let the games begin

[randyt]

The barrel arrived for my Israeli mauser. I ordered it from one place but it came from a different place. Came from coles distributing out of scottsville ky. I haven't been able to find any web presence for this company. The price may be lower too, the invoice said $149.95 but when I originally ordered it it was 200 dollars. I don't know if the drop shipper is charging something too and there will be another charge on my card. It's all good, I had a budget in mind and as long as I hit that or less I'm good.

The games part, is how hard will the original barrel take to come off that mauser action. Could be a bear and a half.

[kyratshooter]

I never saw a Mauser that was easy to break down. I have seen several that were impossible to screw the barrel out and required boring out in a lathe and picking the threads out of the action by hand.

I redid an Enfield once that only took hand pressure to screw out. That was scary!

Is this the small ring you are doing in .308 or a '98?

These reworks used to be very common but it has been years since I heard of anyone rebarreling a Mauser.

Best one I ever did was a '95 in 7x57 that I did a full custom treatment on. Turned down the barrel, stoned the action, used a Timney trigger and installed it in a Fajun walnut stock. It turned out real nice but I had more in it than it was worth.

I traded it off somewhere down the line.

[randyt]

It's a large ring 98 that the Israelis converted to .308. I picked it up somewhere along the line and the barrel has seen it's better days.

[Rick]

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Cole-...59390397416817

I think this is the guy that got shot in a home robbery gone bad. He killed the guy but darn near died and was out of action for quite some time. The guy that broke in supposedly was his cousin. I don't think his website works.

https://www.cheaperthandirt.com/ffl-...g-inc-85829.do

Here you go. I finally found the article:

http://www.bgdailynews.com/news/poli...a4bcf887a.html

[randyt]

I've been to scottsville, would pass through there from metcalfe county on the way to tenn. Metcalfe was dry, tenn wasn't.

[Alan R McDaniel Jr]

I've pulled barrels off of a number of 98s (small and large ring), VZ24s, but never an Israeli. If it is a replacement military barrel then you must make sure the rear sight will line up vertically when the new barrel is installed. Most new barrels are short chambered so they have to be reamed to get headspace right. I have installed a few barrels but I have a machinist friend who will do perfect job for me every time. He also cuts a perfect crown for me.

I built an action wrench. The old barrel will come off with a large vice and a pipe wrench putting the new one back on is another story. You can ruin a barrel or an action or both very quickly without an action wrench.

The best advice would be to let a gunsmith do it.

Alan

[randyt]

I've replaced many barrels as well but I've have never used a pipe wrench. I use a action wrench and barrel vise to remove a barrel and to install a new barrel. Twisting a action was not acceptable to the guy I worked for.

[kyratshooter]

The best advice would be to let a gunsmith do it.

Alan

You must actually have gunsmiths in your area Alan.

The only one anywhere in my region has a one year waiting list and charges more by the hour than a heart surgeon.

I walked into his shop a few years back with a small ring Mauser and a new .308 barrel and he quoted me a $400 price for removing and installing the new barrel. He then informed me that it would be over a year before he could get to it.

The only reason I had walked into his shop was that I had just moved and did not have a big enough vise or workbench to stand up to the load.

I bought a new vise and built a new workbench for way less than the $400!

[rebel]

Midway has a video series on Mausers and a couple on changing barrels.

[Alan R McDaniel Jr]

I was kinda being facetious about the vice and pipe wrench. It is an excellent way to ruin everything except the vice and pipe wrench.

Our gunsmiths are the same way here. That's why I take my stuff like this to a machine shop where the owner is a gun nut and does the work. Last barrel I had fitted and crowned cost $125. He did it the next day. That was over ten years ago.


Alan