Pay for it to be fixed or part it out?

drache

drache

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So as some might remember I bought an German/Israeli K98 in 7.62 and that it had some nasty gouges in the chamber where the neck of a round would go. Took it to a gunsmith who said it would hopefully need just a reaming for $150. He took a look and said the problem is worse than he thought. He took off the barrel and said that it would take a good reaming to get it cleaned up but the amount he' have to do might put the head spacing off too much. So he gave me a choice, either pick up the rifle or give him the ok to do the reaming for $275 and hope the head space doesn't get screwed up too much.

The store I bought it from last year isn't going to help at all.

So should I take the $275 gamble or just pick up the rifle and sell the pieces here?

If I could just find a bloody GERMAN/Israeli conversion I'd buy another and use this for parts. It really sucks because my rifle was insanely accurate :(

I bought this rifle to make a "sniper rifle clone" out of.
 
Go pick the rifle up from the 'gunsmith' today, not tomorrow

Firstly, you can't ream out a gouge without setting the barrel back, never mind even thinking it can be done without creating excessive headspace (total tolerance is only 6 thou or so)

Secondly, if you do set the barrel back very much on a military k 98 you will throw off the steps which the hand guard and hardware hang on.

Thirdly, $150 is too much to stick a reamer in there without setting the barrel back, and $275 is too much if you do.
 
rgv said:
Go pick the rifle up from the 'gunsmith' today, not tomorrow

Firstly, you can't ream out a gouge without setting the barrel back, never mind even thinking it can be done without creating excessive headspace (total tolerance is only 6 thou or so)

Secondly, if you do set the barrel back very much on a military k 98 you will throw off the steps which the hand guard and hardware hang on.

Thirdly, $150 is too much to stick a reamer in there without setting the barrel back, and $275 is too much if you do.
Click to expand...

X2 And, Have you fired it yet? I would fire a few rounds and see how the casings are effected. I have seen some pretty bad chambers and as long as they don't leak you could be good to go.
 
Gun fires very accurately but the brass gets fire formed into the chunks missing that you have to really hammer the bolt up to get it open. The brass has nasty gouges at the bottom of the neck where it meets the shoulder.

Can't pick up the rifle for two more weeks due to being on a flight out to camp at the moment.
 
drache, your gunsmith may not be stringing you along.

I do think his price is excessive though. If you still live in Little Fort, you are likely taking the rifle to 100mile house to be repaired. I guess he charges accordingly. There is also another smith along the road to 100mile. Maybe they're the same????

Anyway, he might just be suggesting to pop in the reamer to take off the offending high spots that are holding up the brass case when you try to load it into the chamber.

I have done just such a thing with chambers that were dinged up in similar manners. All you would be doing is taking off the high spots, without deepening the chamber.

As for headspace, if you are planning on reloading the brass from this rifle, neck size it only as it will be fireformed to that particular rifle and headspace will be fine.

If the smith decides to set the barrel back, then it will be a whole different story and you would be much better off finding one of the take off barrels from a South American K98 or even a take off from another Israeli Mauser.

Whatever, if the rest of the bore is just OK, IMHO it isn't worth trying to save. Sell the stock or the whole rifle an look for another. Likely be cheaper in the end and a lot less trouble.
 
Ouch. If it is that bad I would look for a new barrel, wall hang it or sell it for parts.
My opinion is just one of millions out there.
 
Crazy.... but it works

First off, a warning: go slow.

Second: you might laugh at this, but it does work if you are careful.

Head for your local Dentist and get an ounce of DENTAL ALGINATE. This is that terrible muddy crap that they put in those tin things when they fit you for false teeth. It is fairly tough, quite durable and it does not shrink. It is not NEARLY as hard as casting-metal; perfect for a one-time chamber cast.

OIL the chamber first, plug the bore just ahead of the chamber and pour in the Alginate. Wait about 5 minutes and drive it out carefully with a cleaning-rod, from the muzzle. You now have a chamber cast which should show you what exactly is going on. IF the chamber is as bad as you say, there should be small areas ripped off the chamber cast: these are the areas where the chamber metal is gouged. Likely this was done by some idiot with a screwdriver or some clown who tried to extract a ruptured case with a f***ing TAP.

Remember, a DING INTO the chamber will not stop you from extracting unless it is really big and deep; only a GOUGE which has RAISED metal will do this. You will soon see exactly where this is.

NOW, get a standard 3/8 electric hand drill, a front section of cleaning-rod with a PATCH-LOOP in place. Get a roll of that 320-grit cloth sanding tape and rip a few inches down the middle. You use 1 section of this to make up a "patch" for the Loop at the end of the rod. OIL THIS, using any oil you have around.

Now WRAP this around the Patch Tip, ROLL it carefully into the chamber until the abrasive contacts the raised Gouges which are messing you around. NOW you attach the Drill and start it up.

You MUST work VERY carefully. All you are trying to do is POLISH DOWN enough of the Gouges to allow brass to be extracted more easily. You are NOT trying to erase them completely: that would open out the front of the chamber far too much; your empty casings would look as if they came out of a BURNSIDE and they would NOT extract in any reasonable manner whatever.

You want to polish away just ENOUGH of the raised part of the GOUGE to permit normal operation.

If you are careful, you should be able to restore the rifle to almost-normal operation. You WILL end up with raised marks on your brass from the remaining gouge, but these will iron out in your resizing die.

This sounds crazy but it will work if you are careful. I have used this system a couple of times on barrels which idiots have messed with.

Your accuracy will NOT be affected.

Good luck!
 
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Cheapest and easiest fix would be to rebarrel with a K98 barrel. These can be had from time to time.
 
Ok to be more clear, imagine three CHUNKS taken out of the edge circled in red. Like smellie suggested, looks like someone hit this edge three times with a screw driver or something else very hard.

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I posted an ad for a complete German/Israeli K98 but very few people want to sell them and those that are offered for sale are generally bubba'd that they won't help me at all.
 
What about having a 98 mauser shank cut into a blank or take off barrel?

Lothar Walther finished K98k mauser barrel in original millitary conyour chambered in 308win, NEW FROM FACTORY $249


h ttp://www.lothar-walther.com/272.php

Note: Space added so its not linked
 
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Buying a new barrel for $250+ then paying for it to be installed and the original sights to be added is taking a giant leap back. This is a non numbers matching Israeli k98 that I wanted to turn a .308 german sniper rifle look a alike. I paid $400 for the complete rifle.
 
try what Smellie said first. very lightly to get the burr off . do you have any pictures of the casings after firing. or pictures of the chamber ?
 
Considering I've had two gunshots tel me this isn't a light buffing and will require serious work I dont think smellies idea is going to work otherwise the two gunsmiths would have just done it and charged me the $150. It was suggest to "take the barrel back" or something like that.

There are three chunks chipped out of the edge. I dont have any pictures as I'm not at home for two more weeks.

Take a screw driver and place it on the edge of a.cast block of metal and whack three chunks off the edge. Thats what it looks like.

The casings all have a cut into the base of the neck for about 1/3 the way around the neck.
 
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