Loose barrel in receiver - suggestions

L

lmar

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Hi,

Norinco M305.
Doesn't appear to have been fired.
Loose barrel.
One can grab the barrel and rotate it 5-6 degrees relative to the receiver.
Barrel set screw appears staked and does not move.
If you hold the receiver on a level surface you can "just" feel the barrel move up and down when you lift it from the muzzle.
Visual inspection of chamber shows visible movement between receiver and barrel.

Besides the obvious don't shoot it -- is it salvageable or is one/both major components scrap?

L
 
My best advise to you would be to get it to a qualified gun smith or sell it as a parts rifle. Just curious, what year & make was it?
 
Tough to say without a hands on. Possible it wasn't turned all the way in on instal. Hopefully the screw can removed and it's as simple as one more turn in the barrel vice.
First one I've heard of like that, would be interested to know the vintage as well.
 
OOPS!
[;{(

Read the stickies in the BR section ...
I've seen this a few times before and wrote about it in the inspection FAQs.

The barrels in the NORCs and POLYs may or may not be hardened consistently, and if the barrel threads are too soft, then thread stretch can occur in the barrel.
OR,
if the barrel has been installed and uninstalled several times, the shoulder [ which has a very slight undercut which actually takes the stress of the barrel/receiver joint]
can get pushed back enough to result in a loose barrel.

FIX: IF YOU ARELUCKY,
simply remove the barrel, put it on a lathe, and roll down the shoulder back into place.
OR,
install a different barrel.

There is a posting some where in the BR section of how I remove the barreels, including that staked in screw, and the tools required to do it properly.

Good luck with that,
{;{)
LAZ 1

PS: DO NOT SHOOT IT!
And do NOT wrap copper wire around the barrel to act as a crush washer to take up the slack.
[Yes, I've seen that before too!]
 
M14Doctor said:
Tough to say without a hands on. Possible it wasn't turned all the way in on instal. Hopefully the screw can removed and it's as simple as one more turn in the barrel vice.
First one I've heard of like that, would be interested to know the vintage as well.
Click to expand...

Its from the 2007 batch.
Vendor has made good on their guarantee and are exchanging it on their nickle.

Nice service.

L
 
Roll swaging the barrel shoulder probably won't work with a barrel that is loose enough to be turned by hand when in contact with the receiver. You will probably need to locate another barrel-or another receiver.
 
There are lots of barrels out there but you can simply use a "Headspace washer" or more correctly called an alignment washer. You need a gunsmith familier with the M-14, Try Kevin at Dycor, PM me for his number.

Scott
 
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