Reader Forum

Land and Groove Diameters I have a Winchester Model 43 rifle chambered in .22 Hornet and need to replace the barrel. What differences, if any, are there between the bore, land and groove diameters for the .22 rimfire compared to .22 Hornet? I cannot find a factory replacement barrel and the original barrel is badly corroded inside through its entire length, giving poor accuracy poor and stuck fired cases. I’m looking to replace the barrel with one from Brownells.

Should I go with a barrel having a .223 or .224 inch bore diameter? If a suitable replacement can not be had, is a .22 long rifle caliber barrel liner suitable? Provided there is enough rifling remaining, run a soft lead slug through it and measure the diameters. If there isn’t enough rifling, run the slug through a,22LR barrel. The measurements will likely be the same for a .224 diameter Hornet bullet and a,22LR. A possible exception to this can arise if the .22LR barrel is attached to a Marlin.

This company uses Microgroove rifling for enhanced accuracy. Now for the glitch. There’s far more .22LR ammunition made than any other caliber. Millions and millions of rounds per week. Due to this volume case rim thickness and bullet diameters do vary from manufacturer to manufacturer. For example, some bullets mike out at .223 while others mike .224. So if you’re reviving the old Hornet with a,224 liner make certain the bullet of any ammunition selected for discharge through it matches the liner diameter.

Testing of several brands is both permissible and recommended. The .22LR being what it is, the rifle will soon let you know which one results in superior performance compared to other brands. Once you’re given the word, stick with the ammo the rifle tells you it likes best. Shotgun Barrel Rifling I am curious as to whether on not rifling can be put into an existing smoothbore shotgun barrel with positive results when using sabot slug ammunition?

It depends on the existing wall thickness of the barrel and whether rifling it might cause a dangerous weakness. If so, the result would be disastrous. Brownells offers free copies of a parts source list for out-of-production firearms. As we recall, that list includes specialized gunsmithing services such as relining and barrel manufacture/ alterations for both handguns and shoulder arms.

Call the guys at Montezuma, IA, get your copy of the list and be prepared to ship your shotgun barrel to one or more of the services you’ll find there. There is little doubt in our collective minds that rifling improves the accuracy of saboted shotgun slugs. In some cases, the improvement nears amazing.

Robert Browning BPR .22 Magnum A fellow shooter asked me if the pins holding the innards of a Browning pump rifle in .22 magnum caliber can be drifted out of the receiver left to right or right to left without damage to the receiver or pins. Researching through my book collection did not yield the answer. I then measured the hole diameters on both sides of the receiver and they appear to be the same size. My guess would be pins go out either way and cannot drop out as they are held in by the receiver cover.

Also, are takedown/assembly instructions and a good schematic available for this firearm? We have never written up the BPR .22. The most plausible reason is this firearm went out of production ten years prior to our first issue! A search of our files and the Internet turned up almost nothing on your rifle. Even the Browning web site doesn’t list an owner’s manual for it. We do this rifle was a cousin of Browning’s BPS shot gun.

The latter had parallel sided and equal length pins that could be drifted in either direction to ready the trigger mechanism for removal. Most present day pump action and semi-auto shotguns employ the same set-up. See Mossberg, Remington and Winchester for proof. We wouldn’t completely abandon the cause despite our coming up zero. Call Browning (Now Browning-Winchester) at and ask for customer service. If it’s a good day they may agree to photo copy a BPR 22 Owner’s Manual and send it to you.

At least that would contain a good schematic and field stripping instructions. Falcon Revolver I have a revolver on the bench, made and proofed in Germany in 1969 that needs a cylinder. All the chambers are swollen out to .243, and even standard .22 ammo sticks. The problem is I can’t find the company listed anywhere. The importer is Spesco Corp., Atlanta GA, and I can’t find them either. Where can I get parts?

