opinions on my barrel

R65, your solvent is to weak to be really effective and is designed more for a quick stop of barrel issues before they get worse because you can't get it done properly right away. Wipe Out is the best thing that has come along for firearms enthusiasts as far as cleaning goes for a long time. I can remember the days when we made up ED's Red and added liquid ammonia to it to get rid of the copper/cupro nickel fouling.

The site diopter gave you is a good place to start but IMHO that step should be the last. From the look of the stock in your pics it has been compressed and oil soaked over the decades. It needs the bedding fixed or needs to be replaced. The glass bedding material should be used on the whole area around the front receiver retaining screw. It should ideally cover all of the area on the flat portion to about 2cm in the barrel channel. The best results will be obtained if the area is filled t the top edges of the wood after the receiver has been immersed. Be very careful to follow the instructions on the bedding kit or you will have a permanently attached stock. When the bedding is hardened enough, use a paper shim, say a business card and run it along the barrel channel between the wood and the barrel. If there is anyplace it hangs up. remove the offending wood until the card slides through freely from the bedding in the receiver area to the fore end tip. Take it to the range and check your group. If it isn't tight enough for you then bed the forend tip as described in the article.

As soon as someone decides to modify a milsurp stock by cutting off pieces and opening the internal passages to the air things change and usually not for the best. I can fully understand why it's done but very shortly things change. That's where the glass bedding will come in to play. It takes things back to or puts them where they should be.
 
Rick65Cat said:
So this wipeout is available at Cabellas or wholesale sports?
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I have no idea because I don't shop at either of them. To far away.

Google Dewdney Mountain Products out of the Lower Mainland in BC. The fellow running that business is a distributor. Who knows, maybe you can get in league with him to sell in the Edmonton area.
 
Thanks guys,
So, if I do go the glass bedding route, I'll have to "remove" some of the oil soaked wood with a dremel so the compound will adhere better? Or should I worry about that?

Lay in compound between the yellow lines...taking extreme care at the trigger hole and where the mag floor plate goes in.
Maybe I should remove the trigger and mag spring/plate first.

 
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You only need to go to the front edge of the mag well. The pillar at the back is sufficient. The oil in that stock goes all the way through it. IMHO I don't think you have to do anything to the inletting but a bit of roughening wouldn't hurt anything. Just don't get carried away. You don't need huge amounts of bedding compound either.

I like to fill in the inlet for the recoil lug and about 2cm before and after it. While you are at it make sure you put release compound into the receiver king screw (front) hole. If you want barrel channel clearance you can do this by adding a thin round metal washer to the flat area. This will become a permanent fixture and slightly elevate your barrel out of the channel as well as adding some strength to the area. Swede stocks don't have a reinforcing/recoil bar behind the recoil lug in the stocks. Over time this area can and does get pounded out. Over tensioning the action screws only causes more grief. That's why a lot of people add pillars when it is possible.

Don't worry about the bedding compound getting down around the king screw. Just make sure the screw is slathered with release compound. It will be a bit difficult to take out but not bad. After the glass has set, usually 24 hours or so for a good cure but more is better, take out the receiver screws. Then take a hand drill with a bit that is slightly larger than the king screw hole and open it up. The glass left in the hole acts like a fiberglass pillar.
 
Ok, got my order of 2 cans of "wipe-out" from Henry at Budget Shooter Supply (as well as a couple of pounds of powder...you can never have too much can you?) Sprayed it in, And its sitting in a stainless steel tray on a wad of paper towel. I know its too soon but the drips coming out the muzzle show no purple/blue on the paper towel. Gonna leave it over night and see what I got tomorrow night.
 
Bedding. Do you have a Cooey? bed it first, for the practice.

Use a chisel to remove wood to make room for the epoxy. I take out about 1/8".

Problem with that is the action would then sit lower, until it touches the new wood. So leave little bit of wood at the tang and just behind the front action screw to locate the action at the correct height.

