I purchased a couple of the Nepalese .577 Snider rifles from IMA. The first required I make a longer firing pin to get it functioning. The second was more interesting in that the chamber was way oversize and off center. When I tried to unscrew the barrel not even my 12 ton hydraulic press could hold it. I could see no joint where the action screwed onto the barrel. Is it possible the barrel and action were made as one piece? (The 1st rifle barrel unscrewed easily)
Not to be deterred I found I could unscrew the tang plug and reach through the action and bore out the chamber concentric with the bore. I made a piloted boring bar with piece of 5/8" steel round stock and a reground 1/8" HSS drill as a bit. I turned down 2 1/2" of the bar to 0.585" (interesting the .577 Snider has a .586 bore) to act as a pilot. Since the barrel wouldn't fit through my lathe chuck I mounted the boring bar in the chuck and clamped the barrel to the slide. Then taking slow, light cuts and clearing chips frequently I bored it out to 3/4" diameter. I made a sleeve from a piece of 3/4" diameter steel rod with the tapered chamber and then soldered it in place with a tin/silver solder. It works well except that my taper cut chamber is 1.950" long which is longer than my compound rest can travel without getting sloppy so the chamber isn't perfect. Next project will be a taper attachment for the lathe. If I remake the sleeve I can just heat up the action and pull the old one out.
So to repeat my question: were some of these rifles made with a one piece action and barrel?