Opinions wanted. Last September I took a rifle to a new local 'smith in Grants Pass, Oregon. He told me he has a CNC lathe and CNC mill so I asked him to install a brake and flute the barrel. Finally yesterday I went to the shop and told him, "No matter what state of finish my rifle is, it is finished. I want it now." He tried to do a sales job that he could finish it next week. I heard that for months. I stuck to my first statement. He handed me the barreled action; which wasn't even tightened. He wanted to at least tighten it. "No way. I want it."

To my chagrin the brake was installed at an angle in relation to the bore. That was not the bad part. With the barrel twisted out ONE thread I could move the muzzle about 3/8" from side to side. I have no idea how much undersized the threads are but think it can't be safe. Do you guys think I should figure it is like a totaled car after a wreck and toss the barrel?

Take three Motrin

Think you meant Midol. It's just his monthly.

After I'm feeling better, then what?

Sell all your guns and take up cross stitching........

It may be better to cut the shank off, make a new one and set the barrel back and rechamber and headspace it. But before you screw it back into the receiver, turn a new shank and thread for the muzzle break too, while it's on centers of the lathe, and set it up to be concentric with the BORE, not the outside of the barrel.
You will loose about 1-1/8" to 1-3/8" of barrel length to make these repairs, but that's cheaper then a whole new barrel.

Any good smith with a lathe can do these things for you. In fact, any good machinist can also. It's pretty basic.

Just out of curiosity, what make of rifle is it?

The action is a Weatherby Mark V six lug ultralight which had a .257SLR barrel that was very accurate. But I wanted to switch to 6.5mm so I sent it to Pac-Nor to have them chamber it and install the brake. When it came back the brake was in the package instead of installed. There is a new 'smith in town I met at the range so I figured I would give him a little business. I was amazed Pac-Nor turned the thread undersized.


The action is 1.143" diameter. There is no room to cut off the chamber end. At the shoulder the barrel measures 1.094". 1 1/2" from the shoulder it is already down to .96". This is about like a .264 Win Mag so cutting it off with adversely affect velocity anyway.

Well it may be that the barrel was threaded a bit "loose" before your new smith even had it. I see no reason he would have done anything to the shank threads.

Maybe Pac-Nor will cop a guilty plea and fit this all for you. Might be worth a phone call.

Thanks for that suggestion. I figured it would be a waste of time, but like you say, it is worth a phone call.

You have no way of measuring the threads so you ASSUME they are undersized...

How many barrels have you threaded again???

Put the Some Beotch together, start at the very top , load data wise .....but go up 3-4 gr. above that, and go shoot it.



That's a specious, and unconfirmed allegation,...something pulled out of your sorry, and hopelessly crazy ass.

GTC

Threading for a brake is on the muzzle. Fluting is on the sides.....I'm not sure how new guy can be guilty of the loose tennon.

As above, unless you have gauges or wires there's no way to know exactly what you have going on. I would guess the smith unscrewed it and spun up his work and was going to torque it up before indexing the brake when the alarms started barking that this thing is too loose. A lot of Remingtons are sloppier than the broke chick in college but shoot good.

My complaint is not about the chamber end of the barrel as far as the local 'smith. That is totally on Pac-Nor. The idea he installed the brake at an angle to the bore is unacceptable. Not only that take a good look at the installation. There's actually a step down from the barrel before the threads go into the brake! Would you put something like this out?

Now you're b!tching that it ain't DONE right... 🤣

It's not finished yet. He's got to turn about. 050" off the end of the brake, time it and it'll blend. Not sure why he broke the sharp edge on the barrel....but overall it's a simple fix.

high_country_,

He showed me this in December. I told him that it was unacceptable. He told me he couldn't make the brake fit the barrel diameter any better. He should not be in the business.

Is that a T2 or T3? What thread size? IMO those brakes can't be tapered enough to fit smaller contour barrels. What contour pacnor is that?

That is a T2. The threads are 1/2X28. The barrel it previously fit had a .550" muzzle. TPac-Nor matched the Weatherby factory contour. Pac-Nor is the only company I could find which would do that. Hopefully they will replace the barrel. If so I will have Hired Gun, from here at 24 hourcampfire, chamber and fit it to my Weatherby. He is really a fussy mechanic.

JFC

What is it about Grants Pass that attracts and keeps all the azzholes of the gunsmith world? Do they graduate school with a D- and the school hands them a one way bus ticket to GP or what? Sorry Rich!

Yesterday I tool the barrel to MOA Precision. Tom has some thread measuring equipment. He told me the threads are at least .007" under size. He wrote a nice letter to politely let them decide they messed up.

I called Pac-Nor to get their physical address so I could send it to them with a request letter and Tom's letter. The guy wanted to know why I needed the address. He seemed genuinely concerned and wanted to see it. I suggested they didn't need to thread and chamber it again because MOA volunteered to take care of it for me. Maybe I will actually get a replacement. Thanks again for the suggestion. I was going to toss it in the trash.

Without a doubt this ringman twit has to be the biggest tool to ever draw breath.


And in twelve months there will be another thread just like it from him.