Reader Forum

Headspace on the M1 Grand Could you supply me with the proper procedure for headspacing an M1 Garand? I have a set of .30-06 go/no-go gauges. If you mean checking the headspace in a caliber .30-06 you already have the means on hand. If the bolt closes on the no-go gauge, headspace is excessive. If you mean adjusting the headspace, it’s not that simple. Military armorers used to keep boxes full of bolts near their benches. The bolts carried revision numbers.

A bolt with a higher revision number than the one on the bolt in the suspect rifle could be dropped in to gain about .002 inches, possibly eliminating the excess. They also were well supplied with boxes full of spare barrels. You can’t set back the barrel of a Garand as you do bolt-action rifle. It starts a chain reaction.

The gas piston has to be cutoff in a lathe, all parted surfaces faced perfectly flush, and the piston assembly has to be silver-soldered back on at the point that exactly equals the number of inches the barrel has been set back to offset the headspace. The operating rod must be shortened likewise, as must the stock, and the rifle rechambered. If the headspace problem with your rifle is minimal, say .002 inches, have the bolt hard-chrome plated. That will probably make up the difference.

Anew barrel should also be considered. An overhaul like the one described here would be far more costly in dollars and time’which is why those GIs kept so many bolts and barrels at hand. Tapping a Savage Receiver I have an earlier Savage Model 99 in .303 Savage. My customer wants to have a receiver sight installed. I have a Williams 99S receiver sight for a Savage. The Williams is drilled for 6- 48.

The receiver of the Savage has at one time been drilled and tapped for 8-40, but the hole spacing exceeds that of the Williams sight. Therefore, either the Williams sight must be opened up to accommodate 8-40, or the receiver drilled and tapped for 6- 48. If I alter the Williams sight, I’ll still have to drill and tap one 8-40 hole. My problem is: How do I drill a hole on the curved receiver that is "normal" (dead perpendicular) to the receiver?

I called Savage Arms, and they understand the problem, but they don’t have a factory jig to do the work, nor did they offer a suggestion. I have a Forster jig, but it won’t work on this type of problem. I have a bench mill but I’m not sure if I can use it to do the work. I don’t want bad holes; I’ve seen what can happen. I appreciate any advice you can give. Mike Grinnell Haliburton, Ontario Your problem begins with a Williams sight that hasn’t been made in about 20 years.

One reason for ceasing production is that owners of Savage 99s such as the one you mention had no desire to have holes drilled in the receivers. The sight you need is a Williams FP99, but that’s out of production as well. Maybe you could turn one up on the internet (e Bay) or by shopping around in the old parts market. Try Gun Parts Corp. Antique Gun Parts or get a free copy of Brownells" "Parts Source List’ and let your fingers do the walking.

While you have Brownells on the phone, you might as well order a Palmgren Drill Press Vise, which can be used for rounded stock and will hold it steady during drilling. Hopefully, one of the 6-48 holes in your old 99S sight will match up with one of the 8-40 receiver holes to align the sight with the bore. Drill that hole out to accept an 8-40 screw and fasten the sight to the receiver after you drill out the second sight hole to 8-40.

Secure the receiver in the Palmgren, use the enlarged sight hole as a drill guide to open up another hole in the receiver. Make no change in the vise angle and use a Tru-Tapper (from B- Square) in your quill to tap the hole. But don’t charge ahead just yet.

If it appears the process outlined above will not result in a proper, centerbore fit for the sight, please suggest to the rifle owner that he forget about more holes in the receiver and join you in the search for an FP99 sight. (It’s either that or paying you for your time’plus phone charges’in trying to find one for him.) Interarms Stock I need a stock for an Investarms Shotgun. They were distributed by Sile, Inc., of Ossian, Indiana. Fred Sile has passed away, and his place is locked up.

I have searched the net for Investarms, but have had no luck. I would appreciate any help you can provide. We suggest you try Boyds Gunstock or Wenig Custom Fitting Kart Barrel I am experiencing some difficulty with installing a Kart match barrel in a 1911 pistol. Actually the barrel seems to be fit, but is perhaps a little too tight.

