Mauser 98k Keyholing

DiMP said:
Well, I just got off the phone with the gunsmith. They bore scoped the barrel and based on the bulge say that it is not a candidate to be counter-bored. I sent a PM to the seller on the EE who had the barrel for sale and said I would take it. I am going to get the EE seller to mail the barrel directly to the gunsmith and hopefully with that I will end up with a properly working firearm. I'll be using this as a learning experience and being even more cautious when buying guns online...
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I would have probed a bit as to why, e.g. bore is poor overall, but as long as the replacement barrel is very good, replacement makes sense if you intend to shoot it.

Keep the old barrel as it matches the rest of the gun (I assume).
 
Andy said:
I would have probed a bit as to why, e.g. bore is poor overall, but as long as the replacement barrel is very good, replacement makes sense if you intend to shoot it.

Keep the old barrel as it matches the rest of the gun (I assume).
Click to expand...

With a bore-scope it was discovered some pretty extensive pitting and, near the bulge, what appeared to be the beginning of a crack. I do plan to shoot the gun, not hoping for MOA accuracy, just looking to keep history alive at the range. Hoping to bring this gun back from getting 10" groups at 25 yards to something like 6" (or better) at 100 yards shooting off hand. The barrel matches the action, but the rest is unmatching. I plan to hold onto the old barrel just in case I ever need sights or anything from it
 
You have nothing to lose by drilling it. I’d go just past the bulge and see. Then maybe 1/8 at a time past that till your happy. Worked on a old Marlin I had.
 
An update for anyone who cares. I bought a used barrel from an excellent Nutter on the EE and he shipped it directly to the gunsmith for me. The smith had it done within a few days just after New Years, but I didn't want to chance losing it in shipping (I used CanTac in Castlegar, about 4 hours away) so I got the sister-in-law to pick it up for me since she only lives 20 minutes away. After a visit to the inlaws 2 weeks ago, I finally got the gun back in my possession, coincidentally a few days after scoring a deal on new production 8mm on the EE as well. Took it to the range last weekend and was so happy to have a shootable gun again (even though the seller described the gun as "shootable".......)
Below is a 15 shot group (ignore a couple .223 hits on the target) from 100 yards shooting just off my elbows on the bench. Next range trip I'll remember to bring a small hammer and some punches to drift the sight over slightly as I am grouping left for sure. Thanks to everyone for their insights and to the nutter on the equipment exchange who was super easy to deal with and sold me the new barrel to bring this rifle back to life.... less thanks to the original seller.....

Mauser-Target.jpg
 
Glad to hear it worked out for you, I have RC that is also keyholing but the crown was beat to hell. I re-crowned it and need to take it out to give it a test
 
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