Effect of USGI bolt on accuracy?
- Thread starter Joel
- Start date
No worries. I've torn down a handful of the IDF kits now for myself and others. One gun kits was basically a write-off, the rest only needed the odd part replacement. alot depends on how much use a gun got in service, like always.
Issues I've seen on IDF kits (not universally, just on the odd part):
1) Trigger group housings with worn out splines (can be fixed via TIG welding and re-machining)
2) Gas pistons with the ports eroded out of spec (luckily new pistons are cheap)
4) A single gas cylinder that was worn out. That one was unusual, it was a late production cylinder, but the piston opening was wallowed out from ridiculously high volumes of fire. This cylinder also had a worn out piston in it. Gas cylinders last about 50,000 rounds - so that gas system had seen a metric sh!t-ton of use in the IDF.
5) Gas plugs with no flats left that needed vise grips to unscrew
6) One flash hider that had such bad gas cutting between flutes out at the tip, that I scrapped it. It was on the verge of failure.
7) A single worn out H&R hammer with so much bolt wear on the top and on the hooks that it would not engage the disconnector reliably.
8) I've seen a couple worn-out barrel that gauged over 5 on throat and over .303" at the muzzle. These were 1960-1963 H&R and Winchester barrels.
9) front sight screws that were stripped.
10) A couple op rods (a Winchester and an H&R) with tabs that were completely worn out, worn too thin and peened into a triangular profile from full-auto fire in a USGI receiver with a full-auto rail cut. Luckily Vulcan offers a re-tabbing service, which is still worth doing for $100 to salvage an otherwise nice USGI op rod.
Regarding op rod tabs - not everyone knows what I'm talking about, so as a PSA, here's a pic I ripped from another site that clearly shows the difference between a serviceable tab and one that the US Army would have scrapped. They had tons of rods and as far as I know never rebuilt tabs in service.
That's about it though, everything else I've found on IDF kits was serviceable. I haven't seen an un-usable bolt yet, some had a fair bit of wear but still had lots of life left in them. I did see a couple firing pins and ejector studs that needed replacing.
holy cow that tab is ate up!
Took the suggestion of the gas tube shim an using a norinco plastic stock that fits the action better, getting pretty consistent 3-3.5" groups with the Federal hunting ammo...thinking thats just about what she is gonna do without experimenting with bullet weight or handloads.
Took the suggestion of the gas tube shim an using a norinco plastic stock that fits the action better, getting pretty consistent 3-3.5" groups with the Federal hunting ammo...thinking thats just about what she is gonna do without experimenting with bullet weight or handloads.
