Just found in pawn shop 1911 amburg
- Thread starter Fubar
- Start date
Neat-- looks like it was never rebarreled
Devkrovil
Member
Thinking of putting a barrel liner in this rifle. Took her out the range and fired some 1939 production Greek ammo, and some Hornady.
Keyholing, so i reckon it's not engaging the rifling anymore.
Do you guys have any sources to where I could find a good 8mm barrel liner?
and what the best way of going about it so as to not ruin this mix master anymore than it already has been?
Worst case scenario is that it'll be a boom tube, or a wall decoration.
Keyholing, so i reckon it's not engaging the rifling anymore.
Do you guys have any sources to where I could find a good 8mm barrel liner?
and what the best way of going about it so as to not ruin this mix master anymore than it already has been?
Worst case scenario is that it'll be a boom tube, or a wall decoration.
Cyrano4747
Well-known member
What does the crown look like? Any visible damage?
I'd slug the bore before drilling and sleeving the barrel to see what I was working with. Do you have a borescope? You can get a cheap one that plugs into a computer or cell phone for ~$40-60 on Amazon. If you do any reasonable amount of messing with old guns or shooting in general they're well worth the modest investment to see what the inside of your barrel is doing.
edit: the reason I ask about the crown is because if that's buggered and you want to get it into shooting shape you might be able to get away with a counter-bore rather than a full re-lining. Simpler, cheaper, and easier to find a gunsmith competent to do it.
Fal Grunt
Senior Member
Relining for cartridges like 8x57 is generally not recommended. I think you would have a hard time finding someone willing to do that for you.
Crown, counter bore, and even taking a look at the ammunition would be worthwhile. I've shot rifles with darn near smooth bores and that haven't key holed. I've not shot any of the Greek Surplus, but I have shot a small amount of modern production Greek 8x57 and it was good stuff. Try some different ammunition types, bullet weights, and see if it likes anything better.
I still shoot Turkish out of anything with a Fair or worse bore. Its consistently terrible, but consistent. I've yet had a rifle key hole. Might be worth a try.
Crown, counter bore, and even taking a look at the ammunition would be worthwhile. I've shot rifles with darn near smooth bores and that haven't key holed. I've not shot any of the Greek Surplus, but I have shot a small amount of modern production Greek 8x57 and it was good stuff. Try some different ammunition types, bullet weights, and see if it likes anything better.
I still shoot Turkish out of anything with a Fair or worse bore. Its consistently terrible, but consistent. I've yet had a rifle key hole. Might be worth a try.
Cyrano4747
Well-known member
The WW2 era Greek 8mm was really, really good in my experience. I think I might have a box of 1940 sitting around somewhere still. 15 years ago it was my go-to for G/K43 shooting because it was consistent enough to really dial the gas system in well. I won't shoot it any more - I think it's far too old at this point to trust - but for a while it was good stuff.
Agreed on bore condition not being a good predictor for keyholing. It's a separate issue than what is being dealt with here, but the only time I've seen a lack of rifling biting into the bullet be a real issue has been unjacketed lead bullets that I was just pushing too fast. I've got a Ludwig Loewe Gew88 with what can politely be described as fond memories of rifling that still manages to stabilize bullets well enough to not keyhole. The dispersion is awful, accuracy is completely garbage, but at least out to 100 yards nothing is tumbling.
Crown and bore size are the two big culprits for keyholing in my experience. I have a three screw Single Six that I got for a song from a pawn shop a bunch of years back because someone had just butchered the poor thing. One of the "improvements" was a DIY barrel shortening that I'm pretty sure was done with a hack saw. The crown was completely buggered, not only featuring serious nicks but also at nothing like a 90 degree angle to the rest of the gun. That thing was keyholing badly at 10 yards. One quick and dirty recrowning in the kitchen of my broke college kid apartment with the finest tools that could be bought for next to nothing on Brownells and it shot fine.
Meanwhile maybe 10 years back or so when all the Polish Tantal kits were coming in someone screwed the pooch and sold a bunch of rifles that they'd mistakenly used 5.56 barrel blanks and then cut the proper 5.45 chambers into. Whole lot of people with absolutely brand new, pristine barrels getting hilarious keyholes with known good surplus 5.45. But, again, as long as the barrel shows even traces of rifling left I doubt it's become so worn that it's over-bore size to the extent that the bullet is rattling down it like that.
Devkrovil
Member
Ended up sending it to Legacy Collectibles.
This Kar98a and my Butcher blade bayonet will be for sale in a few weeks when they list it.
www.legacy-collectibles.com
This Kar98a and my Butcher blade bayonet will be for sale in a few weeks when they list it.
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