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Military Firearm Restoration Corner

1917 Report


Doble Troble

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Clnr.jpg

 

Any body remeber a post I made a long time ago about using one of the home-made electrolytic bore cleaners on a 1917 barrel?

 

This is from an otherwise really nice Remington 1917. The barrel was in bad shape from shooting blanks and never getting cleaned probably for decades.

 

I managed to get most of the rust out. Somehow it seems that most of it was in the grooves. So the barrel still has pretty tall rifling, but its pretty-well rounded off.

 

Anyway hope springs eternal and I tried it out with M2 ball and I'm not exaggerating by saying it was "grouping" 3 feet at 100 yds.

 

Sadly I put it back in the closet not wanting to rebarrel because its matching.

 

So recently I've been working on some cast bullets - making 0.314" out of a 0.310" mold by "Beagiling" so I can use a 30 cal mold to make 303 bullets.

 

This gave me the idea that I might be able to get away with shooting 0.312" bullets in the old Enfield and it might restore accuracy.

 

Long story short - IT WORKED! It'l shoot 150 gr Hornady 0.312" bullets into 2" at 100 yds! I had to use the expander off my 7.65 x 53 sizeer die, and of course it wasn't long enough to decap, and the bullets wanted to stick in the -06 seater, so it was extra loading effort but VERY MUCH WORTH IT! If I can figure-out how to adjust windage I might shoot this in the next Garand match.

 

The load was a sedate 44 gr AA2495.

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That is a vast improvement, DT. It sure paid off to do a little experimenting. I'm sure there are a lot of milsurps that people relegate to the closet because they will not shoot standard ammo well. But then, many of us that haunt this site are a little different.

 

 

 

 

Spiris

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Well done sir.

You have a "Boris" : )

 

As to windage: You tap the front sight blade with a small punch a bit to the right or left depending on your POI.

 

I found that mine likes longer heavy bullets 168 to about 200 grains in weight and for shooting up to 300 meters

13 grains of RED DOT will give you moa groups on a good day.

 

You might want to get a new firing pin spring, take a coil or two from the sear spring and smooth out the barrel grove in the stock to sort of free float the barrel and lastly polish the contacting faces of the sear and cocking piece.

 

Take care

Karl

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DT,

 

Where is your original post on electric crud removal? I just bought a used Yugo whose barrel is a prime candidate for this experiment. (It'll either work or I'll rebarrel it). I can't find your post. HELP!

 

Thanks!

 

Jason

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Spiris, the box edges tend to be a long way for me to think out of but being cheap and trying to make a 0.314 bullet out of a 0.310 mold gave me a head start on this one. I think that most of us (especially me) tend to overlook bore dimensions in our quests for accuracy. The cast folks don't have this luxury and they're all about slugging barrels and finding bullets to fit.

 

Thanks for the tips, Karl. I'll get around to them all but I'll definitely start with the trigger. Its rubbing against something it shouldn't and makes what should be a good pull bad.

 

Damn, Jason. It's been so long that I don't remember how I put together the cleaner. I know I used a stainless welding rod from the local supply wrapped several times with electrical tape to stand off the barrel. Clearly from the pic I've got the negative lead on the rod and positive on the barrel. I know that I plugged the barrel with a whittled-down wine bottle cork and used the super-low setting on the battery charger - 2 amps with a manual control - this charger is an old Craftsman. What was the solution in the barrel? I DON"T FRICKIN REMEMBER and I'm only getting older! And I didn't take notes. I must have got it off the web somewhere. I'll try to find it.

 

Jason, check this out, I'm pretty sure I started here. I bet a mix of vinegar and ammonia will do it.

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As to as the electric cleaner as I recall it is built like this:

 

Parts: a stainless steel rod about 3 ft long and thin enough to fit inside the bore without touching the inside of the bore.

wires, a couple of D batteries, two alligator clips, a and a 50 /50 mix of ammonia and water and a couple of

insulators.

 

Construction:

 

Take the rod and put one insulate on the bottom, one in the middle and one at the muzzle.

 

Get the two D cells and a battery holder from Radio Shack.

 

Using about 4 feet of wire for each alligator clip attach the battery pact wires to the clips.

 

Use:

 

Remove the barreled receiver from the stock and clamp it upright.

Plug the chamber with a cork and pair in the mixture.

 

Put the rod in the bore and let about a foot stick out.

 

attach the wires One, I think the ( N ) to the steel rod and (P) to part of the receiver.

 

The mixture will start to bubble up.

 

DT's use of a funnel is inspired,( I am gonna use it. Thanks DT) as it will catch the overflow.

 

Last step:

 

Clean the bore and oil the rifle inside and out.

Put him together and head to the range.

 

Karl

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Well,

 

My rusted out Yugo barrel is on the second go around and still making icky looking foam. I am using my own rendition of the electrolyte formula of 50/50 water/ammonia and using an old 6V lantern battery I had lying around. The whole mess cost me less than $10.

 

The first pass earlier tonight cleaned some of the gunk out of the bore, but not all the rust. I figure I'll make another pass or two at it and see where things end up. I still have a used M98K barrel I could slap on this Yugo, but I'm trying to avoid that at all costs. Taking the barrel off a Yugo is a PIA and transferring sights isn't much more fun. Hopefully the electric bore cleaner will come through for.

 

Thanks for the idea sir!

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