Receiver replacement 03A3
Hey, just looking for some potential advice.
I purchased a 03A3 rifle with a "Santa Fe" receiver a couple years back. I had the barrel checked, bore and muzzle wear is minimal. I have good parts for a project. I then found a good 03A3 receiver/barrel combo, for cheap, stripped of everything and it has laymen sights.
I was unsuccessful in finding any local gunsmiths who do these types of projects. Most are AR builders. So, I bought the tooling, barrel vise, action wrench, and the three set of headspace gauges. I was inspired to do it myself after finding the "chuckindenver" post concerning rebarreling a 03 Springfield.
I sat on this project until recently. I was able to easily split the Remington barrel from the Santa Fe receiver. It took a little more effort to break the original barrel from the good Remington receiver. I inspected everything, all looks good. Here is where I wonder if I have an issue.
The Remington receiver witness mark hand tightens to about a 1/4" from the barrel witness mark. Using the action wrench I can move it another 1/8" or about half that distance. At that point it'll start to slip in my vise, but more importantly I'm concerned any more force and I'll wreck it. If I remove it and screw it back on the original barrel, it hand tightens to the same point. For comparison, that Santa Fe receiver hand tightens to about an 1/8" short of lining the marks on either barrel. With the wrench it'll line up.
I've read in another post, that that individual liked 30-40 degrees short of the witness marks. That would be close to what I have.
I look at Chuck's pic, and that looks similar to mine so I wonder, is my issue:
1) I need to get the barrel tighter in my vise (custom set of blocks) or,
2) that 1/4" gap is to far away, I need to be hand tight closer to an 1/8"?
If it's just get a tighter clamp on the barrel, what would be the best method then to tighten that last little bit? Add a little length to the action wrench arm (put a pipe on it) for a smooth pull to the lines or smack it (the action wrench handle) with a mallet? I've seen in a YouTube video where a guy replaced the barrel on a P17 and he malleted the last little bit.
I do have access to lathe and a mill, but I don't think I need to go removing metal. As for my skill, I'm an aircraft mechanic (A&P), been at that 32 years, I work on farm machinery, etc. I'm new at this gun smith stuff, but sure would like to learn to take care of my own.
