With no round in the chamber there should be a .005” or so gap there. (last two pictures you posted)
With the headspace set correctly, the bolt touches the back of the round. The bolt stops should not touch the bolt and that .002” feeler gauge should fit in there.
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Hopefully the barrel I sent moves the round into the receiver enough so the bolt doesn’t hit the stops with a round in the chamber.
The bolt might be hard to close or it may not close at all if that happens. That is to be expected. We need to get the bolt off the stops when there is a round in the chamber first. Then the headspace can be set with the right size locking shoulder.
OK Gang; I installed Vince's barrel. It seems to be a bit thicker than mine and I had a bit of trouble getting it through the horseshoe shaped part that sticks up behind the gas regulator. In any event, once installed, the new barrel didn't really seem to change things. From the pics you can see that the barrel is still aligned with the barrel stops and still locks in with NO movement of the bolt once locked. I will shoot it and see what happens tomorrow and report back.
NEW UPDATE. Took the Bren to the range today with Vincent's 54R barrel. Shot 70 rounds of steel cased and 20 rounds of the Yugo brass cased with NO problems. Go figure. I know 60 rounds is not much of the test as that's just about where the problems started with my original barrel to begin with. With Vincent's kind permission, I will return to the range with a few hundred rounds and establish once and for all that Vincent's barrel works. Now I can't see any real difference in the barrels other than mine has the little slot on the bottom etc. But nothing else in the gun changed - only the barrel. It may not answer the question as to what was causing the problem, but it may suggest the solution. See pics below.
Note: No bulging or stress on the backs of the cartridges. No signs of over pressure.
I have to agree with you when you said very early on, that this rifle cost you 4k, and you would like it to do what you thought it was intended to do. Does Len still actively build Bren's? Does he frequent this site? I would be very disappointed in his response (blaming the ammo), as you made a substantial investment in his product and he seemed a bit reluctant to stick with it and help you figure out the issue. I find that disappointing. Although, in defense of his approach, there are weapons that are just ammo finicky. Hard reality, but true. I have 2 Century C93 builds that prove that out. They run 100% with high quality brass cased M885 ammo, but start to show problems with Wolff steel cased 55 grain.
Also, could you easily supply yourself with a .303 barrel, bolt and mag and have a "conversion" back to the original caliber, for maybe a few hundred bucks? Where I am going with that, even if you don't care to shoot .303, is if the gun then operated very reliably, would it help narrow the issue down at all? Although appears that your issue has been narrowed to a headspace, locking shoulder issue.
I am about to try another HA Bren in .303 after a 10 year hiatus, but leery as hell, due to things like this. It is a LOT of money to drop for a design that appears to have some issues. But it is that draw of the Bren calling that is making me test the waters once again.
May I suggest some emory paper on a split and tapered dowel to smooth your chamber if you haven't done that. Easy hand work. Don't bother if the chamber looks good and smooth. Yours isn't really an extraction issue, is it?
Before you buy a HA Bren talk to Stan at project guns llc or give Wise Lite Arms arms a call. I think they both have Bren build services and their BATFE approved builds are much better in my opinion.
If you really want a HA Bren, look on Gunbroker and the other auction sites. They come up quite often. This one just went for $3,500 - Historic Arms Bren MkII .303 British : Other Collectible Guns at GunBroker.com
Stan is a great guy. I have bought a lot of stuff from him over the years and never had a problem. He's very direct, doesn't sugar coat anything. Check out his Bren build videos.
Thanks AM. The whole point of this was to be able to shoot the 54R cartridge. It's simple math. .303 = .70 per round and 54R = .22 centts. As for Len - well, it is what it is. I believe that he is still making them from time to time, and I believe that after sitting on my rifle for nearly a year when I sent it back to him to fix, my pleas and searching for him managed to get him to sign up for this board.
I suspect that a lot of the difficulty that I am having is attributable to the fact that it is in 54R. I don't know that I would have had the same issue with .303 as that is the factory norm. At present, and historically, it appears the re-reaming of the barrel appears to be an issue as the gun acts completely different with each of the 3 barrels I have now tried with it.
By the way, it’s easy to take the carry handle off that barrel and put it on the other. Just take screw 23 out and the handle assembly will come off. Then push pin 5 out, 7 and 10 will then come out. Invert the barrel so pin 8 drops away from the barrel and 9/12 will slide off the barrel.
It takes 10 minutes to swap it from one barrel to another… Peter can probably do it in less than 2 minutes.
Did you use the gas regulator that was on the barrel? What setting did you use?
PM
Agreed observation
