Lakefield 64B - Running out of troubleshooting ideas

T

Tugnum

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I recently obtained a Lakefield 64B from a friend who stated he and his friend no longer wanted to be hassled by troubleshooting this rifle. They indicated it could not hit the side of a barn, and was possibly 'barreled out'. I accepted the challenge...

I took the rifle home and disassembled it. It appeared that it may not have ever been cleaned. I carefully cleaned the internals and looked for broken and chipped surfaces, but found nothing concerning. I then turned my attention to the barrel. I thoroughly cleaned the bore and noticed rifling was still clearly seen throughout the entire barrel.

Range test. I took it out and attempted to zero it at approximately 20m. I noticed my 'group' was approximately the size of a CD and no pattern seen, just random within that circle.

I took it back home and let my dad inspect it. He found nothing wrong with the barrel and we decided to let the bore soak overnight in solvent. The next day I cleaned out the barrel again. I took a close look at the crown and noticed no damage.

Range test. Same as the first time.

Last night, I spoke to my co-worker about my rifle. He suggested that loose bolts or insecure firing pins may be to blame. So, I went home and inspected my rifle again... I didn't notice anything wrong with the firing pin. 2 points of concern were:

- When the action is closed, if you grab the charging handle, you are able to wiggle the bolt up and down. There appears to be a slight gap between the tab on the barrel and the top of the bolt.
- The ejector? (small pointy piece on the barrel at the 9 o'clock position (looking down range) was quite tough to get back in and has play between it and the channel in the bolt.

Any advice, suggestions, etc. I am loosing my desire to troubleshoot this rifle (seeing as I already have 2 other semi-auto .22's)


Cheers
 
Damage to the crown would easy to see but if the crown was not right from the factory it could be overlooked with just a visual examination. Do you know if the gun ever shot well? In the days of my youth I purchased a new Marlin .22 mag that would not hit a pie plate at 25 yards. At that time my knowledge of firearms covered loading and shooting,,, I wish I had it now, I have often wondered if it could have been something as simple as a bad factory crown.

Are the bullets tumbling?
 
I have used Winchester Hi Velocity, Remington Sub Sonic and High Velocity, and all appeared to be the same, nothing I would consider bulk cheap ammo.

As for the tumbling... I did not pay much attention to the targets, other than the grouping. I will take it out again soon and upload the targets.

For the history, I received it from a co-worker who received it from a friend, who got it from his dad. The dad gave it to the son both knowing it had poor grouping. Looking at the stock and general condition... it looks almost new..

I will take a photo of the crown and post it as well.

Thanks for the support.
 
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From your last noted observation it sounds like the bolt is not locking up tightly and, if so, that would explain the poor shooting results.

Could you post photos showing the bolt in the closed and locked (handle down) position?
 
Take a drill - about 3/8" - and counterbore it about 1/4" and clean it up and try again. CD sized groups wouldn't be caused by anything but a bad bore at the muzzle.
 
quite possible that the stock is warped or too tight against the barrel. This can cause the poor grouping too. try puting a shet of paper under the barrel and thru the barrel channel. If it is very tight, you can sand the channel to relieve the pressure.
 
The bolt does not lock up it is a straight blow back system the comment about how the barreled action is sitting in the stock is likely the problem
 
I adore my 64's!

At least yours' runs...most posts are about how finicky they are.

For accuracy considerations, I don't see much rifling in the picture of your muzzle...no marring of the crown. As suggested, be certain that it's sitting nicely in the stock.
You could also:
-Make certain that the barrel retaining clip hasn't been deformed by over-torquing, that the barrel is indexed properly for that clip to fit,
-Make certain the stud that goes into the barrel retaining clip is not sloppy, but nice n' snug. (not so snug as to deform the clip though)
-Sights (no scope in the pic) are also tight fitting.

If you've thoroughly scrubbed the bore, it could take 25 or so rounds before you get a good group.

Also as others have suggested (and I'll attest to) ammo can make a difference. I have no luck running Winchester ammo through any of mine (Owned quite a few), but fellow CGN'ers have reported the opposite for their 64. Try a few brands.

When all is said n' done, run it with a dry action, and lube only for storage/rust prevention.

EDIT:

If you've covered all those bases, you could try bedding, or a different stock.
 
My 64 hates remington ammo, cant hit minute of moose with it, only seemed to like CCI or bulk federal the 525 box, grabbed a brick of remington peters .22lr and shot a box 30 ft out from a 1,2 and 4 " target and could only hit em 1/10 times. Brutal ammo, it was all over the place, had some CCI 375 bulk pack that worked awesome, some target ammo by remington was crap as well, winchester was junk, wouldnt fire and cycle like others and crap accuracy. hope it helps, the pictures of the gun look fine, ive also had a few bolts and hardware loosten up on me and open up groups.
 
I will float the barrel, as a piece of paper will only go about 2 inches down the stock. And I will pick up some CCI. I will provide an update after I have completed those.

Thanks for all the suggestions!
 
UPDATE:

I floated the barrel, and have plenty of room between the barrel and the stock.

I then went to Wholesale Sports and picked up some Federal Match Grade HV and the blue box Federal (all out of CCI).

Went to the range and ran 40rds+ of Winchester X then moved to the better quality listed above. This was my result at 25 meters.




A review of the target with my friend, it does appear the bullets are tumbling. Rounds 1 and 2 were at the 4 o'clock, 3 was 12 o'clock. I lost track after that. I fired 10rds and only count 7 holes....

All ammo types shot today appeared to tumble.

Hopefully this information will help the gurus out there troubleshoot this rifle.

Cheers,
 
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UPDATE:
After chats with a few people, I have come to the conclusion that there is no hope, without more money than I am willing to spend, to bring this rifle back to standard. I will be parting it out. I plan to post it on the EE tomorrow. Stock in very good condition and 2 steel magazines are among the parts. I have no idea what the parts are worth, but I'll give it a shot.

Thanks again for all the suggestions to help troubleshoot the issue.
 
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