See this example: Note that I did not remove wood just left of the mag well. You can see the wood peeking through. The action rested on this shelf as the epoxy cured. I use Defcon F Aluminum putty.

BeddedNorc.jpg


make sure you use mold release on the actions crews and in the action threads.
 
I also got another order today that I sent away for from Rusty Woods..a package of Acraglass. So yeah, bedding is on the very near horizon. The only other old wood stocked .22 I got is worth more than this old 6.5x55...A Winchester 69A with peep sights. I won't be putzing around with that one.
 
First use of Wipe-Out, well....24 hrs later. Theres a small amount of blue/purple. Gave it another blast down the barrel. And I'll look again tomorrow night. I'm in no hurry, I want to be sure of one item before tackling the next.

 
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I took a thin 1/4" wide chisel and carefully worked the area from the rear tang to the barrel chamber. The shavings that came off everywhere except the chamber were no more than a millimeter thick. The chamber shavings were maybe 2 mm thick.
I'm pretty certain this stock isn't oil soaked. It looks like some kind of finishing material was used.
Still got to buy some acetone, q-tips, and modeling clay. Then I'm ready.

The wipeout drainage from the barrel still showed a bit of purple, so I shot it a third time.

 
Ok, I'm all set to go...got everything I need. Forgive me for asking a ton of questions but I'm the guy that needs to measure 20 times and is still hesitant to cut.

Should I drill out the holes for both the pillars to give it that extra strength? The existing holes are only a tiny bit oversize by about a 1/16" total, the rear tang is set down into the stock quite tightly so theres no worry about the action not being centered. Drilling would allow more compound into the hole for a stronger "wall" wouldn't it?
I could tape around the barrel too just enuf to hold the barrel centered in the stock.
 
Ever thought of buying a commercial barrel online in some other caliber? Those receivers are great for building on.
 
Ok,....bedding is something I'll leave to the pros. I managed to lock the screws into the action....I did to get them out, but I destroyed the heads doing it. I was lucky to have an impact screwdriver.

Does anyone know of where I can get the two correct screws for a 1913 Swedish? I emailed Tradex, but I'm not holding my breath.
 
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Ganderite said:
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.
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The bore appears clean, and while it's pitted, it has fairly strong rifling. The crown looks ok too. With that, my first steps would have been to slug the bore to see what you're dealing with, and then probably trying a few loads with the Hornady 160 gr RN flatbased bullet. If the groups shrunk significantly with the first few loads, I'd do more load development.

I certainly wouldn't be chasing rainbows yet by bedding it.
 
Rick65Cat said:
Ok,....bedding is something I'll leave to the pros. I managed to lock the screws into the action....I did to get them out, but I destroyed the heads doing it. I was lucky to have an impact screwdriver.

Does anyone know of where I can get the two correct screws for a 1913 Swedish? I emailed Tradex, but I'm not holding my breath.
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Trade-Ex used to have plenty of those short and long receiver screws, they bought all the stock from a old gunsmith from Sweden. That's where those converted and reblued barrel and receiver units came from too.
 
Got an 1940's Husqvarna 46B civilians sporter built on the military action that has similar problems. Beautiful rifle, just can't get it to shoot worth a dam.
 
Every Swedish 6.5x55mm rifle I have ever had with a even average bore will shoot well above average compared to most other ex-mil rifles. A well worn bore may be the problem with accuracy as I have had some Lee Enfield with well worn bores that would not get under 12" groups at 100 metres were others with good bores would get 2-3" groups at the same distance.

Some of these Swedish rifles did see decades of regular use so maybe you need to just get it re-barrelled. Buy one of Trade-Ex's barrelled actions for $125 and remove and sell the action on the EE for $30 and have the barrel fitted to your rifle. They don't have a lot of those barrelled actions left so I would not wait too long, nowhere else will you get a excellent 6.5x55mm barrel for under $300.
 
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