The slide will hand-cycle just fine, and with factory loads it also cycles okay; but with target handloads the empty cases do not move the slide far enough to eject, though they do leave the hammer in the cocked position. This 1911 has a reddot scope mounted on the slide, and if the slide is off the gun it will function with the same handloads. I have both of the books by Jerry Kuhnhausen on the 1911, and in the back of one is an article on barrel, link, frame timing, and the ways to test for this.

The first of the three tests is for slide-barrel clearance, with the slide barrel and bushing (no recoil spring or guide and no slide-stop installed) on the frame, move the slide back and check for slide to barrel clearance with apiece of. 015 shim stock. I do not have this much clearance, but I can insert a. 010 piece of shim stock. To get the clearance I need where should I remove metal, or is

there another place I should be looking for a solution? I have built several target 1911s without any problems’ perhaps just dumb luck’but the more I do the more I learn. Any information you can give me would be appreciated. All top-of-the-line match barrels are made oversize so they can be precisely fit to the pistol’s slide and frame. The September 1997 issue carried an article on fitting up Fred Kart’s new barrel system.

You probably aren’t using the same barrel we used in the text, but all you need to know about how these barrels should be mated to an M1911 is there. And Fred, understandably, knows more about his barrels than anybody else. Magazine Tuning Thanks for the great mag. Will there ever be an article on the repair and adjustment of magazines? I am working on the feeding of some Luger commercial mags in good shape, but they are causing feeding problems.

Also disassembly of Luger mags is a problem for cleaning and replacing parts. I have also had problems with my AMT .22 Magnum semi auto, and others. A generalized article would be a boon. References appreciated. Thanks. Bruce La Londe Philadelphia, Pennsylvania An article appeared in the March 1996 issue on the High Standard .22caliber target pistol. In that article, magazine tuning was addressed. Much of what was said can be applied to other pistol magazines, but check the 9mm ammo being used.

It takes a bit of muscle to motivate the Luger action, and sometimes the standard 115-grain FMJ doesn’t have the "oomph" to do it. Switching to the 124-grain FMJ frequently resolves feeding problems. And by the way, don’t bother to disassemble the magazines. Simply toss them into kerosene or mineral spirits for a couple of days, flush them out, dry them with compressed air or a hand-held hair dryer, and lightly lubricate.

Double Trigger Diagrams I am looking for assembly/disassembly diagrams and a book for a Marlin Model 90DT "double trigger" shotgun. I have one in my shop for repair, and I am unable to get repair info. Any help will be appreciated. The Model 90 O/U was made by Marlin at the request of Sears & Roebuck. These guns had the prefix of 103 in their serial numbers, and were not stamped with "Marlin Firearms" until after 1945. They have not been made since 1963.

There are no schematics on the gun, which has a malleable iron receiver and soft-soldered barrels/ribs. Before attempting any repair, contact the Marlin Firearms Historian North Haven, CT 06473) and ask about the shotgun’s ability to accept modern loads. Mauser Info? I have three 1894 Brazilian Mauser receivers and would like to get the parts diagrams and assembly/disassembly instructions. GPC does not list these for the 94 Brazilian. Can you give me some advice about where the next best place would be to look?

The 1893 and 1894 were very similar. We are sending a schematic for the ’93 that appears in Jack First’s Catalog, Volume II. He may also have parts Take down in- Technical Assistance Hotline To access AGA’s Technical-Assistance Hotline, call between 1 and 3 p.m. ET, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday only. For assistance at all structions and much more, appear in Jerry Kuhnhausen’s Mausers’A Shop Manual, available from VSM Publishers or Brownells.

Remington Orifices I have a Remington 1100 that insists on being a single-shot. I stove-piped a 3-inch Magnum steel load. That’s as close as I’ve come to having it eject and load from the magazine. All other types of loads, for the most part, won’t return far enough to reset the trigger. It’s as clean as a whistle and I’ve tried the dry lubes. Also, can you give me a tip on preventing the top 1 inch or so of an Ithaca Model 37 buttstock from cracking/breaking at the receiver juncture? Thanks.

