opinions on my barrel

Rick65Cat

Rick65Cat

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First off, I can't believe how stupid difficult it is to take a picture down a barrel. 16 megapixel camera and the pics suck.

Its a 1913 Swedish Mauser 6.5x55 of unknown history prior to me getting it. I got the gun back in the mid 80s as an Ontario bush deer gun. The barrel is cut to 18.5 inches, all numbers match except the stock, which is sporterized military... Barrel, receiver, bolt, safety, mag plate all have the same number.

Heres the rub, The best I can get out of it for groups is about 4-5 inches at 100 yrds. No matter the ammo brand, its the same. I'm using an elite 3200 scope and bench shooting.

I just super cleaned the barrel with Hoppes #9 and a stainless steel brush over and over and a ton of patches to wipe dry and clean.

Is it shot out? If so...do I buy another barrel and receiver from Tradex and pay a gunsmith to confirm headspacing? Or just buy another surplus rifle? Or just use this as a backup gun? At 100 yrds its still "minute of deer"
I'm in the process of reloading a bunch of shells for it but I doubt they'll be any better than the commercial ammo I have now.

The rifle,






 
Try slugging the bore using a lead fishing weight and see what that yields. It looks like it has plenty of rifling though.

Also is the crown in ok condition?

Is the barrel free floated?

Is the action screws tight. Scope bases/rings tight?
 
The barrel was cut in a lathe, I'd imagine the crown was done there too though I don't know if he had a proper crown cutting tool bit. I don't think the barrel is free floated..it looks fairly tight to the stock. I could check it with a piece of paper to see if it slips through.
And all action screws were tight, and the bases, rings and scope are tight.

Sorry, I'm unfamiliar with "Slugging the bore"...is that just dragging a lead weight through to see what the rifling cuts into the weight? Where do I get a weight of the exact caliber?

Heres another pic of the bore..


The crown..
 
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might just be my eye but that crown looks wonky. go shoot 5-10 rounds and check the gas pattern at the muzzle should look concentric. if not have the crown recut. before that check the scope and mounts for loose fit, swap the scope for a known good one, check bedding, quick easy is loosen off action screws and double a business card slide under forend to support barrel retighten and fire a group. lots of stuff to try
 
The barrel is rough, but it should still shoot ok. But it will foul. Hoppes #9 is a piss poor solvent for metal fouling. Hoppes sell a benchrest Copper solvent.

There are others, like wipe Out. Don't use the stainless brush.

Put copper solvent on a patch and slather it in. leave rifle muzzle down overnight on a piece of paper towel. Repeat until the stain on the towel is not blue.

I have a similar rifle that I use as a back up or a loaner. I found that a hand laod with a 160 gr. Round Nose, flat base bullet shot very well. Almost an inch at 100.

If you handload, try heavier bullets and make sure they are flat base.
 
I would try some upward pressure on the barrel first.

Just pull the barrel up from the front of the stock and stuff some shim material in between the stock and barrel.

If it works you can do something more permanent.
 
Rick65Cat

Never waste your time scrubbing a milsurp barrel that's frosted and pitted, just clean the bore with foam bore cleaner and let it do all the work. You can leave the foam bore cleaner sit overnight and it will do no harm.

Below a Enfield with a frosted and pitted bore and one shot of foam bore cleaner. That's all that is needed until the next time you shoot it.

foamclean_zpse279b70b.jpg


The steps cut in the barrel were at the node points of the barrel and used to "tune" the barrel. When the barrel was cut off this changed the way the barrel vibrated.
Do as Ax.338 stated and try shimming the barrel varying amounts and adding up pressure at the fore end tip and "tune" the barrel vibrations. (your getting bad vibes)

barrelvibes-1_zpskydtbbib.jpg


Many stock factory rifles have a raised section at the fore end tip to tune the rifle. The Remington 700 has 3 to 9 pounds of up pressure at the fore end tip.

RSbedding_0303E_zps36d5122b.jpg


All the advice given to you are good tips that may solve your problem and you may have more the one problem. Also make sure your screws going into the receiver are not bottoming out and not pulling the trigger guard tight enough. You may have wood crush below the receiver and above the trigger guard and have lost the clamping effect and the receiver may be a little loose.
 
That's probably the worst bore I've ever seen on a Swedish Mauser.
That being said, it should shoot much better than what you are getting. Some experementing is in order.
 
I haven't seen a Swede rifle that wouldn't shoot better than 4 or 5 inches, they are the most accurate of the old military mausers. The bore shows wear BUT the rifling appears to be fairly good, So my guess it's not the bore. I would check the scope, mounts and rings for tightness. Check the action screws. Finally have someone else shoot to see how it acts.
Enjoy
 
Ok, to all those that say "Scope problems"....as was mentioned in my first post, I'm using a Bushnell Elite 3200 4X12. A scope that proved itself on one of my gopher wacking rifles.
The bases are tight, rings are tight, scope is tight in the rings.

