M96 Tale of Woe

[drhiller]

Well, I was very excited to add an M96 to my collection. Mid-July I purchased an all matching 1917 CG. Stock disk said the bore was a 3, but it looked good and slugged out at 6.51. Wood was good, bluing was good - thought I'd be a decent gun for postal matches.





Long story short, pulled it apart, cleaned it thoroughly, inspected it and brought it to the range with a few boxes of Norma ammo.





It shot 8 inches high at 100yds (exactly what I was expecting) and 8 inches to the RIGHT (not what I was expecting). It grouped well (2x2) and the trigger was great, so I figured I just needed to drift the sight a bit.





Well, to center the rifle on the target the sight had to be drifted almost out of the dovetail.





Sent it to my gunsmith for a quick check only to find that a number of things were wrong.


- the barrel is slightly bent


- the crown is ovalized


- it failed the "field" headspace check


- the front sight was soldered slightly to the left of the centerline


- the front trigger-guard (action) screw was bottomed out and the action was loose in the stock





He's recommending that I get a new Samco Swede barrel and rebarrel it. They're cheap ($69), but it ruins the matched aspect of the rifle.





I know the Swedes would have rearsenaled and rebarreled the rifle if it was in their hands - but I still feel a bit wierd about it.





Lessons I learned:


- Don't buy auction guns!


- Get headspace guages and go to gunshows or shops looking for my new acquisitions.


- Make sure I can return rifles that don't pass inspection.





I'm not blaming the sellers. I don't think they knew and, at first pass, the rifle looks great.





Here's to hoping my Samco 98/29 and my FGS K-31 don't let me down. <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START : --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/ohwell.gif ALT=":">;

<p>Take care,


David


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[Niner]

David, we all have been there and done that at one time or the other. I am just happy that the only one I got actually stuck with, because I couldn't return it, was one that didn't cost much and the headspace could be corrected by a change in bolts.





If you rebarrel, the headspace problem could be corrected at the same time without additional cost, I would think, and you can use the same bolt.





With me, the more I collect, the less important it is to shoot every one anyway. Some I have shot only once and some not at all, even though there isn't anythng wrong, that I know of, with any of them.





A Mauser headspace field gauge is a good investment, but you really need to remove the bolt extractor on a bolt to test it properly and at gun shows they aren't likely to let you do that. Besides it helps if you have a special tool to do this with... remove the extractor. Here is a picture of both the field guage for 8mm Mauser and the extractor tool.





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<p></p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://p089.ezboard.com/bmilsurpafterho ... s>Niner</A>  http://x9eralpha.home.comcast.net/85.gif[/pic] at: 8/5/04 6:23 pm

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[dromia]

Rebarrel it David, in my book thats legit especially if its a military issue barrel your using.





Rebarreling is standard practice with milsurps in service, you can keep the original with the rife as part of its original history.





I'm busy buying up barrels at the moment when I can find them because Enfields are getting scarcer and scarcer but you can get cracking examples that are shot out, thats legitimate wear, and a "new" barrel gives them a new life.





Hell I've just forked out £400 to have a new barrel cut for a Martin adjusted SMLE that had a heavy profile original barrel that I couldn't find a replacement for so get that SAMCO job on, it'll fettle the headspace and other issues, work up some loads and feel good about bringing that lovely Swede back from the grave. ;

<p>http://www.photobucket.com/albums/1003/ ... _Badge.gif" style="border:0;"/><!--EZCODE IMAGE END-->





Adam.





Why don't you visit .





</p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://p089.ezboard.com/bmilsurpafterho ... >dromia</A>  http://www.photobucket.com/albums/1003/ ... andCLR.gif[/pic] at: 8/13/04 2:42 pm

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[Guest]

with Adam. Particularly if you can get a NOS, or good takeoff, military barrel. If you are handy and are going to do more than a couple you can get the equipment and do them yourself.





Adam. Are you buying up all the Enfield barrels on this side of the pond, too? I can't, for the life of me, find a No.4 barrel.





Michael

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[Ken114]

Lots of Swede military rifles will eat a US made head space guage, US 6.5X55 is not the same as Swedish military 6.5X55, there is a better than very good chance there is nothing wrong with the headspace on your gun. The only correct guages are the Swedish military ones

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