Garand barrel set back - 308

PEI ROB

PEI ROB

CGN frequent flyer
Rating - 100%
94   0   0
308 Garand with a very tight chamber. It has .026" headspace likely due to what I suspect is a mis-matched bolt. I tried my reamer and it only sets in part way so it appears the chamber needs to be reamed. Surplus ammo doesn't chamber its that tight.

Is it OK to setback a Garand a turn? Any issues with the gas system or stock? Acme 10tpi would mean .100" per revolution, do I need to thread it as well? I noticed the rear sight is almost dead center. Hopefully it was sighted in and indexed properly. I'll check the index before doing anything.

Oh and no, I don't have the Kuhnhausen book ;)

Cheers,
Rob
 
You can chamber-ream the installed barrel....sounds like a typical short-chambered tube.
 
Last edited:
Setting back a Garand bbl would be difficult. You are much better off haveing it properly chambered.

Now are you talking .026 positive or negative headspace?

It sounds like someone installed a partially chambered bbl that needed to be finish reamed.

bearhunter
 
It will easily swallow the .308 headspace gauge. However, the bolt does come very close to hitting the barrel, as in little nose clearance. You guys are probably correct on the short chambered barrel. I'll inspect further, got to go shooting right now.

Cheers
 
Which .308 headspace gauge? Go, No Go, or Field?
If the barrel will not accept a factory round, it sounds as if it is short chambered. But if it already has excess headspace, there is a real problem. Reaming would solve the failure to chamber problem, but exacerbate the headspace issue.
Setting a M-1 barrel back would be a real can of worms. You are correct about the amount of set back needed, but consider the breech face machining, the alterations to the piston, stocks, etc.
I was going to suggest reaming to .30-06, but that might not work - the .30-06 reamer might not clean up the shoulder area of the .308 chamber.
 
Ok, have a chance to check this out now. The chamber is not short and only a bit tight. A reloaded dummy round drops right in but his ammo doesn't. The chamber is a bit dirty so I'll try cleaning and some steel wool. If it does chamber after cleaning up, the excessive headspace issue still needs to be dealt with. I used a PTG GO gauge for the 308 Win and it swallowed it. With 13 layers of tape it felt perfect. I took off the tape and it measured .026" so that is very close to .026" over minimum headspace. I don't have any fired brass to measure but the tape method is amazingly accurate.

The 06 pull through reamer would make a funny looking chamber, the 308 is .023" bigger at the shoulder than the 06. At just over half way up the 06 brass it becomes the same size as the 308's shoulder.

The bolt looks like a good fit to the action, only .008" movement. Do they vary in face depth or lug thickness?
 
Chamber is MUCH worse clean. Apparently there was enough dirt that it looked smooth and shiny but in reality it is extremely rough. Its much worse than the pic shows. What kind of hack does this sort of thing?

sept_13_2008_050.jpg


Where does one buy a Garand barrel?
 
Last edited:
Typically bolts differ in length with Winchester bolts mostly being shorter when compared to later issued Springfield bolts being typically longer.

Every .308 barrel that I have screwed on was short chambered. A couple of turns with a pull thru reamer in .308 and some cutting oil always did the trick.

Are you using a .308 pull thru reamer?
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom