WHOA! What's wrong with this 1917 (keyholing)

[Patrick Chadwick]

Dan, who/what/where is Dirka Dirka stan?

Patrick

[Dan Wilson]

Dirka Dirka stan can, and is pretty much any of the "Stans" (I've been to Pakistan, Afghanistan and Uzbekistan) but can also encompass other exotic crapholes like Iraq and Saudi Arabia (which I have also had the misfortune to "visit").

The actual reference is from the show "Team America World Police" (I love that show)

Dan

[John Sukey (Deceased)]

I would ask is that bullet the one that's been keyholing, or have you been firing a boat tail bullet?

[bladeswitcher]

Thanks for all the replies and suggestions guys. I sent the rifle to a gunsmith. This is what he told me:

Someone has cut about an inch of freebore where the throat should be. It looks very dark and I suspect it was done with a drill, but you have something like an inch of jump before the bullet will hit the lands . . . Just for a test, I put a breech bore gage in it and it dropped all the way to the handle without contacting any rifling. I then seated a 210gr cast lead bullet in a sized case just far enough to hold it in place and ran it in the chamber, and still did not contact the rifling. This bullet was sticking out of the case mouth over an inch.

Now, it's just a matter of finding a new barrel.

[Steve85569]

That explains why the bullet was jumping the rifling. Had a similar problem with a pistol. The cast bullets I was shooting needed to be resized. No problem now.

Let us know how the new barrel works out.

Steve

[John Sukey (Deceased)]

Chuck, just because YOU haven't seen a cracked reciever, doesn't mean it hasn't happened. Now as for avoiding a gunsmith who wants to make a relief cut to remove the barrel, just WHAT do you plan to do with the old barrel? Isn't the reason for removing it the fact that it is buggered? If not, then why remove it?

Springfield Arsenal discovered cracked recievers when they rebarreled M1917's between the wars.

[Buntlineguy]

Had the same problem. Solved by
1) Clean with bronze brush and a good solvent.....About 10 times.
2) Do not use boat-tailed bullets
3) Use spire points set out as far as possible, but will still fit in magazine. or
4) Use a roundnose bullet such as Hornady #3130
Mine shoots just fine at 100 and 200 yards now