Arisaka Rebarrel Questions

[Aragorn243]

1/2" on the OD of the shoulder translates into about .007" in headspace increase.

I understand what you are saying but as the barrel and the receiver are probably from two different manufacturers, there is no way to tell (without checking) if the shims will affect the headspace or not. Barrel shank could be longer or receiver shorter or vise versa. Add to that a bolt not original to either and it's a crapshoot.

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[Aragorn243]

I will probably shoot it once and put it away. I haven't gotten the steel shims yet. Two mountain dew can walls are the correct thickness whatever that is.

[Doco overboard]

How many shims will it take to make the barrel clock? I'm guessing more than one, if it only needed one I would peen or swage the barrell shoulder to get .005 and put it together completely dry, not every barrel is 80 to 100 ft lbs. and the extractor would let you know if something was rotating by wear pattern or the bolt not closing. Some mausers only bear on the inner ring. If I could not do that I would have to set the whole barrel back but the problem maybe is going to be the chrome lined barrel if that's the case with your rifle. If you just want to shim it and shoot it that's fine, but I wouldn't want to leave a vintage rifle to some one else that at a later time does not recognize the alteration. I do not know how many jap rifles would have been armory re-barreled in the first place but the originality is already gone with the replacement barrel. What condition is the original barrel that was re-chambered in since it was removed, mite be better to work with that if you just want to shoot it a bit.

[Aragorn243]

Original barrel was 30-06, not messing with that. Magazine was not altered so rounds would not fit.

[Aragorn243]

Took the barrel off the receiver today and found an excellent reason to not use aluminum shims. They were crushed, bent, and torn inside there. Bought a .006 stainless shim that measured .005. Barrel clocked 1/8th inch beyond the index line. Took the barrel off and peened the shoulder until I could hand tighten it to 1/4 inch short of the index line. Then tightened with wrenches as tight as I could get it which matched the index line. Ground off the exposed shim, polished a bit and cold blued. Looks pretty decent. Now hopefully the headspace is suitable, if not, I'll deal with it later. It probably did not help that the gunsmith polished the face of the receiver a bit before I could get him to stop messing with it.

[browningautorifle]

the gunsmith polished the face of the receiver a bit

Nice...I guess he wasn't there the day they taught how a barrel tightens up.