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I took a 1943 Maltby to the range Friday. Fired a round and it was difficult to eject. This is why:
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo.../Bad303A-1.jpg
Odd bulge in case. An inspection reveals a nice negative image in the bottom of the chamber. AND, to make it worse .... It shot to point of aim!! Rats!!
Any fix for this issue or, just chalk it up to: 'You can't own 21 and have them all shootable'. It it were a burr it could be reduced but I suspect you can't add metal!
I'd have thought the defect would make extraction difficult but ejection would have been normal.
With a defect like that in a chamber, even the lifting forces of primary extraction won't overcome it. That's what we'd call Z-BLR. Z for Base workshop and BLR, that it's beyond the capacity of a local unit repair
Given the scarcity of good barrels, I'd just polish the chamber, shoot milsurp ammo, and live with the sticky extraction.
I'm sure there is some substance which could be persuaded to stick to the metal and fill most of that hole; after all - some old Enfields quite often have goo in the chamber which is hard to get out.... Maybe try a small blob of araldite or similar. It only has to support a fairly even pressure load.
Too diplomatic to make any further comment................
You really do need a new barrel. Should a case fail you will be in trouble. Start the hunt for a new barrel.
Or just a good used will do, providing it gauges up OK. Some of the poorest looking barrels shoot just fine. But a replacement barrel it certainly is!
"Used but good" as we say at sea, best and cheapest option, unless you know a good gunsmith who can set the barrel back a turn, and try and ream out the gouge etc, think it works out the barrel is around 2mm shorter, and a lot more expensive.
Any other method and your ****ing in the wind.
I've got a No.5 with the same issue. Apparently there was a bit of hardened gunk of some sort that defied the initial cleaning. Everything was fine until the rifle warmed up, and then extraction began to get difficult. I stopped shooting and began inspecting brass. Pretty interesting, as you could see the effects on the brass as the gunk slowly melted out of the defect in the chamber. I've got a pic of the final result laying around somewhere...I'll try to find it and put it up.
By the time I'd quit shooting, it was bad enough that the brass was starting to show signs of wanting to crack. A real shame too, because it's a beautiful rifle and was a good shooter.
If the extraction was getting harder as the rifle warmed up, it was a good sign that the case hardening of the locking shoulders was finished. If you bring the barrel back a turn, then you have to bring the muzzle end of the fore-end and top handguard back too, unless you slip the block, band, foresight forwards by that amount (a bit of a bodge really...........) Then you've got to re-fit the fore-end at the knox form to bed it again against the shallower taper....................
Get a used but good barrel!
Thanks for all the comments.
Numrich has 'good' barrels for about $70. Plus the original cost of the rifle plus smith charge to do the work ..... adds up to too much for a '43 Maltby in otherwise just 'OK' condition.
Might be a couple hundred $$ worth of parts besides the receiver and barrel. I think I'll tag it and put it away for the future.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Peter Laidler
Never said it was easy, just an option, no need to bodge, ( basic maths really ...) ;) bedding goes without saying.
Would totaly agree on the " Used but good " barrel, plus its quicker.
But as Thunderbox pointed out No 4 barrels are becoming scarce (in the UK), not many buckets full on hand any more.
Last lot of barrels I had heard of were P14 barrels at scotarms, but dont know what the condition was, would suspect they were the leftovers of when the fasion of the day was to convert a nice P14 to a target rifle.:banghead:
A well-known gunsmith in SE UK quoted one of my clients £275 for a No4 barrel replacement - with a part-worn barrel. In UK at least, we are no longer able to rebarrel No4s economically or with new parts. Hence anything with a good bore is worth persisting with - chamber pits or whatever. Possibly the service armourers' "change it and bin it" might still be possible in the Enfield Aladdin's cave at Warminster, but thats usually not possible out in civvie shooter land... ;)