Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing Off the wall Swedish Mauser Barrel Help

Please bare with, the problem someone my be able to help with is at the end of this story: I read in the Shot Gun News about this feller that has made a business out of putting a sleeve around a rifle barrel to make it more accurate. I had that idea about 30 years ago. I'm sure many people have, he was just the first one to do it. Having been mostly unemployed for a year or so and getting a little long in the tooth I decided to put all the ideas (about guns) I had, mostly while beer drinking, (genius juice) together before either someone else did them or I croaked. I have a pile of small ring mauser parts not to mention a pile of small ring (SR) mausers. First idea was to make a universal stock out of aluminum so's I could twist up whatever barrel to receiver or take a rifle out of its stock and drop it in this stock which would have a nice side-mounted 24X Tasco target scope. The idea being, to check out how accurate that old Swede REALLY is. The second idea was that the stock would have a recoil reduction device that may be more beer that brain, but I had to do it in keeping with the spirit of the project. Lastly I'd add Uncle Bob's Cook-Top Bull Barrel. Quite a creature took shape. The only thing pretty is I made a dandy beaver-tail forearm out of a nice chunk of Luan I've had around for near as long as these ideas. For the victim I chose a 1917 Carl Gustav's receiver in like new condition, a really sharp '96 6.5X55 barrel and a '96 bolt that twisted up nicely - no headspace problems. I love that when it happens! The only thing I did to the barrel is cut off a treaded muzzle and crown it. From shoulder to muzzle it ended up 27 1/2" long. I did not add Uncle Bob's device because it rather disturbs an otherwise nice old military barrel that I could use in a restoration project. The barrel free-floated entirely - 1/2" all way round.

Well, I'll tell you what, when I finally made it to the range I got a real shock. My visions of a poor-man's world class benchrest rifle crumbled as 4 different guaranteed tack-driver loads I got off the internet would only print the smallest at 2 3/4" at 50 yards!!! Needles to say.....that is beyond sucky. But, not to be discouraged, I set to work to tighten things up. I bedded the recoil lug and tang in JB weld and installed 4 set screws in the stock that squeezed against the receiver rails and worked on the two-staged trigger for a little crisper release. I made some socket-headed guard screws to really put the munch on. The groups shrunk about an inch on average. My SKS can do better than that! As the last resort I put on Uncle Bob's Barrel and waited a week to let the bat-[bleep] that sticks it all together cure. I fired 7 shots all in 11/16" at 50 yards of which two three shot groupings were 3/8" inside that. This was the same load that gave tha 2 3/4" group. Now, before all you fellers get all whipped up about how that is still crappy for a 6.5 - I know that. I'll bet over time and loving handloading, she'll be well under an inch at 100. The interesting thing to me is that my fantasy of shooting all my long barreled SR mausers is kaput. Obviously, long barrels of the mauser kind don't like to float that free.
Any ideas on how to regain my SR/long barrel fantasy, without being destructive, are greatly welcome.

Wow, you sure went through a lot of effort.
I have owned several bone stock 96 Mausers and one 38. The 38 & 1 96 had handgun scopes mounted on S&K mounts that replaced the rear sight. Either would do 1.5 MOA with several handloads. The other 96 had a G&H sidemount with a Lyman Alaskan with a 6X Litscherts upgrade. With 140 gr Sierra MKHPs and W 760, it would put 10 in one hole all day long. None of these rifles were "tuned" at all.

The most accurate 6.5x55 I have ever seen (and own) is a Tikka 595 Master Sporter, a genuine 1/2 MOA rifles (in all calibers).

Good Luck with your project !

Dang! And I thought my sleeved barrel was the first...grin.

Did you do the sleeve yourself? Would be interested in your method and the results.

Results have been impressive! Yes, I did it myself. This is a .280, 3 shot group at 100yds. It's a 25-06 shooting 110gr accubonds. The method is being investigated for a patent. The bbl diameter is 1.200 and the whole rifle weighs 8.5 lbs.

Of course, your aware of the fellow that has a patent on a process now:

http://www.teludynetech.com/

The whole reason I did this thing is I read about his deal in Shot Gun News. This is something I thought about 30 years ago during the great 'polymer unfolding.' I'm sure others have too; it's just too obvious. The butt end of my project has a recoil reduction device that I'm looking into the patent of. Covered with a sock to keep from prying eyes. Best of luck on your adventure and thanks for sharing.

In that I don' t care about a patent my sleeve was pretty simple: a chunk of schd 40 1" aluminum pipe that I took a pipe reamer to make a taper that would set against the shoulder on an issue mauser barrel which is 1.10" dia. Three 8/32 threaded holes for set screws at the muzzle and a sharp 'rap' to the pipe to gall it to the barrel shoulder. Two pours of slow setting low viscosity epoxy (two pours to control shrinkage) and your done. Not a bad idea to seal the sleeve to the barrel from the outside with 5 min epoxy to make sure it doesn't end up all over the floor in the middle of the night!

