Cleaning up a rough chamber

[jwhite]

I have a Charles Daley mini mauser in 7.62x39 that is a great shooting rifle, barrel is super smooth, great boolit rifle, BUT the chamber is a mess. The chamber has two grooves in it as well as other scratches, these imperfections are taking there toll on my cases and make the action a little hard to operate. I was wondering if I would be able to rent a reamer and try to clean this chamber up with out removing and setting barrel back? Thanks for any info provided.
JW

[machinisttx]

Any use of a reamer will affect headspace, and depending on where it's set right now, may remove too much to be safe.

I would give CD a call and find out what they'll do about it.

[roadie]

If the scratches are deep enough to cause hard opening and killing cases, they are too deep to just clean up with a reamer.
Barrel has to be set back to do a proper job.

You could try a little polishing just to smooth things out if the chamber is decently tight now.

roadie

[jwhite]

I did try to polish the chamber with a fired case and some super fine polishing compound, made things a little better but it still has ridges/grooves. I have a lathe and could set the barrel back if needed. I have never removed a barrel from an action and am a little hesitant to try it, it also looks like some sort of thread lock was used, I can see some sort of goo in the threads when I look in from the action towards the chamber.
JW

[deltaenterprizes]

If this is the only barrel job you ever plan on doing I would recommend you let an experienced gunsmith handle it.
The cost of a barrel vise and action wrench plus the risk of damaging the finish and doing the job wrong may well exceed the price a gunsmith would charge.

Machinisttx: CD no longer imports those rifles, they are now sold by Remington as their Model 799. Bass Pro had them on sale for $350 last year, I have more than that in the one I built on a Spanish Mauser action and it doesn't look half as good! That 799 is a pretty little rifle!

[jwhite]

If this is the only barrel job you ever plan on doing I would recommend you let an experienced gunsmith handle it.
The cost of a barrel vise and action wrench plus the risk of damaging the finish and doing the job wrong may well exceed the price a gunsmith would charge.

Machinisttx: CD no longer imports those rifles, they are now sold by Remington as their Model 799. Bass Pro had them on sale for $350 last year, I have more than that in the one I built on a Spanish Mauser action and it doesn't look half as good! That 799 is a pretty little rifle!

You are probably right, but living in a rural section of Maine with out a gunsmith near by I may give it a shot.

[largom]

Remington has discontinued importing the 799, which is a shame. Mine is a beautiful rifle.

Regarding the CD barrel. If you have never chambered and installed a barrel you are in dangerous water. You stated you have a lathe. Do you have a 4 jaw chuck and know how to dial in a set-up with a dial indicator? After recutting the chamber you will have to recut the barrel shoulder. Do you know how to measure the receiver to determine the distance for the shoulder set back?
I am not trying to discourage you but would hate to see you totaly ruin your rifle and possibly get hurt to boot.
If you are determined to try this I am sure there are members on this forum that will try to walk you through the process.

Larry

[deltaenterprizes]

American Gunsmith Institute has a good DVD on rebarreling a Mauser.

[jwhite]

Remington has discontinued importing the 799, which is a shame. Mine is a beautiful rifle.

Regarding the CD barrel. If you have never chambered and installed a barrel you are in dangerous water. You stated you have a lathe. Do you have a 4 jaw chuck and know how to dial in a set-up with a dial indicator? After recutting the chamber you will have to recut the barrel shoulder. Do you know how to measure the receiver to determine the distance for the shoulder set back?
I am not trying to discourage you but would hate to see you totaly ruin your rifle and possibly get hurt to boot.
If you are determined to try this I am sure there are members on this forum that will try to walk you through the process.

Larry

As far the barrel turning I have run a lathe for the last 16 years so the dialing in, measuring and turning won't be much of an issue. I am more concerned with removing the barrel from the action and the reaming. I was hoping that I could run the reamer into the chamber and remove the high spots/ridges with out affecting the head space. If head space was slightly increased my cases would be fireformed to the chamber after the first firing and after that I would only be neck sizing them as I do now. Just a thought, I am certainly no gunsmith but am a fairly proficient machinist and was hoping this project would be with in my level of skill.

