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.

[Avtech850]

Somebody was drunk or just plain didn't care when that first chamber was cut.
It was similar problems with smith's that didn't care that drove me to buy my own equipment and learn to do my own work as well.
Great job by the way!