Doble Troble

You're ready to go. Here's some advice: Decide what you want to do. Clearly define your objectives. As this is your first one, if you're like me, you will have a lot to learn. Even with the help that you will get on this board, which will be excellent, you're likely to make rookie errors - take them in stride. If you clearly define what you want your rifle to become, you'll have a better chance of getting close. You aren't likely to hit the mark the first time, but will be prepared with experience for your second try.

Well guys, it wasn't without drama, but there wasn't as much drama as I'd anticiptated. The Criterion barrel needed a hair taken off the shoulder and a hair of the chamber reamed. Of course, being a Bubba I immediately cut and reamed two hairs respectively. I cut the shoulder until when on the lathe it was about 10* from TDC by hand. I'm kinda used to home made reamers that will cut a good chamber, but won't cut it very fast. So not wanting to waste time I reamed the chamber a bit more than I thought I I shoud - about 4 turns of the reamer total. I thought I should have done two (and was right). After reaming the chamber and taking the shoulder back a few thous I took the barrel out of the lathe and tapped on the gas cylinder sans front sight. Without the front sight the gas cylinder has a nice flat machined that you can get a bubble level on. I chucked it up level in the barrel vise and then screwed on the receiver. The receiver screwed on a couple of degrees PAST TDC. The Bubba fairies must have worked their magic as I took it out of the lathe - either that or its much easier to torque by hand in a barrel vise. What ever the cause I took it back out of the barrel vise, tapped the gas cylinder back off, and chucked it back up in the vise and spider until no perceptable run-out was detected. I was just about ready to take off a little less than 0.1" ( one turn of the 1/10 threaded bbl) when I recalled a figure from the (archane to me) Kuhnenhousser M1 Shop Manual of someone increasing barrel draw by running a hardened roller into the end of the shank. Well I didn't have a hardened roller, but I do posess a small assortment of ball peen hammers and so I immediately took the small one and started smashing little dents around the shank rim. With the denting accomplished, I reinstalled the gas cylinder and torqued it back in the barrel vise level. Viola! 10* of wrench-requiring draw. Now what about the damn headspace? Headspacing the M1 is more complicated than a Mauser because the base of a guage (or cartridge case) is enclosed within machined areas of the barrel. Its hard to measure everything up before you start cutting, and cut-and-test is really the only option for shade tree smiths. The fancy breech machining would have made taking the shoulder back a thread a real project (thankfully I tried to pay attention to Kuhnerhousenerin's manual). So what about the headspace? After getting the barrel installed with the front sight base level, I torqued the receiver on until, using a level on the bottom receiver surfaces, the receiver was level too. Then I took the bolt apart so that the extractor and ejector wouldn't interfere withh head space measurement. I inserted a Go guage, followed by the stripped bolt. Slam! It closed effortlessly. Damn! I'm still screwed! So much for zero headspace. Insert the the No-Go...It almost closes all the way. Well, at least it won't be unsafe. Then I chambered a Lake City round that we shoot in Garand matches. It won't close! Bubba pushes hard with his thumb and finally gets the lugs to engage. Maybe I'm not so screwed afterall! I took it out to the range this pm and it looks like its going to do about 2" at 100 yds which I'm very pleased with. The first five rounds were in 2" and then the zero started to creep right. After about 20 rounds total it seems to have settled again. I hope that this really was some type of settling and that its not going to change zero as it heats up. Time will tell.

As a native Oregonian and having lived in CA when it was still a great state I can agree with Jim Morrison that the West is the best. Having said that, for hunting the East can't be beat. Our "limit" is six deer from Sept to Jan two of which must be does (NC). They're thick enough to cause problems out here, and for reasons I don't understand, not too many folks are hunting them.