I tried slipping a piece of paper between the barrel and stock. I was able to slip a 7-11 "big buck" right from the fore end back to the swell of the barrel at the breech with no resistance. However, a business card would not fit anywhere.
I guess I'll start with a shim to tighten that up.

I honestly thought if a barrel was "free floating" that meant there could be no upward pressure to "move" the barrel once the barrel got hot and expanded against the wood.

B72421, that's a good idea to have another shooter give it a whirl. Who knows?
 
Rick65Cat

Has it always been like that, or only recently, like after the cleaning, that it started grouping in the 4-5 inch zone?
Lots of my older rifles need a quite a few rounds before they settle down again after a good "cleaning".

Agree with trying shim between barrel and stock tip and heavier flat based bullets before giving up on the barrel.
 
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diopter said:
Rick65Cat

Has it always been like that, or only recently, like after the cleaning, that it started grouping in the 4-5 inch zone?
Lots of my older rifles need a quite a few rounds before they settle down again after a good "cleaning".

Agree with trying shim between barrel and stock tip and heavier flat based bullets before giving up on the barrel.
Click to expand...

Diopter, As far back as I can remember, it wasn't a great distance shooter. I used it to harvest 2 deer in 2 years back in Ontario back in the late 80s. The shortest shot being maybe 35 feet and the farthest being 30 yards. (yeah, not very long shots)

The last time I really scrubbed it out was maybe 4 years ago. Its had maybe 50 rounds through it since then.
But the barrel has always looked like this.
The ammo I've used pretty much equally was either the Yugoslavian "Century Arms" 139gr SP, or the "Privi Partizan" 139gr SP. I've also tried "Winchester" 140gr SP. (Same results with the Winchester) I don't know if any of those are/were flat based.
The reloads I'm going to make involve a box of "Hornady" bullets which are .264" 140gr SP interlock, and yes they are flat based.

First move will be to shim the stock.
 
Rick65 and Lee Builder, barrel length has nothing to do with accuracy. Lots of tests done by prominent smiths like PO Ackley have proven this. Barrel length has a definite influence on velocity though.
 
Rick65Cat said:
Diopter, As far back as I can remember, it wasn't a great distance shooter. I used it to harvest 2 deer in 2 years back in Ontario back in the late 80s. The shortest shot being maybe 35 feet and the farthest being 30 yards. (yeah, not very long shots)

The last time I really scrubbed it out was maybe 4 years ago. Its had maybe 50 rounds through it since then.
But the barrel has always looked like this.
The ammo I've used pretty much equally was either the Yugoslavian "Century Arms" 139gr SP, or the "Privi Partizan" 139gr SP. I've also tried "Winchester" 140gr SP. (Same results with the Winchester) I don't know if any of those are/were flat based.
The reloads I'm going to make involve a box of "Hornady" bullets which are .264" 140gr SP interlock, and yes they are flat based.

First move will be to shim the stock.
Click to expand...

Each rifle is different as to how many shots can be fired before losing accuracy. I have a 65.5x55 sporter that looks very similar to yours that is a loaner when I take a new shooter out or one neighbor that asks to borrow it every year. He is licensed so no problem. He always returns the favor one way or another.

Anyway the bore is very similar to yours and this rifle needs to be cleaned up after about 40 rounds with a splash of Wipe Out. This is about as many rounds is shot through it every year. This rifle will shoot consistently in 1.5 moa out to 300 yds with Hornady factory 140 grain Interlock. When I got the rifle the fellow that owned it wanted no more to do with it. The bedding wasn't great and the rear spacer for the rear receiver screw was missing. I made a rear pillar out of a titanium 5/16in diameter arrow shaft stub and glass bedded the receiver into the stock. It still didn't shoot well enough so I built up a play dough dam on the last inch of the stock and filled it with glass bedding. Then before it started to harden I hung a 5# lead fish weight ball from the sling swivel. After all this the rifle shot well enough to be left as is.

One thing about Wipe Out and other solvents. You need to be the judge of "how clean is to clean."
 
Heres a bottle of stuff I bought before I started this thread. The counter guy says its the bees knees. Haven't used it yet, and the label says NOT to leave it in the barrel more than 20 min.



Heres the stock...is that arrow show the pillar pin you speak of BearHunter?
Now, I am going to try to use a shim at the forend of the stock like I'd said before...but BearHunter, can you show me where you placed your bedding material?

 
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