On the 1100, the gas port size is larger for steel shot. Check the number of gas orifices in your barrel. One is a Magnum and is a number-48 drillsize diameter, but anything other than lead shot will cause problems. A steelshot Magnum barrel has two gas ports. Each is a number-45 drill in diameter. Don’t just open the hole in your barrel. Too much gas will cause too much wear and tear. With the Ithaca, try installing a pin in the stock. Balky Browning A customer brought in a Browning B80.

His complaint was that after it was fired a few times with low-brass shells it started to jam. Upon inspection, it appeared to be dirty, so I cleaned it thoroughly, reassembled it, and test-fired it. The first three times it cycled fine. I reloaded, and on the first shot the dan email to Chick Blood, Technical Editor, at

(continued from previous page) shell was not ejected from the chamber. After ejecting manually, the next shell ejected fine, and the third stayed in the chamber. I called Browning tech support, and was told that they do not service this gun any longer, but suggested loosening the forearm nut so that there was a little play in the forearm. I did this and test fired again with similar results, some would eject and some would not. The ejector appears to be okay, and the gas ports are clean.

Do you have any suggestions? As originally produced, the B80 required a spacer or "ring" that fit between the receiver and the forearm in order to use low-brass ammo. Browning no longer has any of these spacers available. We suggest you investigate the aftermarket for parts. Start by calling Brownells and asking for a free copy of their parts source list for out-of-production firearms, and don’t forget Gun Parts Corp. and Jack First, either. Building Mausers I want to build a couple of rifles on Mauser ’98 actions.

These are getting scarce and more expensive. I see Model 48s are far less costly. Are these pretty much the same as far as strength, barrel threads, and parts interchangeability? I want to build a 7 x 57mm (for which I have a new barrel) and I want to build a .425 Express’in case an elephant ever comes walking down my street. Jim Aebersold San Diego, California The Model 48, manufactured in Yugoslavia on Czech machinery, has dimensional differences that will complicate you goals.

The action OAL for a Standard Model ’98 is 8.750 inches, while the action OAL for the Model 48 is 8.500. Bolt body length for an Oberndorf ’98 is 6.370 inches; for the M48 it’s 6.115. Parts, such as firing pins, would not be interchangeable. The M48 was chambered for the 7.9mm cartridge and would probably be suitable for a 7 x 57mm conversion, but we strongly recommend you contact S. A. A. M. I. Newtown, CT 06470) on the subject of chamber pressure before seriously considering a bump up to the .425 Express.

We further recommend you secure two books. The first is Ludwig Olson’s Mauser Bolt Actions. The second is Kuhnhausen’s Mausers’A Shop Manual. Both are available from Brownells. Going Pro? I am a hobbyist who is thinking about gunsmithing for more than a hobby. What are your suggestions? Where should I start? What should I read? How soon do I need a FFL? Thank you for your attention to my questions. A lists of books you should read on the subject would be far too long to include here.

Actually you never stop reading and learning about this trade because guns change from year to year. For a basic beginning, contact a correspondence school. Their materials will provide the fundamentals. The AGA offers several basic books, and the American Gunsmithing Institute has dozens of video tapes containing information not included in any correspondence course.

In addition, you should purchase a complete set of Gun Digest’s Disassembly/Assembly books (there are five or six volumes) and the combined handgun/longarm edition of the NRA Guide to Firearm Assembly. You will need a dealer FFL in hand when you open to the public, and can secure an application by contacting the Atlanta, Georgia, office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. The nearest BATF office to your location should be able to put you in touch with the Atlanta office.

Marlin Thread Can anyone tell me the size of the screw thread of the lever screw on the Marlin 1894 Cowboy rifle? Someone brought me in a rifle they had buggered up, and I need to clean out the hole and clean up the threads on the lever screw. Thank you. Francis Carlin Greene, New York We believe it is a 12-28 thread, but suggest you confirm this with Marlin