'Smith to reline barrel.

[sharps4590]

I recently acquired a pretty nice Jeffery Rook rifle that was originally chambered in 255 Jeffrey. Some dolt somewhere along the line had it re-chambered to 25-20 WCF. The outside of the rifle is quite nice. The bore, however, is not. My local gunsmith only relines 22 LR's consequently I am in need of a 'smith capable and willing to reline and chamber this fine old rifle back to original, that is providing a Jeffery reamer can be found. Redman's is out as they only reline and chamber to a few suitable cartridges, none of which I have any interest in. Any suggestions or recommendations on a 'smith?

[Ballistics in Scotland]

Ah, I've got mine! It is a hammerless of very good quality, retailed by the Army and Navy stores when they catalogued it at £8 to £10 according to engraving, a fifth the price of a best quality sidelock double 12ga. It spent some unknown part of its life desecrated into a .410.

The cartridge is exceptionally good for a rook rifle you intend to shoot. It doesn't involve you with heel bullets, and you can load it perfectly satisfactorily by grinding a little off the bottom of standard .25-20 dies. In fact you can chamber it with the .25-20 reamer if you can cut the rim recess separately. You could ream the chamber till the neck and throat were where the shorter-necked .255 cartridge needed them, and then Dremel the reamer until it would cut those parts no deeper as you deepen the chamber body. But I think you would get satisfactory results if you simply kept the .25-20 reamer the way it left the makers.

I expect someone will be along to recommend a good gunsmith for the job, but you could always ask Mike Sayers of TJ's for his recommendation. He is very helpful, and the liners he makes have worked extremely well for me.

164346

[sharps4590]

Thank you Ballistics!! Once I get this thing in a shootable condition may I pick your mind for loads? I assume reduced 25-20 WCF loads might be a place to start?

[pietro]

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Fellow board member, John Taylor, is a go-to barrel lining guy. http://www.johntaylormachine.com/38.0.html

Brownell's has a .25cal barrel liner, suitable for the .25-20, if John doesn't have one on hand, or has a better/different idea.

http://www.brownells.com/gunsmith-tools-supplies/barrel-tools/barrel-liners/centerfire-barrel-liner-prod10976.aspx



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[Ballistics in Scotland]

You may indeed, but it is a long time since I shot it, and I can't find any note of the load I used, although it was Reloder 7, with a 70gr. bullet from a mould by Cast Bullet Engineering of Australia. They appear not to catalogue it now, but it was very much like their gas check mould of 65gr., and I think a gas check is worth having for this cartridge.

I can tell you the process, though. I weighed the .25-20 and .255 cases empty and filled with water to the top, and found them very close to the published capacities of about 19gr. and 15gr. I had a multi-unit scale, so I measured directly in grammes of water (identical to milliliters) as well. Then I deducted the space that would be occupied by the bit of bullet and wad which would be inside each case, giving me the powder space. For my intended load I found a published .25-20 one giving just a shade above black powder velocity and I calculated the .255 one in proportion to the powder space. I started below that, but found it gave good results with easy extraction and reassuring primer indentation.

A gas check mould would be better for most purposes, but anything I might want to shoot was under 3lb. or over 50, so velocity wasn't much of an issue. Like many in the recent .22 shortage, I wanted a sort of super-rimfire. There was also a possibility that I might want to shoot it in competitions where gas-checks were inadmissible. I had some 1/16in. thick wax made for lost wax casting models, soft but of high melting point, and self-adhesive on one side. So I cut little discs of wax and card, but I don't know whether I would have been any the worse off without them. If you do anything like this, the wad has to be deducted from the powder space.

It is very easy to run up pressure a lot, by using an excessively fast powder in a small case like this. There is no easy answer to the question of how much more velocity you can get, than I did. There are relatively weak rook rifles, even of good quality, and no very urgent reason why they shouldn't be, in their intended application. But when I compare likely pressure and area of pressure with the amount of metal (and presumably good metal) in the action bar, it doesn't seem very different from their big game rifles.

[Ballistics in Scotland]

.

Fellow board member, John Taylor, is a go-to barrel lining guy. http://www.johntaylormachine.com/38.0.html

Brownell's has a .25cal barrel liner, suitable for the .25-20, if John doesn't have one on hand, or has a better/different idea.

http://www.brownells.com/gunsmith-tools-supplies/barrel-tools/barrel-liners/centerfire-barrel-liner-prod10976.aspx



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I have heard Redman liners well spoken of, but I'm not sure that that one is long enough for some British rook rifles. TJ's will do any length you like, by the inch.

[marlinman93]

I'd use a TJ's hammer forged liner, and 2nd John Taylor for the install.

[Reg]

I'd use a TJ's hammer forged liner, and 2nd John Taylor for the install.

Third on John Taylor, you will not go wrong.

[Ballistics in Scotland]

If there is some reason to use a Redman 25in. liner in a 26in. barrel, you could add an inch or so by silver soldering on a short extension. I'd use a piece of quarter-inch titanium rod or tube, to which the silver solder won't adhere, to line up the quarter-inch bored or partly chambered extension with the bore of the liner. Then when it is done, you can drive out the titanium and chamber it.

[sharps4590]

As I mentioned in my first post Redman's is out, at least according to their web site. I did send an e-mail to Mr. Taylor and have received a reply. It's going to be a little pricier than I anticipated but it isn't as if I haven't done something similar in the past. The exterior of this little Rook is just too nice not to have it shoot well. I am going to see how the bore cleans up but I have no illusions. I can see several pits.

Ballistics, thank you again for your information. It parallels pretty much what I was thinking. I have never been one to chase velocity and a mild load that shoots to the sights will suit me just fine. 1,000 to 1,200 fps will be more than adequate. I am thinking this will be a really fun squirrel rifle and especially if it ends up being accurate. If I want balls of fire, belching smoking and enough recoil to bring tears to my eyes I have a rifle for that....lol!!

[Ballistics in Scotland]

I don't see any reason to use a Redman liner rather than TJ's, especially if length is a problem, but the liners are still catalogued by Brownells for other people to do the work. The catalogue includes a dire warning not to use it for any cartridge other than those specified, but I can't see any way the .255 could be a problem. You can certainly trust John Taylor on this.

He may perhaps take longer than some, but that is better than going to someone who is waiting for the phone to ring because he isn't getting the work. There is a great temptation to someone faced with lining in an unfamiliar diameter to skimp on the equipment to drill a good hole. Even Redman supply an extra long drill which is simply ground down to form a pilot, and only long enough to reach the middle for each end in turn. I think a good liner should, that far down the barrel, not need totally true support to avoid swelling. But I think a slight kink in the hole would produce variations in how the barrel heats and cools.