barrel swap

[adrians]

hi ,i have a k.kale turk "mod 38" long rifle and the barrel bore isn,t up to much but i acqiured another barrel with a much better bore .
how hard would it be for a "competant" smith to swap them out and get correct headspace?
and what should i expect to pay for this service ?any ideas?
thanks adrians.

[rtracy2001]

Well, it depends.

I am assuming the replacement barrel is a used Turk barrel or other small ring Mauser?

It would be very difficult to swap in a barrel and have the sights line up when the barrel is tight and headspace is correct. It’s possible, but unlikely. What would most likely happen is the smith will remove both front and rear sights, then take a small cut off the end of the barrel to effectively short chamber the barrel. Then he will tighten the barrel into the action. reinstall both sights, and finish ream the barrel to the correct headspace.

you will be charged for:
1. remove old barrel
2. remove sights from replacement barrel (and maybe the old barrel to maintain matching SN).
3. Cut replacement barrel on lathe
4. barrel installation.
5. Sight installation.
6. Finish reaming.

My smith charges $50 to cut a barrel and $50 to finish ream the chamber. I have not inquired about the other services. It is possible that a smith might consider everything else as just part of the job, and give you a package deal, but that depends on your smith.

Best bet (If you can't/don't want to do it yourself) is to call a few local smiths and see what they say. Talk to some locals that have had work done and pick the best balance of price and quality.

I ended up doing the majority of the work myself, Barrel removal plugging the old sight holes on the replacement barrel, barrel installation etc. (I re-chambered to 308 using a Remington take off) All I will end up paying the smith for is the chamber finish reaming and bolt handle forging. (It is in the shop now)

[adrians]

the turk is a large ring 98 but it utilizes the small ring thread pattern,both barrels are same lenght ,stepped the same and rear sight is matching on both barrels so it "should be an easy task for a skilled smith to get the old sewerpipe out and the new not so sewer pipe barrel in ,and i aggree it will probably need a bit of work to get it headspaced correctly i will get the yella pages out and start axing around and see what i come up with.
if anyone reading could do this for me please p.m me and we can talk.
thanks adrians