ago. Dad has 1 (or 2? dim memory says he bought a second) in .45-70 and Bro' Dan has one in .444 Marlin. They sure are fun to shoot.

Funny story...I bought a box o' Mauser parts off GunBroker a while back. It had a Timney trigger needed for another project and the whole works was selling for about what the trigger would cost. In the box, was some lower metal which I knew to be Siamese along with a sporterized bolt and some other goodies. The bolt was comfirmed to be Siamese as well after arrival. (Trivia: they are NOT interchangeable with a standard '98.) The very next week another auction came up for a Siamese action with no bolt! So now, a complete Siamese action sits in the shop waiting for attention. I have been reading a little and am leaning towards something based on the .348...either the parent cartridge itself or maybe a .50 Alaskan.

I need another project like a hole in the head but a fella has to plan for retirement now, doesn't he?