I see all of this as another perfect example of the problem with our Disneyland culture. Its not nice, its not fun, but if an animal is causing a problem it needs to be killed - as quickly and humanely as possible. Is it more or less stressful to a cat to be blown-up with a rapidly expanding 22 cal bullet, or to be trapped, driven to a vet, anesthetized, have its gonads cut-out and returned to the "wild". If you were the cat in question which course would you prefer? Who is being humane? To have such common sense somehow become against the law is a big part of what has gone wrong with our country. Stupid unrealistic people have been allowed too much influence. Its time to start calling a spade a spade (and an idiot an idiot). When "feelings" become unrealistic they also become dangerous. Given the current pressures from outside, we're rapidly getting to the point where we won't have the luxury of being able to tolerate this kind of stupidity for too much longer. In cases where even a rapidly expanding bullet may not be safe I can see the value of trapping - followed by putting the animal down as quickly and humanely as possible. P.S. Why waste good meat? From my younger days I recall many strangely delicious tacos consumed in Baja CA.

Super nice and sleek. Excellent rust bluing too. The 338 bullets look perfectly balanced in the -06 case - nothing overdone - just efficient - like a 7 x 57's big brother. I know we're all looking forward to load work-up info.

Nationwide is on your side. And you're in good hands with Allstate.

If I understand the problem correctly it sounds like you're having trouble cutting the barrel so that the distance between the shoulder and the breech face meet the receiver ring and the inner "C" ring at the same time. It seems that most folks used to rebarreling commercial rifles (non-Mauser without the inner ring) have difficulty with this too, and there are many opinions about what you should try to do. I don't have an opinion, I only know how I go about doing it. I put the stripped bolt in the receiver and measure (with a depth guage) two things: 1) the distance from the receiver ring to the inner "C" ring and; (2) the distance from the reciever ring to the bolt face with the bolt closed. I then machine the barrel so that the distance between the shoulder and the breech face is the same as measurement (1) above. Then I ream the chamber until the distance between the shoulder and the base of a Go guage is about 0.002" LESS than measurement (2) above. This was confusing to me at first, I hope it won't be so bad for you. This approach has worked well for me for many rifles now, I hope its helpful to you. Of course whatever you do, make sure to carefully confirm proper headspace before you start blazing away with hot handloads. Have a plan, take your time, and you'll get that barrel on right. As long as you haven't taken the breech back so far that you can't cut a shoulder for the receiver ring, you shouldn't be anywhere close to strength issues. But its your barrel and you're the one responsible for making sure that its safe. If you're still uncertain, posting a picture might help knowledgable folks give you better advice.

Wow. One hole groups from a Turk and a take-off barrel. I love it when in the middle of shooting a group like that when the hair on the back of your neck starts to stand up and you realize for the first time that you have a real shooter. I wish it happened to me more often. Its a sure sign that you've done great work. I like that duracoat finish and the whole thing looks great in that Hogue stock. One hole groups = no need to bed. It definitely ain't broke so don't be trying to fix it. Those bolt handles are the hardest part for me, and if that was your first you've got talent to spare.

Here's a link to some more ideas. From about a year ago. This is a great forum.

Another approach would be to buy a new reamer from Brownells or Midway, use it, and then sell it on EvilBay. Chances are that you'll come out close to even. If you sense that you're coming down with the sporterizing bug you might think about buying a reamer and donating it to the co-op that is VERY WELL RUN by ChasMike (see the tool exchange section for contact ifo). This will give you access to all of the standard Mauser reamers (with the notable exception of the 7.65 x 53) and many, many more.

Excellent, soit!

There was a thread about this a while back. The approach was to use a set screw to secure the barrel and forarm. It looked good to me, but of course there are more elegant solutions. Don't have much time right now, but you should be able to track it down with the search. I'll try myself tomorrow.

Keith, All of those groups are hunting good. The Speer and Sierra groups are excellent. If it were me I'd plan on using the Speer or Sierras. It's possible that the BTs just aren't going to shoot in your particular rifle. I've never hunted bear and so don't know if the standard cup and core bullets are marginal.

