Help With A Pitted M39 Barrel
Hello,
Picked up an antique M39 a few weeks ago. A 1941 VKT w/ an 1895 Tula receiver. The guy told me the barrel was good and so was the price. "Buyer Beware" When it came in I scrubbed the barrel before taking it to the range. A lot of crap initially came out of the barrel. Best group I got w/ my reloads was about 1 1/2". I've read that the Fins didn't let these rifles out of the arsenal unless they shot 1 1/2" w/ their ball ammo. So I figured w/ hand-loads, it should be a little better. I shimmed the receiver (like the Fins did), free floated the barrel and polished up the trigger. Took it out again, same results. continued to clean out the barrel and still having copper fouling coming out. I took the rifle to a local gunsmith to look at the crown and we determined to have the barrel re-crowned. Took it to the range again; same results. went back to see the gunsmith. He pulled out this gadget, it was a bore scope. Neat tool! he ran that tool through the bore and OH BOY!! you could see the pitting in the barrel. My heart sank. He told me there might be some hope. he said to pick up a cleaning rod, a can of Mothers Aluminum and Mag polish, and a few 30 cal mops. He told me to cut the handle of the cleaning rod and attach it to a drill motor. fasten a mop to the cleaning rod, and place some polish onto the mop. push the polish-soaked mop through the bore, fire up the drill motor and pass it back and forth for about 15-20 minutes. clean out the bore w/ solvent and patches and do it again. The mop will turn BLACK. He said not to worry. put some more polish on it and run it through again. It will slowly shine up the bore without taking off any metal. Well I did it for about 2 hours last night and it just now started to show signs of shining up. I won't be able to take the pitting out but it might help a bit. I'll put another couple of hours on it this evening.
Anyway, I was reading up this morning about fire-lapping using the Tubbs Kit/ method. They have a kit for .303 size bullets. The kit uses Sierra bullets. My hand-loads consist of Sierra 180gr SPT so I'm considering giving it a try. Has anybody had any experience with this system? How did it work out? Do you recommend it? Sorry about the long post. I wanted to give history. Thanks
Just in case there is the slightest doubt remaining...
Quote:
Originally Posted by
concretus
He told me to cut the handle of the cleaning rod and attach it to a drill motor. fasten a mop to the cleaning rod, and place some polish onto the mop. push the polish-soaked mop through the bore, fire up the drill motor and pass it back and forth for about 15-20 minutes. clean out the bore w/ solvent and patches and do it again.
The electric drill idea is the worst kind of Bubbary. This is NOT funny. I have seen several otherwise fine rifles that have been RUINED in this way.
As far as I am concerned, your local so-called gunsmith has totally disqualified himself.
Think about it. Basically, rifling is scratches ALONG the bore. Made in a controlled fashion, of course. Ringing is an enlargement ACROSS the bore, and ruins shooting qualities. Fire lapping does work, if you do it properly and don't try to cut corners. Small pits will tend to cause rapid "leading" (or should that be coppering?) but are actually less harmful to accuracy than rings caused by using an electric drill. Only ever use longitudinal motion that follows the rifling for cleaning barrels. NO CIRCULAR MOTION !!!!!
I don't fire borescopes (or headspace gauges) out of my rifles. I fire bullets, and the only real test is how those bullets perform. Borescopes (and headspace gauges) can be used to frighten shooters into an expensive or - in this case - potentially ruinous fix for a problem that may have other, better, solutions.
BTW, next time you have a problem, ask here first and, if necessary, find a different gunsmith.
:wave:
Patrick