Mike The only listing the Standard Catalog of Firearms shows for Falcon is a M1911 clone made or imported by Norrhridge Arms, CA, a company now out of business. The revolver you took in appears nowhere in our files but if the cylinder is as misshapen as you indicate we suspect very inferior materials and/or excessive abuse by a previous owner. Send a photo of the gun to the NRA Museum, Waples Mill Road, Fairfax, VA 22030 and include a self-addressed return envelope.

Don’t be surprised if their response includes Spesco, like Northridge, no longer exists. That pretty much restricts your search for parts to the aftermarket, a search that may be a tiring one if the gun is as old as you believe. Name S&W Model 1000 I have an early 80’s S&W Model 1000 shotgun chambered in 20 gauge that had a broken firing pin. I replaced the

firing pin and all went as planned until the time to test fire. The shell carrier will not move unless you push the breech bolt release. Is this correct or did I make a mistake in the reassembly department? I’ve also noticed the piston shock absorber has deteriorated and is no more. The last time this gun was used was an Argentine dove hunt and I figured that crud was fouling like all the other crud. Can I replace the factory part with an Oring? If so, what dimensions? We wouldn’t advise an O-Ring.

It’s not made of stern enough stuff. Though S&W has discontinued the M1000, they may still have parts or could direct you to another source. Usually, when a major manufacturer decides to end production on this or that model, some enterprising person offers to buy up spare parts for it fully realizing an out-of-production gun is a gun that’s going to be needing parts, and probably sooner than later. High Standard Victor I have a .22 caliber High Standard Victor.

When shooting the gun chambers the live round but stove pipes the spent case after the fourth or fifth round. I inspected the ejector and it appears to be in good shape with no sign of wear. I took it to a local gunsmith but he couldn’t find any visible problem. Robert R. You didn’t mention the age of the pistol but if it is quite old the problem may be a weak driving spring. There is also the possibility of a fouled chamber slowing down the bolt, Check it out.

What we really think the problem is most likely to be is an overly loose extractor that is letting go of the spent round too soon for the ejector to kick out. Loose extractors can be replaced. They can also be tightened by heating up the claw end to cherry red and squeezing it a bit to narrow the gap. Bart Refinishing Gun Metal I enjoyed the article "Refinishing Gun Metal" by Brian E.

Capps in the April 2010 issue, and have been using his methods, however, I have a questions that has plagued me when I reblue a rifle barrel. Mr. Capps didn’t mention how he keeps from bluing the rifle bore. When I plug the bore ends of a .22 LR barrel with rubber plugs I still have to touch up the lips that don’t get blued under the plugs. If I don’t use the rubber plugs I end up with a blued bore and a lot of work getting it clean and shiny.

I even have problems with the ends when I run a patch of bluing remover through the bore. What’s the trick to keeping the bore shinny? Carl We sent this question directly to author Brian Capps. Here is his response. The problem you mention is one of the reasons, aside from cost, that I like to use the Belgian bluing process. As the barrel is heated only by the boiling water, and not a bluing solution, I’ve found very little problem with the bluing getting into the bore itself.

After the barrel gets nice and hot, I remove it and allow a few seconds for the water to evaporate, then apply the bluing material to the outer portion of the barrel with a swab. On the outer barrel itself, I can be a bit sloppy with the swab, but take a few extra seconds to be more careful around the muzzle and breech. I’ve never used plugs for this type of bluing and have gotten very little, if any, bluing compound on the inside of the barrel.

S&W 52 Is the S&W M52 modified from a Illinois Highway Patrol 9mm handgun with the barrels left at .355 bore size but rechambered for the .38 Special? J. A. Regretfully departed among target shooters, Smith and Wesson’s Model 52 came out of an Army Marksmanship training project taken on by S&W. The pistol’s platform was based on the Model 39 but required re-engineering due to the desire/demand for the gun to fire .38 wadcutter ammunition for Conventional, National Match-type competition shooting.

A Model 39 barrel could not be substituted without going back to the drawing board. Among other factors to be considered, the 9mm is a high pressure round where the .38 wadcutter is not. AG