Those are excellent groups for a Mauser (or pretty much any hunting rifle). You might try a slower powder, maybe something like 4350. If the Sierra and Speer bullets are game bullets, you're in good shape for Fall, but I definitely understand wanting to get the BTs working.

Thanks for the tip, Clemson. I've heard good things about the Wilson Garand barrels, and I get the discount. Midway has the Criterion barrels in stock for $149 with the discount. Decisions...a big part of the fun. I've contacted ChasMike about the -06 reamer from the co-op - I'm looking forward to finally making use of that worthy organization. I'll make sure to let you guys know how this Bubba makes-out shade tree gunsmithing a Garand.

Well, I tried to order a Beretta - they're out and don't have any 30-06 Garand barrels. I wound-up ordering the ejector and spring from Numrich. I also wound-up ordering another Garand and a 1917 from CMP. Clearly I need a back-up Garand, and I've been wanting one of the ugly British-designed rifles since the big flame-up that started with the 280 vs 7 x 64 thread.

Well guys, we had another Garand match yesterday. This was a make-up for the the last one that got rained-out. I shot a 253 which is about what I always shoot. It was good enough for third place, but the two ahead of me shot much higher scores. They're better shots than me and so I know I'm going to have to practice if I'm going to compete, but the problem is I know I shot pretty well but the scores just weren't there. I've been suspecting that my formerly accurate Garand may be starting to age. I got some of the issue Lake City ammo that we shoot at the matches, and shot a box off the bench with my best technique. Sure enough, the group was about 6 - 7". About half of the shots held the 10 ring, but the rest scattered around it. I'm sure its not an ammo problem because I saw better groups than this during the match yesterday. There may be some other operating problem because toward the end of the session there was a misfeed that dislodged the extractor and sent the ejector and spring down range somewhere. I've got it taken apart right now, and nothing obvious is wrong, and it shot flawlessly during the match. But I've got a new spring kit that I'll install and I'll lubraplate it up and give it another try after I get replacement parts. I'm going to order and ejector and spring from Sarco tomorrow. They have some new Italian barrels for sale at very reasonable prices - $85. Since this is a shooter and not a collector I want a good barrel, not a WWII matching Springfield, and so this looks like just the ticket. The question is, they have both Breda and Beretta, your choice. Is there any reason to think that one may be better than the other?

I need to find an Israeli flag. I like the cool star of David. Talk about a classic design.

Is the issue stock too good to sporterize? If not you have your cheapo practice stock. Richard's microfit had bargain seconds (last time I checked) at really low prices. I got one a while back and it was better than expected - a real bargain. Bedding isn't too difficult. IIRC Steve Wagner's page has a method outlined. Get yourself a cheap stock, a heavy-duty NSAID (and some Prilosec to go with it) and get busy. With patience you'll do a great job (and without it you learn a lot and probably still wind-up with something pretty good).

Thanks for the info, Jason. We had a carpenter ant problem a while back and had to pay a professional to get rid of them. Next time I'll try aspartame first.

EXCELLENT! I've had some luck with 4198 with the short barrels for reduced fire ball production. But sometimes fire balls are part of the fun. This is the best arguement for the value of sporterization that I've seen in a while. Really, really nice work. Excellent creativity, and no Bubba rough edges.

Very cool animal!

I haven't used a non-wood stock yet, so I can't help there, but I have had both a 25-06 and multiple 6.5 x 55s. I still have all of my 6.5 x 55s.

Karl, It sounds like you've done well by "continuing to fix it". If you change something and it works for a while, change it again...and again. This is a big part of the fun (and frustration, but without the joy of ending frustration there wouldn't be fun, so its important to regularly create some of this essential, but negative, emotion). Keep modifying, or all of your firearms might end-up shooting pretty-good and you'll have nothing to do better than watching NASCAR. P.S. I'm glad that Boris remains un-altered...for now. This can only be a temporary reprieve. P.P.S. Does Boris have a preference for how tight his action screws are torqued?

Congrats on your escape from Kalifornia! We've needed and missed your good sense around here.