Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors Barrel indexing

Hey guys, after taking a good look at the 99F I recieved from my father I noticed that the barrel is rotated/tightened a few degrees past true on the reciever.
Is this an easy fix or more serious?

I still can't figure out how to make a picture show up with my post so I have added a link.
Thanks, Duncan

is it hard to get the forearm on??? Any head spacing issues?

And if I am looking at this properly... it looks like it might actually be slightly shy of top dead center.

Drew I'm new to 99s but the forearm is a nice fit with no issues and as far as headspacing it shoots real well and the lever draws up nice and snug.
I am assuming the barrel threads are right handed so it's just over center.

99's weren't built for long range sniping missions or to shoot 1/2" 100 yard groups.

Don't over analyze it dude.

Shoot it, hunt it, enjoy it

I'd look into it if it were mine. Have the head space checked,take the forearm off to look for past work, stuff like that. I don't think it came from the factory like that. As far as (don't over analyze it dude), get some sleep at night by having some one have a quick look if your not up to it.

I've got a safe full of them and as far as I know all of the barrels could be over rotated a few degrees past true.

I shoot them all and they all shoot just fine. They work or.....they don't work.

I am going to sleep like a baby tonight.

My dad said a gunsmith worked on it late 50's early 60's and admitted to the misalingment. Guess my dad didnt press the issue about getting it fixed right.
I would like to know how a gunsmith would go about correcting this though.

There s a sticky near the top of the page. Here is one item from the sticky.

How to tighten a loose TD barrel by Bushwacker...


My gunsmith taught me how to fix this problem. We tightened two of mine. The problem is these get the threads banged up so the trick is to return the metal to where is was.

Take a small ball peen hammer. Grind the face of it smooth so it will not ding the metal. Starting on the threads LIGHTLY tap the threads straight down all the way around. Take your time and work all the way around the barrel. Then take and lightly tap the shoulder of the barrel that butts to the reciever and make sure all of that metal is laying back down. Take your time, work all the way around and lightly tap. You are only trying to move the little dinks and out of place metal back to where it started, not making the barrel out of round with heavy strikes.

Next starting on the chamber end, lightly tap the top of the threads in a motion towards the muzzle, like you are lightly glancing the face of the hammer towards the muzzle, again this is light tapping. You want to move the metal towards the muzzle end that is dinked up, not the rest of the threads. You then do the same for the threads at the muzzle end towards the chamber end, this helps the threads pull the barrel into the shoulder of the reciever. Apply grease to threads and try it. If it needs more, start the process over again.

I did not think this was going to do anything until I saw it with my own eyes. I had a very loose Savage 250-3000 model. It would go past the index by a good 110-120 degrees. When we finished I had to use the forearm to get it the last 1/8 of an inch to index. It is now bank vault tight and has been for the last 300 rounds. Hope this helps. Ryan

Probably could remove the barrel and place a piece of shim stock between the action and barrel (think washer). It would be thin, and a gunsmith worth his salt could calculate the thickness pretty close. It would lengthen the headspace by whatever the thickness of the shim is, and this may or may not be an issue.
Good luck,
Rick

Ryan, when you are talking of tapping the barrel threads lightly. You do mean all the threads at the one time? Not working around individual threads, correct?

Also how do you get inside the receiver to tap the those threads?
Particularly from the chamber end.

No doubt this works, I did this to the barrel threads as described in the sticky and it tightened up fine, just like to have things a little clearer in my mind

Johno

Most gunsmiths will mark the barrel and receiver with a line ,so when they take a barrel off it gets put back exactly where it was before. Take the forearm off and see if there are any marks on the bottom of the barrel. I know the barrel threads can be "set" a little to make up for a few thousands in fit,but it may require a thin shim,and that does affect headspace. using it with a scope i probably just leave it alone, with open sights it might be a P.I.T.A. . Don

Don, Yes there is a line/mark on the bottom or the barrel. Just dont think he was very careful to get it straight.

Does anybody know what the barrel thread pitch is?

I did a little figuring just guessing 20 threads per inch and that would mean I could rotate this barrel the 3 degrees that it needs to be straight and the head spacing would only change by .00042" (less than a half a thou.)

How about headspace tolerance? + or - how many thou?

The threads should be 12 threads per inch. I would say if you only have to move it 3 degrees or about .001 i dont think headspace will be a issue. Don

Assuming that the head space was right when the index mark was made, wouldn't returning it to the proper alignment make things right again? Shouldn't he be more worried about the head space now verses where it was when the index mark was made?

Regarding take down barrel fit, I have a G in .300 that has a "loose" fit. It shot about 3" inch, 100 yard groups when I first got it. I used a small piece of aluminum foil as a shim to tighten things up. I placed about a 1/4" x 1/8" piece between the receiver and barrel and tightened it 'till it lined up and was snug. It now shoots 1" groups. I've shot hundreds of rounds, all reloads, through that rifle and have hunted with it for several years. If there's a head space problem, I've never seen evidence of it.

I did the ball-peen bit on a 250TD that was slightly over-rotated and it worked a charm. Also have an extra barrel that wouldn't quite rotate into place (bought on the internet). Had my gunsmith shave a little more than 1/1000 off the barrel to get it to fit.

The problem is ... that the gumsmith did not run his line across the barrel & reciever, he only marked the barrel so he was eyeballing it back straight.

I can't believe anyone would recommend ignoring this, for any reason or on any level. Get it checked out and realigned.

Well, it is better than beating on the lever with a maul.

Does anybody know the torque spec for a barrel to reciever?

If the barrel is over tightened by a few degrees, it will create less headspace,i dont see this as any problem as long as the rifle functions fine, at 12 threads per inch,one full turn out would be .083 thousands, if you take 360 degrees and divide .083 by 360 you end up with .00023 ,and therefore three degrees equal .00069, which is roughly less the 3/4 of 1 thousands. hardly a worry, especially its on the "TIGHT" side !!!!!