Rifle with excess headspace

[DShortt]

It does to me. Asking the OP.

THE question was.....Does your rifle look like this?

So.

It looks bad, but shoots well.

Or.

It looks bad and shoots bad.

There is a difference.

 

[D Coots]

Exterior pics of the rifle.View attachment 1745072View attachment 1745073View attachment 1745074View attachment 1745075

Thank you much for the reply. I have several things from my Grandpa when he was in WW I. The rifle I have was with other rifles, bayonets, trench billy club, and a pistol like the one used for the assassination of the Austrian that started that war. I believe the rifle to be Ariska Type 40, the one on my pic. Maybe he obtained it from WWII?

Neat rifle you have Good luck. I have ammo for mine but won't shoot it.

Later

Dave

 

[D Coots]

So.

It looks bad, but shoots well.

Or.

It looks bad and shoots bad.

There is a difference.

No clue what you're talking about. READ my post agian. I asked if his rifle looked like the one in my pic, said nothing about shooting mine or his. You're coming up short.....

Later

Dave

 

[DShortt]

No clue what you're talking about. READ my post agian. I asked if his rifle looked like the one in my pic, said nothing about shooting mine or his. You're coming up short.....

Later

Dave

You have 1 post in the thread with images of a rifle not previously posted in the thread.

I've no clue what you're talking about, either.

 

[D Coots]

 

[243winxb]

If that's the Hornady 160 It's about .260" diameter in front of the cannelure

yes Hornady. Must be a bore rider type, allowing it to ride on the rifling lands.
If there is any lands left?

 

[divingin]

So.

It looks bad, but shoots well.

Or.

It looks bad and shoots bad.

There is a difference.

I was gifted an old Arisaka that looks bad, and I'm not sure I want to shoot it. That's not exactly accurate - I want to shoot it but I value my body parts too much to risk it. It'll be a wall hanger or conversation piece or something.

 

[DShortt]

I was gifted an old Arisaka that looks bad, and I'm not sure I want to shoot it. That's not exactly accurate - I want to shoot it but I value my body parts too much to risk it. It'll be a wall hanger or conversation piece or something.

If you really want to find out and you have access to some private property, you could affix it to a makeshift rest and fire it from behind a building corner or something similar with a string.
If all you have access to is a club or public range, they probably wouldn't like a plan like that.

 

[divingin]

If you really want to find out and you have access to some private property, you could affix it to a makeshift rest and fire it from behind a building corner or something similar with a string.
If all you have access to is a club or public range, they probably wouldn't like a plan like that.

The problem with that would be that if it does the rapid disassembly thing, I'd no longer have a wall ornament. I suppose I might have several, but it wouldn't be the same.

 

[dellet]

I know it probably a lost cause but I do not like owning a gun that I can not use.

Clean the bore the best you can. Using rust removers will not help the pitting left behind, Thats going to take something abrasive to take the sharp edges off. JB and elbow grease is about it.

Then get a good measurement of the grooves, old rifles and worse yet old military rifles are a crap shoot on bore and and groove specs. The 6.5 Carcano used bullets of .266” and .268”. If it’s over size you still have options, including cast bullets that will also be over size.

It’s probably not all that long on headspace, unless you confirmed the measurement. .008” is well within the range of minimum cartridge minimum chamber.

What I have found with low pressure loads and fire forming is that there is a pressure where it’s impossible to fire forming. Oddly it’s in the middle.
Low pressure does not have enough pressure to stick the case to the chamber walls. So it pushes the primer out and the shoulder forward, and expands the case wall some. When you size the case, the shoulder will move forward some more, as long as the die is set to allow this. This show up with sub sonic loads and when I’m loading for antiques using smokelss in black powder cartridges. Problem is it takes multiple firings to completely fire forming, but you will never stretch a case and have a case head separation. Primer pockets don’t expand either.

Mid pressure sticks the case to the chamber, pushes out the primer, but not enough pressure to stretch the case. Again you can pick up length at the shoulder by partially resizing. Again it might take five firings instead of two.

High pressure grabs the chamber and stretches the case to reseat the primer. Least time consuming, but the pressure needed to do that exceeds the comfort level of firing old actions without a tire and string.

Some times just takes patience to get some of these old rifles off the wall and shooting again. I enjoy it, not everyone has the motivation to make it work.

 

[ELR LVR]

Ok, expanded a few cases to 7mm and resized only enough to be chambered. Loaded the cases with 140 gr bullets and they fired without a hitch. But the barrel is in such bad shape it will not keep shots on a 24" dia. target at 50 yards. Visually viewing from the muzzle the barrel seems to have rifling, but using a borescope you see nothing but a badly rusted bore. I believe if you could remove the rust the bore would be badly oversize with severe pitting. Kind of a shame because the rifle is in good shape externally.
Well, it was fun but I don't think I will put any more time and money in the rifle. It will be a wall hanger.

slug it and lap the barrel with 600 grit, best its gonna do
I did this to a Stery 1900 and it turned out great
bore brush did not remove the rust and patches kept coming out red
the time I was going to put into bore brushing I was better off lead lapping and worked faster anyway.
Don't get too happy lapping the crap out of it, just enough to remove rust plus it smooths over the sharp leading edges of the pitting preventing coppering up.
On the old Steyr, I applied cold blue to the inside of the bore after lapping to help prevent future
corrosion since diamond lapping will definitely take steel down to bare metal.
Finish up with steel wool
I rechambered it from a 6.5x51 or whatever it was to a simple more common .260 Rem
That Steyr when I was done, using 139 gr PRVI Spitzers and a mild load of 4831...
When I tested it ....I ended up being able to split playing cards at 20 yds open sights with it
(got a Youtube vid of it even)
---
I've lapped a few barrels so have good experience and good results
make sure your lead lap is at least 2" long
I use a worn out or undersized bore brush (6mm in your case) & wrap the back end with patching,
then pour the lead over the rest of the bore brush while it is pushed 2 inches or so down into the muzzle, warm the bore first with a torch to warm to ensure lead flow into the bore (similar to solder flow)
using a bore brush as a base for the lap allows you to unscrew on and off a cleaning rod
---
lap first half of bore breech end 50% of your strokes, then 3/4 of the bore 25%,
then full length of bore for final 25% of strokes
you want the bore to taper down if anything, not bell out on the ends internally
lapping the first half of the bore majority of the strokes helps ensure this and also allows you to get a feel for when the bore is smooth again before attacking the muzzle end at all
I have several grits of Diamond from 450 on up
600 is a decent grit to not polish a bore too much
---
you can buy these handy clean syringes off Ebay, very effective
---
Grafs has either of these for whatever dia your bore is
.263"

PRVI PARTIZAN BULLET 6.5MM (.264) 139gr SPBT 100/BAG - Graf & Sons

Prvi Partizan was founded in 1928 and today produces over 350 types of rifle, pistol , revolver and small arms ammunition. Prvi Partizan bulk bullets feature a lead core and copper jacket. Imported from Serbia. Soft Point Boat Tail (SPBT) and Pointed Soft Point Boat Tail (PSP BT) bullets have...

www.grafs.com

.268"

Prvi Partizan Bullet 6.5MM (.268) 139gr FMJBT 100 per bag - Graf & Sons

Prvi Partizan was founded in 1928 and today produces over 350 types of rifle, pistol , revolver and small arms ammunition. Prvi Partizan bulk bullets feature a lead core and copper jacket. Imported from Serbia. Full Metal Jacket Boat Tail (FMJ BT) bullets are specially shaped bullets to reduce...

www.grafs.com