Thread: Project: Stubbs

Hi Guys,

As some of you might have seen in the sales section I have been on the hunt for a nice little bolt action .22lr for as cheap as possible for me to mess around with...

I have had a bolt action before but it was a nice CZ which had me on the back foot every time I wanted to mess with it as it was already good and it cost me more $ than I was prepared to loose by stuffing it up! I also had a lovely old BSA Ralock Semi auto that I had cut down nice and short with a big silencer and nice scope etc but when it was done a few little things bugged me, you couldn't see if it was empty unless you stripped it right down, the muzzle report was extremely quiet but as it fired from an open bolt the sound of the hammer slapping home was quite loud next to your ear and while I enjoy semi autos at the range or plinking from a static location I just didn't really like the idea of hunting with a semi auto.

Enter this little fella.... A Beretta Sport 22lr that a friend of mine had decided to sell at just the right time. These little Beretta's can be used in either bolt action by locking the bolt handle down or in semi auto by leaving it up, they were used by the Italian military as a training weapon and came in 3 different models, Sport, Olympia and Super Sport. From what I can tell the only differences are the stock and the style of sites on them. Best of both worlds for me really as I can walk around safely with it as a bolt action hunting or I can have fun plinking at the range as semi.



This example is fairly well worn externally with hardly any bluing left, the stock has a few old repaired cracks and seems to have been shortened and then lengthened again at some point. The overall condition and the fact I picked it up for a pretty good price means I dont feel too bad about butchering it up a bit and turning it into something modern I will actually use rather than a safe queen (collectors might want to look away at this point as things are going to get ugly).

I took it out to the range this morning with the chrony to get some preliminary results on velocity as semi vs bolt with the factory barrel length, these are all 5 shot averages. Interesting results!

Factory barrel length CCI Std
Semi auto - 1013 fps
Bolt action - 1005 fps

Factory Barrel length Winchester Bushman HV
Semi auto - 1255 fps
Bolt action - 1221 fps

Both HV and Subs performed better in semi auto vs bolt action?? This is an inertia semi so I assumed the semi auto action would have stolen some of the energy of each shot to reload?? Weird.

Whipped out the hacksaw on the range bench and hacked off 7" of barrel.



13.5" Barrel CCI Std
Semi auto - 992 fps

Didn't check bolt action results here as I was only really worried about it cycling subs in semi with the short barrel, which it was doing fine and had only lost an average of 21 fps. Thought I better crack on and hack off another inch while I was being brave. Whipped out the hacksaw on the range bench again after checking first to make sure nobody was going to see me.

12.5" Barrel CCI Std
Semi auto - 996 fps
Bolt action - 995.6 fps

Perfect result and it was still cycling perfectly!!

Now to get it on my lathe to true up my cut and crown it properly.

My plans for this build

• Large custom CF suppressor
• Reshape the wood to have more of a target style pistol grip, an adjustable cheek piece and a wider forestock
• Bedliner the stock
• Mount a rail for scope mounting (cant decide on big or compact scope yet, guess we will have to wait to see how it groups first)
• Cerakote the action and barrel

I did take some videos of it out at the range today, when I get a chance to mash them together I will post up a link.