Regards,
Mark

BTW, nice group! I know that if you are after a patent you are not about to discuss particulars....but....I can't help notice a rather layered look to the assembly.

Thanks for the reply. Frankly, I've never owned a 'one ragged hole' gun in my life. Oddly, all my Swedes don't do it, but Ive never been an iron sighter. The best I've ever shot one of my Swedes is with a Mojo sight. Of all the guns I own my old Mark X 7mm moose gun is the only MOA I own. Only MOA, with me behind it anyway!

I was really interested to see another idea in a sleeved barrel. My method involves 4 different "attachment" points. Believe me, I wish I could say more reguarding the way it's done. I am just protecting the method, not being a jerk.

I can say that there are only 2 peices of metal, the barrel and the sleeve. The "layers" you see, are just different angles and a recess cut into the crown. 11 degree to 90, recessed. Something to think about concerning epoxy is heat transfer. You dont want to insulate your inner barrel. You need a heat conducting additive to let the heat flow to the sleeve, otherwise, you are putting added stress and heat on the inner barrel. Keep in mind also different expansion rates for metal. If the inner heats up much faster than the sleeve, you will stress and crack the bbl or turn the epoxy to a pulverized mush. Just things that I have encountered with this project involving safety. I just wanted to share.

I did realize that there is another company doing sleeved barrels. Mine is a little different.

As far as the sleeve itself goes, it's 6061T6 Aluminum. Very strong and light with great heat transferring properties.

Before I spend any more money on the project, I am testing the longevity of the barrel and it's holding agents. So far, I have about 1000 rounds through it. I'll go forward when I hit 3000. Hopefully sometime this summer!

Good luck with your project! Fun stuff, ain't it?

Oh, I understand about the sock in the pic. I have patented a rifle rest for treestand use, and I am in the marketing process now. Had to "cover it up" plenty of times while it was in development! If you are interested in seeing it, shoot me a PM and I'll guide you to my website, don't want to break any Campfire rules. I like this site too much!

Have you actually experienced stress cracking? I used epoxy because that is what I had laying around. I call this my S--T LAYING AROUND project (SLA) because literally, it is made almost entirely from what I had on hand. The only thing I purchased was some fastenings to assemble the receiver, forend and mount with. I'm a welder by trade, lots of scrap aluminum laying around. The similarity is that schd 40 aluminum pipe is 6061. I understand about the heat, I never have shot more that 20 rnds in an hour. My choice for the filler was originally to be an aluminum filled polyurethane from PolyTek. Very low shrinkage and good bonding. Fun talking, and as I stated I understand not revealing proprietary stuff. Like I said, that's why I have a sock over my recoil device!

Yes I have had cracking early on with "way too close" tolerances and an epoxy without heat conducting additive. Sounds like you got a good epoxy with atomized aluminum, so it should work great. I have burned through a couple of barrels early on and found that the harmonics have powdered a couple of different epoxies when I split the barrel to inspect it. Had about 800 rounds when I checked it out. I'll be cutting this one when the testing is done. I'm expecting great results, if not, back to the drawing board. Fun stuff!

What kind of groups are you getting with your barrel? Is it a military barrel, or aftermarket? The inner barrel on mine is factory Remington.

No, you miss read me. I wanted the polyurethane but went with the epoxy instead - no aluminum filler. A slow setting epoxy that never really reaches complete hardness but stays flexible. You are obviously way ahead of me on the dynamics of the matter. What was the nature of the metal cracking? And where did it occur? I don't have any evidence, but I would think a barrel without taper would be better _ no 'wedge' effect with both heat and expansion. Have you looked into polyurethanes at PolyTek? Good people.

Like I said, the groups went from 2 3/4" to 11/16". That was last Sun at the range. Going to work up some loads for 140 gr MatchKing HPBT's but I gotta find some first. In Alaska, we don't have the best choice. A new Sportsman's Warehouse just opened in Soldotna, I'll give them a call but don't have high hopes. 6.5mm is not a real popular round here. Usually I have to order from outside. I burned up my last MatchKings trying to make the the dang thing print. Should have stopped after the first 20!

Dang, I wish I was back in Ak. I had a shop in Palmer when I lived there about 8 years ago. ROAR Rifleworks was the name. The name was changed to Extreme Rifleworks when I got hit with arthritis and my business partner took over. He is in Nebraska now.

You got it, a flexable adheisive works best but it needs to conduct heat, or the bbl gets way too hot. I had a fine stress split about 2 inches in front of the chamber on my first attempt with non-conducting epoxy! As far as my epoxy goes, I had a company make me a propriatory mix that I had to sign my life away for as far as liability goes.

Sorry, I missed the groups. I got all caught up in the sleeve and the rest of the conversation. How does your crown look?

Yes, a Straight barrel contour will help signifigantly.;-)

I sent a PM to ask for your website. Didn't get a response but certainly could be operator error.

I did send a response via PM. I'll shoot one to your e-mail address.