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Bulge in a riffle barrel
William A Harland
Member Posts: 350 ✭✭✭
I purchase a 30=06 rifle at a gun auction and it has a slight bulg on the 24" barrel when you run your finger over it you can feel the bulg. it is 1 1/2'in from the end. Would it be safe to fire it or just have it cut off 1 1/2" The rifle is a custom mouser with a flags barrel. What would it do to the accuracy of the rifle. THANKS
Comments
"The rifle is a custom mouser with a flags barrel."
I'm sure you mean that your rifle is a MAUSER sporterized by FLAIG'S.
Flaig's was located in Millvale, PA, near Pittsburgh, and I believe they operated from shortly after WW2 until maybe the 1980s. I'm working again today so I can't check my references. Their market niche was the conversion of military surplus rifles (or souvenirs brought home by returning GI's) into good quality sporting rifles. They also sold barrel and stocks and other items for other gunsmiths and hobbyists to use. They also did general gunsmithing type work, and were highly regarded among shooters. For decades nearly every issue of the American Rifleman had a Flaig's ad between the covers somewhere. While there probably is not a lot of collector interest or value in your rifle, it's probably a good one. I've owned a large number of Flaig's rifles over the years and each one had a great stock with a decently accurate Douglas barrel.
An example of their work:
There is no use in trying to shoot a bulged barrel. I don't care what the other opinions are, cut it off and have a proper crown cut, THEN go shoot it for accuracy. Anything less is a waste of time. If it doesn't shoot to your expectations after the cut/crown, you should look into having it rebarreled. It's that simple.
Best.
You can cut a little before that point.
A telescoping gage could also be used.
"Ringed barrels" on Army riffles were classified unserviceable and had to be rebarreled but yours can be restored by cutting and recrowning.
If you can carefully drive a OO buck pellet from the breech you can feel where the pellet gets loose.
You can cut a little before that point.
A telescoping gage could also be used.
"Ringed barrels" on Army riffles were classified unserviceable and had to be rebarreled but yours can be restored by cutting and recrowning.
I would suggest trying this. My question was if you were sure it was a true bulge or a manufacturing characteristics. Perhaps a relic left over from military sights or a bayonet lug, but sounds like the barrel was replaced.
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