Local Boy, have you ever had the barrel off of your 1917 receiver?
I understand, U.S. 1917 Enfield barrels can be a BEAR to remove. It takes more force to remove a barrel than to put it on.
Barrel-removal is given as the reason some 1917 receivers were cracked.
Krag barrels seem to be rather mundane, to remove.
(FWIW, Carbon Outlaw - Excessive head-space is not a problem with this Krag action, barrel, and bolt combination).
Correcting Barrel Indexing
- butlersrangers
- Posts: 9909
- Joined: Wed Oct 07, 2009 11:35 pm
- Location: Below the Bridge, Michigan
Re: Correcting Barrel Indexing
LocalBoy,
Before you go down this path is there a chance the sight has taken a "hit" and you just need to remove it and install a new pin? If so your index marks will be correct. Even if the barrel is off, if the fit of the sight is good a high strength Loctite could hold it in place without gymnastics of pulling and replacing the barrel.
Assuming the head space is correct now?
If not that easy I seem to remember the Enfield has 10 threads per inch as does the Krag. Quick mental math says .001 thick shim gives you 3.6 degrees of rotation.
BR, you beat me to the reply. I pulled the barrel off my dad's Enfield about 40 years ago, details are fuzzy but I made a tapered clamp and held it in milling vice to remove the barrel. I was needing to set the barrel back .2 inches so I used a thin cutoff blade to relieve the pressure. So no knowledge of how tight it was. I still have the split aluminum clamp used to hold the barrel. When I put it back together I went with a recommendation that the original barrel torque was over done and just used moderate torque. The fellow that did the chambering left the edge of the chamber sharp and it would feed if you cycled the bolt fast but hang up if done slow. Sometimes when hunting you want to cycle slow so you do not give away your position. So I pulled it apart again and fixed the problem, second time was easy and I did not mar the fresh bluing job.
Yeah sometimes it takes me 40 years to finish a job.
Edited,
I did look at my unmodified 1917 not Eddystone and it does have an extractor slot. Not much of one and fairly wide so it may be tolerant of some misalignment.
Before you go down this path is there a chance the sight has taken a "hit" and you just need to remove it and install a new pin? If so your index marks will be correct. Even if the barrel is off, if the fit of the sight is good a high strength Loctite could hold it in place without gymnastics of pulling and replacing the barrel.
Assuming the head space is correct now?
If not that easy I seem to remember the Enfield has 10 threads per inch as does the Krag. Quick mental math says .001 thick shim gives you 3.6 degrees of rotation.
BR, you beat me to the reply. I pulled the barrel off my dad's Enfield about 40 years ago, details are fuzzy but I made a tapered clamp and held it in milling vice to remove the barrel. I was needing to set the barrel back .2 inches so I used a thin cutoff blade to relieve the pressure. So no knowledge of how tight it was. I still have the split aluminum clamp used to hold the barrel. When I put it back together I went with a recommendation that the original barrel torque was over done and just used moderate torque. The fellow that did the chambering left the edge of the chamber sharp and it would feed if you cycled the bolt fast but hang up if done slow. Sometimes when hunting you want to cycle slow so you do not give away your position. So I pulled it apart again and fixed the problem, second time was easy and I did not mar the fresh bluing job.
Yeah sometimes it takes me 40 years to finish a job.
Edited,
I did look at my unmodified 1917 not Eddystone and it does have an extractor slot. Not much of one and fairly wide so it may be tolerant of some misalignment.
- butlersrangers
- Posts: 9909
- Joined: Wed Oct 07, 2009 11:35 pm
- Location: Below the Bridge, Michigan
Re: Correcting Barrel Indexing
Bumped old thread to answer a member's question.
Re: Correcting Barrel Indexing
Much appreciated! This is exactly my issue with a new criterion barrel. I like the approach you took BR. I also like the idea of a .002 shim — cut the top for the extractor. I spoke with criterion earlier today about a shim — they were not opposed to it.
Re: Correcting Barrel Indexing
Appreciate this post and thread. Very helpful. Have been thinking about buying a pre-1898 receiver and putting together a carbine. Sincerely. bruce.