Cutting a new chamber on an old barrel
03-08-2007, 07:23 PM
#1
Nontypical Buck
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Michigan
Posts: 3,476
Cutting a new chamber on an old barrel
Does anybody have a ballpark guess on what a good price would be for someone to cut a new chamber on an old barrel?
I have an old model 38 arisaka carbine with a very sloppy chamber....it might not even be worth the cost of the re-chambering b/c the barrel may also be too tired, ...but let's say it had a good bore and bad chamber. In this case I would be asking someone to rechamber a 6.5 X 50 Japanese chamber to 6.5 X 55 Swedish. I know the action would handle the pressures of average Swede loads... and suspect the re-cutting of the chmber would give me a much improved chamber.
Anyway, just curios about what it would cost to have someone do this WITHOUT removing the barrel.
I have an old model 38 arisaka carbine with a very sloppy chamber....it might not even be worth the cost of the re-chambering b/c the barrel may also be too tired, ...but let's say it had a good bore and bad chamber. In this case I would be asking someone to rechamber a 6.5 X 50 Japanese chamber to 6.5 X 55 Swedish. I know the action would handle the pressures of average Swede loads... and suspect the re-cutting of the chmber would give me a much improved chamber.
Anyway, just curios about what it would cost to have someone do this WITHOUT removing the barrel.
03-09-2007, 07:31 PM
#3
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Colorado
Posts: 4,127
RE: Cutting a new chamber on an old barrel
Barrel needs to be removed. Some rechamberings are not feasible - due to cartridge dimensions, barrel length concerns, barrel condition, and barrel setback issues. Normal fee to do one of these jobs is $75 - at least in this part of the gunsmithing world. Roskoe.
03-09-2007, 08:10 PM
#4
Typical Buck
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location:
Posts: 692
RE: Cutting a new chamber on an old barrel
The .260 Rem should be about right,but the barrel may need to beset back a thread or two.the Arisaka may not be pretty but it was the strongest action in P.O.Ackley's blow up tests #2 was the 97 Arisaka!Arisaka 38's were chambered for 7x57 for the Mexican Govt. and they never paid for them during their revolution and for the Thai Govt. in 30-06 after WW2.Midway USA has Bennett+ Adams barrels chambered and pre-threaded in various calibers.Food for thought.............Harold P.S. the first chrome plated bore in a military rifle was the 7.7 Arisaka
03-10-2007, 05:37 AM
#6
Giant Nontypical
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Texas - BUT NOW in Madison County, NY
Posts: 6,270
RE: Cutting a new chamber on an old barrel
ORIGINAL: 8mm/06
Does anybody have a ballpark guess on what a good price would be for someone to cut a new chamber on an old barrel?
I have an old model 38 arisaka carbine with a very sloppy chamber....it might not even be worth the cost of the re-chambering b/c the barrel may also be too tired, ...but let's say it had a good bore and bad chamber. In this case I would be asking someone to rechamber a 6.5 X 50 Japanese chamber to 6.5 X 55 Swedish. I know the action would handle the pressures of average Swede loads... and suspect the re-cutting of the chmber would give me a much improved chamber.
Anyway, just curios about what it would cost to have someone do this WITHOUT removing the barrel.
Does anybody have a ballpark guess on what a good price would be for someone to cut a new chamber on an old barrel?
I have an old model 38 arisaka carbine with a very sloppy chamber....it might not even be worth the cost of the re-chambering b/c the barrel may also be too tired, ...but let's say it had a good bore and bad chamber. In this case I would be asking someone to rechamber a 6.5 X 50 Japanese chamber to 6.5 X 55 Swedish. I know the action would handle the pressures of average Swede loads... and suspect the re-cutting of the chmber would give me a much improved chamber.
Anyway, just curios about what it would cost to have someone do this WITHOUT removing the barrel.
03-10-2007, 06:54 AM
#7
Nontypical Buck
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Michigan
Posts: 3,476
RE: Cutting a new chamber on an old barrel
That's what I thought. Although I'm not a smith and there might be some things I'm not conisdering, but I know of some situations where folks have reamed a chamber with the barrel still mounted. I'm not sure how difficult it is compared to reaming on a removed barrel, but I know it is sometimes done. I can't remember which actions these were done on but I thought at least one was done on an Arisaka.