Does any one have any experience with Maine gunsmiths that they would recommend for a job such as this?
JW

[roadie]

Well, depending on where the scratches are and how deep they are, you might pull it off if you're prepared to end up with a real custom chamber.

The 7.62x39 has quite a bit of case taper so forward movement will take out a fair bit of steel, but you will end up with a lot of headspace.

As far as that goes, instead of laying out for a receiver wrench and barrel vice, why not just get an extension and hand ream it.

If you do end up pulling it, and setting it back, and I would, you could make your own barrel vice to use a hydraulic jack, not much slips in those, I found the bolt tightening vice to be a joke.

It is'nt a really hard job to cut a new shoulder, if you're comfy with a lathe and have the tools to measure. I tend to do a lot of measuring and a bit of cutting.

roadie

[roadie]

The trick to pulling barrels is having a good fit in the vice blocks. I ended up just making wooden inserts using hardwood and epoxy to fit the barrel on any thing that could'nt be marred.
I also use rosin in the insert, it's good at preventing slippage.

For the receiver wrench, I use lead shims to get a good fit and I've made inserts for smaller actions. Wrap it with tape first. It's hard to say if there will be a thread locker used on your receiver, you'll find out pretty quick.

But a hydraulic jack vice, a good fit on the barrel, some rosin and a good fit on the receiver and you might be surprised how easy it comes off..........maybe.

If you do try it and things seem really tight, don't horse it, stop and look it over good, some receivers are soft and will distort.......Swedes come to mind, don't ask how I know.

Thats when I learned to have the bolt in but loose not locked.

roadie

[shotman]

roadie is right about the hand made blocks and the hyd jack . If it has a thread lock heat it with a propane torch . you dont need to heat much but it will release the lock glue dont try to heat it red just 200 or so .
Roadie also said hardwood and rosin. Here is a tip on that
You have heard the saying --Tougher than a pine knot-- If you are any place in the country that have pine trees . Take a walk in the woods. and look for a dead rotton pine tree. The knots will still be there get several bigger ones. Now you have the best vice material there is --hard and full of rosin

[jwhite]

Roadie, don't suppose you would have a picture or drawing of the hydraulic barrel wrench you could post? My original thought was just as you said, leave barrel in action and ream by hand with an extension. I wonder about an Improved 7.62x39 if there even is such a thing, that might do the trick as well?
Thanks for the help,
JW

[StarMetal]

Roadie, don't suppose you would have a picture or drawing of the hydraulic barrel wrench you could post? My original thought was just as you said, leave barrel in action and ream by hand with an extension. I wonder about an Improved 7.62x39 if there even is such a thing, that might do the trick as well?
Thanks for the help,
JW

Here you go JW

http://www.brownells.com/.aspx/pid=16139/Product/ALL_PRO_BARREL_VISE

With some ingenuity you can make one of these a lot cheaper.

Joe

[deltaenterprizes]

Reaming with the barrel in the receiver will increase the headspace, you still need to set the barrel back.

[roadie]

Here you go JW

http://www.brownells.com/.aspx/pid=16139/Product/ALL_PRO_BARREL_VISE

With some ingenuity you can make one of these a lot cheaper.

Joe

Yeah, they're not all that hard to make, I just added 3/4 inch rods to the sides and welded 1 inch bar across the top of them on my old bolt vise. The vise was already mounted on 4 inch angle iron so lots to weld to.

roadie

[roadie]

Roadie, don't suppose you would have a picture or drawing of the hydraulic barrel wrench you could post? My original thought was just as you said, leave barrel in action and ream by hand with an extension. I wonder about an Improved 7.62x39 if there even is such a thing, that might do the trick as well?
Thanks for the help,
JW

I don't know of a 7.62x39 Improved, but if you can make a reamer, there will be. D reamers are not too hard to make.

roadie