I have NOS HS44 and NOS SA44 M1903 barrels which I am planning to install on 2 Remington receivers. It's been close to 20 yrs since I installed a new M1903 barrel and I'm trying to pin down what degree of offset between the draw lines makes for a workable installation.

Both receiver/barrel combinations are 18 degrees by angle finder, or roughly 3/8 inches, away from zero index when turned on by hand to an initial starting position. On searching these forums I have seen 1/8 inches of offset as a recommended starting point for a good install. I also found another comment about 30 degrees ( that's plus of 1/4 inch) as a desirable start point. M1903s aren't Garands, but I look for 9-15 degrees off zero index when installing a new Garandicon barrel. I use Brownells barrel paste on the receiver face and threads when installing which helps ease them into index after a bit of back-and-forth on the tougher ones. I'm thinking I should be OK with 18 degrees away from zero as a start point. I'd appreciate any experience/comments on this.
Information
Warning: This is a relatively older thread
This discussion is older than 360 days. Some information contained in it may no longer be current.