And regarding going from the Japanese round to the Swedish round ... I have been going over all the different re-ream options and decided that the Swede made the most sense after considering all the details of this particular rifle. The 6.5 X 257 crossed my mind, but the 6.5 X 55 seemed to be a better "clean out" proposition of a chamber I think is funky, plus loaded ammo and brass available makes more sense to me.
When it was given to me the guy handed it to me and said "heres the shells" whereby he handed me a box of 6.5 X 54 MS. I gave him a peek over my glasses and asked him if he had been shooting the gun with this ammo. He replied that he had not but the previous owner said it worked.
So, expecting problems I went ahead and did a hasty cast of the chamber and found that it was close but tight for the 6.5 X 54 and sloppy at the throat. I figured it was shot out but after looking at the bore it seemed usable but not pretty, but the throat looked burned.
Anyway I strapped the gun to a 2X6, propped it in an old tire, tied a 30' string to the trigger and let a round fly into a sand bank. I had taken the trouble to cover the action with a clean piece of paper to look for gas blowing out and covered all but the muzzle with a heavy rubber mat...then I hid behind my truck like a little kid and pulled the trigger string. Suprisingly there was little to nothing on the paper and the empty case looked ok but the shoulder seemed a little pushed forward when compared to a clean 6.5 X 54 case, ever so slightly. Also the case mouth looked pretty dirty and smudged.
After seven successive round in the tire and covered with the mat I held the gun at waist level and let a few more rounds go..Everything seem ok so with good protecton on I brought it up to a standing shot but I still didn't take a cheek weld. I was waiting to see if I felt any gas blowing. It all checked out and I eventually tried 5 rounds at 15 yards to try to print on paper. It seemd ok....but at 100 yards it was keyholing. after cleaning up the bore the keyholing slowed a bit, but I attributted the keyholing more to the 160 gr rounds and the short barrel that to anything else.
I still think that if I could get it reamed to 6.5 Swede, and handloaded 120 grain loads at modest velocities it would make an extremely handy little swamp carbine.
And regarding going from the Japanese round to the Swedish round ... I have been going over all the different re-ream options and decided that the Swede made the most sense after considering all the details of this particular rifle. The 6.5 X 257 crossed my mind, but the 6.5 X 55 seemed to be a better "clean out" proposition of a chamber I think is funky, plus loaded ammo and brass available makes more sense to me.
When it was given to me the guy handed it to me and said "heres the shells" whereby he handed me a box of 6.5 X 54 MS. I gave him a peek over my glasses and asked him if he had been shooting the gun with this ammo. He replied that he had not but the previous owner said it worked.
So, expecting problems I went ahead and did a hasty cast of the chamber and found that it was close but tight for the 6.5 X 54 and sloppy at the throat. I figured it was shot out but after looking at the bore it seemed usable but not pretty, but the throat looked burned.
Anyway I strapped the gun to a 2X6, propped it in an old tire, tied a 30' string to the trigger and let a round fly into a sand bank. I had taken the trouble to cover the action with a clean piece of paper to look for gas blowing out and covered all but the muzzle with a heavy rubber mat...then I hid behind my truck like a little kid and pulled the trigger string. Suprisingly there was little to nothing on the paper and the empty case looked ok but the shoulder seemed a little pushed forward when compared to a clean 6.5 X 54 case, ever so slightly. Also the case mouth looked pretty dirty and smudged.
After seven successive round in the tire and covered with the mat I held the gun at waist level and let a few more rounds go..Everything seem ok so with good protecton on I brought it up to a standing shot but I still didn't take a cheek weld. I was waiting to see if I felt any gas blowing. It all checked out and I eventually tried 5 rounds at 15 yards to try to print on paper. It seemd ok....but at 100 yards it was keyholing. after cleaning up the bore the keyholing slowed a bit, but I attributted the keyholing more to the 160 gr rounds and the short barrel that to anything else.
I still think that if I could get it reamed to 6.5 Swede, and handloaded 120 grain loads at modest velocities it would make an extremely handy little swamp carbine.
