1903 Greek Manlicher

[George Tucker]

I have come into a Greek 1903 Manlicher Military Rifle with Rotary mag, in 6.5mm, the Rifle is origonal, but the bore must be wore out, a .270 bullet will pass threw the bore with no resistance, is it possible to find a barrel for one of there Rifles, the rest of the Rifle and Action are in good condition, i slugged the bore, the middle of the barrel measures Larger than the rest of the barrel, the barrel is about 28" long, thanks, George.

[Baja_Traveler]

If it were me I'd have the original barrel lined to keep the rifle all original. There are guys at our range shooting lined 100 year old winchester lever guns at the silhouette matches, and they are just as accurate as any modern rifle.

[George Tucker]

That thought has also entered my mind, George.

[Multigunner]

If theres still rifling visible the rifle may have been converted or rebored to a larger caliber at some time in the past.
Some Dutch Mannlicher carbines (a very different rifle without the rotary magazine) were rebored to .303 British during WW2.

I've read of some parts and barrels having been available about 7-8 years ago, but don't remember any details, other than some replacement barrels used the .268 bore size and could chamber the 6.5 Italian as well as the 6.5 Greek cartridges. Other replacement barrels had the .264 bore size.

These rifles often have badly rusted out bores. I suspect due to being stored without cleaning after the Germans invaded Greece.

[George Tucker]

The Rifling looks fairly good, i just slugged the bore, it measures .278, i have two molds U280-412, and 280-642. i think i can get it to shoot one of these bullets, the rifle is in really good condition, the action is sure smooth, George.

[Multigunner]

With a .278 bore and good rifling my best guess would be that at sometime in the past the barrel has been agressively lapped, the process having been taken a bit too far.

Lapping a bore to polish away surface pitting was a not uncommon procedure in the old days.
They say one should never remove more than .0005" of the bore surface, but with an already oversize and further worn bore even that much could result in what you see here.

When using oversize bullets you must make sure that the chamber neck is loose enough to avoid binding and excessive pull so the bullet will be released cleanly, otherwise pressures can go through the roof.

I have heard of bores about this size being found on Japanese Carbines rebarreled in China.
Before WW2 the Chinese developed a 6.8 (.276) bore infantry cartridge. The cartridge was not adopted but its possible that some 6.8 barrel blanks remained in inventory and were used up in rebarreling 6.5 rifles.
I don't know of any Greek rifles being used by China, but they bought up every type of infantry rifle they could get their hands on back then. They also bought many condemned rifles and rebarreled them.

Anyway I once tried to buy a 1903 long rifle from a customer who had brought it in looking for ammo. That rifles was also in great shape other than having a crusty bore. If he had been willing to sell bore lapping would have been the first thing I did before shooting it.

[George Tucker]

Iam checking the chamber neck now, and i want to see what the leade looks like, George.

[Pavogrande]

Keep in mind if you decide to rebarrel, that rotary magazine is reluctant to accept any other cartridge.

[George Tucker]

I would keep it in 6.5MS, after measuring everything, a few inches from the leade, it measures .268, the rest of the barrel measures .278, i think someone has lapped the bore, and got carried away, i have cast bullets that would fit the bore, but not the few inches ahead of the chamber that measure .268.