Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing Barrel crooked

I have a barrelled action that sits at an angle in the barrel channel. I thought the original stock was not inletted straight. I put it in a different stock, and then tried to float the barrel. A thirdbstock has bedding blocks and an oversized channel.

Is the barrel threaded crooked, the face of the action needing trued, or the lug need faced?

Thanks in advance.

Just went thru this. 2 different Mauser actions were the same...warped.

Guessing that's your problem. It would take the face being wayyyyy out for you to be able to eyeball it and tell.

What kind of rifle? Rifles with a washer type recoil lug can have the lug out of square and cause the action to sit cockeyed.

I have mandrels with a hole through the center. One can slip a mandrel into the receiver, look through it, and immediately see any significant misalignment. In fact, I can see even relatively minor misalignment. You can also more easily see a crooked barrel. GD

I had a factory M70 barrel that was threaded crooked. I saved the barrel as a show & tell piece. It was absolutely unbelievable how off it was. It looked like the chamber and threads were cut at an angle off center of bore. Oddly it sat in the barrel channel fine at a glance.

Had the same with a New Haven Model 70 Classic in 338WM.
To bore sight it, the rear ring had to be adjusted until it’s edge was level with the bases edge on the left side. I zeroed the scope reticle 3 times, thinking that was somehow off...nope, barrel was crooked against the action face.
Pulled the barrel, barrel shoulder AND threads were way off centre. The outside of the barrel contour was also off the same amount as everything else, so the bore was also not in the centre of the barrel contour.
The action only required a little truing prior to fitting a new button rifled barrel.

Cheers.

Winchester was know for this seen one or two, you kinda wonder how that got past quality control

WVguy,

You really don’t want to true up the front of the action without truing the threads, especially if it’s way off. If you to then the threads MAY very well pull the shoulder of the barrel tenon in cockeyed to the new action face surface. Using the mandrel in the race method of the action will let one measure the thread alignment, and concentricity, along with the action face flatness - this is what will tell you if the action is warped from hardness treating / machining.

The barrel could be bent, or the method used to thread the barrel had an “off alignment” that has it tighten off center - normally a smith (God help you with factory work), has the barrel tight up with the barrel being high or low (not sideways)... preferably high. This is done so shots aren’t thrown right or left as your range goes out, but it also keeps the barrel on the centerline in the stock.

You can pull it out of the stock and check it with a straight end to see how bad it is, but to find out what part or threading is warped / bent you’ll probably need a smith to pull the barrel.

Spot

There's some meat on a winchester action to true it straight, the barrel shank will be bigger that factory barrel so you will need to use a barrel blank for this

This is a Remington action. I bought the barrel over twenty years ago. I took it to a smith who specializes in long range rifles.

First off...what does the 'smith that did the work say?

There are too many unanswered questions about your situation to give a definitive answer. How a barrel fits in the stock isn't a very good indicator of how straight a barrel is on the action. Assuming the barrel fitting and action work was done correctly (straight and square), the problem has to be the stock(s).

But the same situation in three different stocks? Maybe. Maybe not. Something else is going on and/or you're leaving out all of the story. The Devil is in the details and none have been given.

Good shootin'. -Al

I'll agree with Al. Al has been around the turnip patch many many times and ain't fell of the turnip truck yet.

Thanks, Butch. I've always admired your work and craftsmanship, sir!

Good shootin'. -Al

OP,
As mentioned by Al & Butch & to add-

Some idiot probably used a rear entry action wrench to remove the factory installed Bbl & twisted the receiver.

'Tis my guess w/o more information.

Or worse yet, didn't have an action wrench and stuck an implement through the mag and ejection port to remove the action from a barrel

I just got the gun back from smith. The front of the action was not square. The action was faced, barrel set back and lugs lapped. The recoil lug was flat and did not need to be milled.

I have not shot it.

Sounds like he's doing a wonderful job.

Typical from Rem.. Amazing how many rifles I got in from Rem that had barrels WAY off from straight..

I think a fair amount of rifles leave the factory with issues like this, but the average deer hunter who doesnt do a lot of target practice never realizes his rifle should be performing better than it should