Looking for 31 caliber barrel blank for Mosin-Nagant

[Linstrum]

Yep, I know that I can buy a good Mosin-Nagant for about the same price as a barrel blank, but I re-barrel rifles for the same reason I cast my own boolits plus I don't have to fill out more Goobermunt paperwork on rifle receivers I already own. I have two un-issued Mosin-Nagant 91/59 rifles I bought for parts 20 years ago. They both have 0.316" bores, and their accuracy is so bad that shooting them is just a waste of time and ammo. If I buy take-out Mosin-Nagant barrels I run the risk of getting what I already have, unless I can find a rare Tikkakoski or SAKO Finland rebuild Mosin-Nagant barrel. I have never seen a commercially available barrel blank with 0.300" minor x 0.310" major or 0.303" minor x 0.311" major bore that the 7.62x54R, .303 British, 7.65mm Mauser, and 7.7mm Japanese use. Does anyone know where I can find one that costs about the same as a good quality .308 caliber barrel blank? If I re-barrel them using 0.308" bore barrels they won't safely handle inexpensive Combloc surplus 7.62x54R ammo, which can be a bit on the hot side for an undersize bore.


Rl 1,172

[drhall762]

McGowen is the only one I can find.

[Rojelio]

Lothar Walther makes them.

[uscra112]

Lothar Walther makes them.

But they're not cheap.

[uscra112]

It's a solution that's a bit, aaahh, how you say, "agricultural", but using a .308 barrel and giving it significant freebore might work. I stopped believing that freebore is bad for accuracy when I bought a .223 Stevens 200 that has .190" of freebore when using the 62 grain bullet, and a lot more when using 50 grain hollowpoints. It still shoots close to MOA with almost any load.

[Rojelio]

But they're not cheap.
He wasn't asking for cheap. He was asking for good quality.

[drhall762]

McGowen offers several reproduction contours for the MN. If you were intending to keep stock and hardware this might be a plus.

[reed1911]

Make sure you can remove the old barrel first. They are awfully cantankerous and you'd be well ahead to make sure you can get the old barrel off before investing in a new replacement.

[John Taylor]

http://www.gmriflebarrel.com/7-62x51-raw-blank-41v50-25-x-1-25-1-11-twist/

[bruce drake]

Pac-Nor makes a 31 caliber barrel in a 1-10" twist and they may sell you a blank but I don't see them listing a pre-fit for the M-N action.
www.pac-nor.com
Great barrels but I've never thought of rebarreling my M-Ns (yet)

[Linstrum]

Thanks for the input! I checked out the links and there are some barrel offers that are pretty attractive.

I don't have trouble getting Mosin-Nagant barrels out, all you need to do is center-up the receiver in a lathe in a four jaw chuck and take enough of a shallow cut with a 0.100" wide parting tool on the old barrel just in front of the barrel flange to relieve thread pressure and you can unscrew the barrel with channel lock pliers. The old barrel can still be re-used by carefully machining a spacer ring to fit where the barrel metal was removed so the receiver has something to torque up against.

I already have two barrels in primo condition, one a 1916 New England Westinghouse barrel and the other a 1942 Tikkakoski barrel, but both are 31.5 inches long (!) and they are too rare to just cut off to 24 inches for my woods carry rifle, especially the 1942 Tikkakoski because only a few that long were ever made, most were 29.5".

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