K98 re-crown or re-barrel?

[BeaverMeat]

The crown on my Yugo K98 is f@cked; Not from myself. The bore is worn, but still shiny and not completely shot out.

The question. What to do with it?

I still want to keep it and would like to spruce it up a bit. Re-crown, re-barrel or just leave it and shoot the crap out of it.

In my mind, if I choose to re-barrel it. I might as well do the whole nine-yards to the action.

Any suggestions or experiences.

 

[Tinman204]

How does it shoot?? Is the damage to the rifling at the muzzle end or just the crown? If the crown is damaged take it to a smith a get it recrowned. If the rifling is shot out or damaged at the muzzle then mane a counter bore job will fix it up.
If the barrels done then get a new barrel fitted.

I have m38 turk Mauser, with a dark pitted bore and almost zero rifling at the last 2" by the muzzle.. I thought a new barrel was in order but it shoot pretty well.

 

[fiddler]

Did you slug the bore? how do you know its warn out? What measurements did you get?

To recrown a muzzle is about forty bucks, solves most cases of bad groups on a milsurp

 

[BeaverMeat]

Just the crown as pictured here.

Looks as if the previous owner did not use a the bore guide that came with it while cleaning.

I can tell it's worn as I used my other Yugo K98 for comparison. Visual in inspection and bullet in muzzle test. Never heard of slugging the barrel, googled it though, does not seem like something I would do.

As for how it shoots... I was not much of a paper shooter, but I could hit cans, or what have you at roughly 50 yards.

I will be shooting paper once I find a range that is not flooded out.

 

[buffdog]

From the looks of the pictures, it does look like the rifling has been worn away at the muzzle, and the rifling looks like rounded off. That said, it also looks like there is still good rifling in the bore.

I would have a Gunsmith recrown the barrel. If it is really worn back inside the muzzle area a bit, it would be possible to counterbore the muzzle back about 3/4 to one inch, and get sharper rifling. The practice of counterboring a muzzle to get accuracy was well practiced in Finland and Russia, and you can find many Mosin Nagant rifles that have a bit of a bulge in the muzzle area of the barrel where an obstruction (Snow) was when the rifle was fired. Finnish Armourers had a kit for counterboring a rifle muzzle so that a rifle was returned to service in a minimum of time.

Mauser rifles generally have some deep rifling, and even a bore that looks crappy can shoot with acceptable accuracy. Buy a can of foaming bore cleaner, such as "WipeOut," and follow the directions on the can for best results. It is amazing what that stuff will do to clean a bore, and you might be pleasantly surprised.

As far as the thinking of altering the rifle to a sporting configuration by installing a new barrel, that is false economy. Not only do you have to figure in the cost of the barrel and it's installation, but also drilling and tapping for scope mounts, bending the bolt, an other alterations. You would be lucky to get away with $500 and then still have it in the Military stock. It is possible to buy a more suitable sporting rifle today, new, for $300 for a Savage Axis, $400 for a Ruger American or the new Remington model designed to compete with the more moderately priced market, or a good used hunting rifle on the EE.

The rifling on your rifle looks damaged a bit deep in the muzzle for the average "touch up" crowning with a round ball abrasive at home, especially if someone is a bit new at repairs and alterations, but a good Gunsmith with a metal lathe could easily counterbore and/or recrown the barrel.
.

 

[Claven2]

STOP! "I shot cans at 50 yards" and "I'm not a paper shooter" are seting off sirens. Did you hit the cans? It looks like yes.

Visual comparisson to another gun is WORTHLESS. Or even less than worthless.

Bench rest the gun and properly assess how it shoot on a proper target. 99% chance it's fine and needs nothing.

 

[fiddler]

Never heard of slugging the barrel, googled it though, does not seem like something I would do.

Slugging: Grease a lead buckshot. Pound it through the barrel with wood dowels. Wipe grease and measure.


3 minutes of your time tells you the diameter of the barrel and grooves, and it shows the strength of the rifling rather than making unqualified claims of barrel wear and muzzle deterioration. The effective depth of the rifling can be as little as the thickness of a piece of paper. The visual estimation of this thickness can be deceiving when looking at the muzzle end where it is worn but not damaged, this is why we measure with a slug.

Further to muzzle wear, as long as the muzzle is worn evenly it will still shoot straight. Its when it becomes damaged or worn only on one side that the bullet will wobble or go through a paper target sideways or an uneven hole. If you can't make a group on a 8 1/2x 11 piece of paper at 25 yards would be an indication that you have a muzzle issue. As previously suggested, a counter-bore can be done if the wear is a bit more extreme.

If you can hit cans (pop and beer cans) at 50 yards, it doesn't sound like you have either a muzzle or a barrel wear issue. If you take it to a gunsmith, he will charge you for a slug measurement.


A dozen years ago I traded 2 boxes of 30-30 ammo for an old mosin 91/30 to use as parts because its barrel was supposedly worn out. It slugged out good but had slightly larger barrel diameter. I loaded it with a .312 bullet instead of the standard .310 cal. It shoots great, never put one cent into it and used it several years for hunting and took at least a dozen whitetails with it. The previous owner was going to cut it in half and toss it until I offered a trade for the stock and bolt.

 

[Tinman204]

If that gun will hit cans @ 50 yards more often then not I'd say both it and you are good shooters. The only way to test a gun properly is at a range shooting paper from a rest. That way you can actually see what it's doing. Don't worry we're all waiting for this dang water to go away so our ranges will dry up!

My own Mauser with bore damage and really bad fouling wouldn't even put a round on an 18" piece of paper at 50' when I got it. I spent several months using brushes and running patches through but with the deep Mauser rifling I found it wasn't cleaning the crap out from the grooves. Buffdog also told me to get some proper bore foam and go at it again, I did and it came pretty clean with minimal work. Now with a scrubbed out bore and proper handloads it will do a 2-3" group at 100 yards which is fine by me.

 

[BeaverMeat]

Thanks for the replies.

As I figured, I need to paper shoot it first before calling judgement.

fyi, I do not want to sporterize it.

 

[fiddler]

I'd hit once with a really good bore cleaning and metal fouling solvent as well. Its not something that rifle needs very often, but if you're never really sure where the rifle has been, it doesn't hurt to start off fresh.