So, I decided to take my rifle apart.

[Jerseymike]

So, I decided to take apart my rifle which I had made about two years ago. It hasnt been shot much, maybe 500 or so rounds down the pipe. The rifle is a bat action with a krieger barrel chambered in 243. The rifles shoots fairly well, 1/2-3/4 MOA. I was pretty happy with that. Honestly, I only took it apart because I was bored. Glad I did. I discovered a few things I was not too fond about.

The first thing I noticed is once I cracked the action for the barrel was that the barrel tenon threads were cut loose and had a good amount of play in them. As I dug further into it. I noticed that the chamber had been cut with a spoon. The face of the tenon looked like more of a roughing cut rather than a finish pass. Hard to tell from the shitty pics but you can see the flaws.



As I removed the surefire brake, I also noticed that the portion of the barrel which was turned down so the brake slips over the barrel, was also lacking quality. Very rough finish. I know it's only aesthetics but seriously. I paid for this kind of work?



Top two pics are the old work. Bottom pic is after I recut everything.

Well, to make a long story short. I pretty much hacked off the old tenon, cut new threads and chambered it. Took a finish cut for the surefire brake and recrowned it.

Photo of old chamber and new chamber. Mine left, old right. Don't mind the face of the tenon. I hadn't taken a finish pass yet.



Barrel tenon threads are now nice and tight with no play.






Without getting into a debate about the "right" way to chamber etc. I chambered the rifle using a steady rest, a Jacobs drill chuck in my tail stock with a solid pilot reamer.

Once I had it together, I took her out with the same loads as before.

The results. Prone on bipod with rear bag. Top pics is 3 shots, bottom pics are 5 shots per group. All groups were shot at 105 yards. That's where the target was set and I was too lazy to move up 5 yards to make it the perfect 100. :-)



Sorry, I don't have pics of the completed build. I took it all apart again to cerakote it.

Also, I'm pretty sure some will ask who originally built the rifle but I'm not going to say. Yes, it was from a reputable company. This is more of a, beware of what's out there thread. Even with a well known name you guys could still get junk.

Rant over.

[Apricotshot]

Considering all the work you did you probably should have just bought the parts for the rifle and done all the work yourself.

[Jerseymike]

Very true indeed, but at the time I purchased the rifle I was not capable of doing the work myself. From now on, I will be doing all the work myself.

[T2C]

I thought Krieger made their barrels with short cut chambers, so the gunsmith can finish ream the chamber to proper headspace. Do you think whoever originally installed the barrel used a rough chamber reamer or not enough cutting oil?

There is more than one way to do a good job and your end result looks good to me. The "right way" to cut a chamber is so that the end result is a properly cut, head spaced and polished chamber.

Nice work on your part.

[Jerseymike]

Thanks for the kind words.

As far as the original work, it looks as if the reamer whether it be a finishing or roughing reamer was constantly pushed in with the lack of lube and not clearing out the chips. When I cut a chamber theirs plenty of cutting fluid, cleaning and chip clearing. The barrel was a blank. No threads, chamber,etc.

[Jerseymike]

Fresh out of the oven.