Muzzle damage--need advice

[Thunder50]

Picked up an old (1960) 336 rc in 35 Rem years ago, but never shot it. Took it to my friends house for him to put in his safe, so if I came to visit and it happened to be deer season, then I had a rifle. I brought it home after my friend died this Spring, but I am going to put a scope on it and take it back, so if the opportunity arises, I can go deer hunting with his sons (just like my nephews--he was like my little brother).

Got to looking at it this evening and noticed the bore was missing rifleing on one side of the muzzle (probably cleaning rod damage) for about 3/16th of an inch, in a 90 degree arc.
Anyone have any experience with this on their guns and does it still shoot, or did you have to cut the barrel back and have it recrowned?

I could run a 357max reamer in the muzzle and create a false muzzle down about 1/4" down the bore. This should work, but if it is not needed, no sense for me to do it.

Anyone run into this problem concerning cleaning rod damage and does the gun still shoot?


I could put another barrel on, as it is a simple job. Have a barrel, but it is for a gun with barrel bands, not forend cap and 2/3 mag. Hate cutting those little T slots.
Thanks

[Hagler]

Thunder50,

I think that your reamer idea would be the easiest solution, if the rifle is not hitting right. That counterboring process just gives you something like a recessed crown. Will the .357 Max reamer be big enough?

Shawn

[kirkwood]

Sounds like an opportunity to do some target shooting and find an answer to your question.

[TedH]

I agree, shoot it before you do anything.

[Ben_Rumson]

My Winny 73 muzzle is similar.. I get 3" inch groups @ 100 with JHPs... Many times even smaller than that.

[Tycer]

I'd ream it. It'll be a recessed target crown.

[rost495]

The same thing, basically, the quick load on MZ barrels seems to hamper accuracy actually but its deeper than 1/4 inch. Personally I'd shoot it first, having seen M98s that looked bad, give close to an inch with the right ammo.

Beyond that, i'd nip and recrown instead of rebarreling for sure.

Jeff

[O.S.O.K.]

Thunder50,

I think that your reamer idea would be the easiest solution, if the rifle is not hitting right. That counterboring process just gives you something like a recessed crown. Will the .357 Max reamer be big enough?

Shawn

I agree - I'd do that but it certainly wouldn't hurt a thing to shoot it first. But I would be surprised if the accuracy wasn't poor - the crown is very important to accurrate bullet flight. But you never know....

[Gun Smith]

I would bore the barrel down past the wear point. It is not critical how much too big the hole is. I think even a plain old 3/8" drill or reamer would work. The hole doesn't have to be smooth.

[Pisgah]

Before you leap into something: 1. Be sure the rifling is actually damaged, and; 2. be sure it is a problem.

A friend picked up an early-'60s 336 that was cosmetically challenged for $100. He brought it to me to check over, telling me as he handed it to me that he had found, to his distress, exactly what you describe. What I found out was tha he had never looked at MicroGroove rifling before and the bore was about as filthy as any I've ever seen. I got him to leave the rifle with me for a couple of days, and while I had it I soaked the bore about 20 times with Sweet's 7.62 until, finally, the patches went from blue to white. The bore turned out to be pristine, and the rifle shoots great. The same fellow has a Winchester 92 .38-40 that DOES have a damaged muzzle -- and when I say damaged I mean that the muzzle looks horribly wallowed-out and uneven. Because of eyesight issues, he limits his iron-sight shooting to 50 yards -- and at that range the little carbine will shoot 1" groups!

[Hobie]

Shoot it first. If it doesn't perform the counterbore will work. The Russians did that to their M91s by the thousands. If that doesn't suit, shorten the barrel. If THAT doesn't suit send it to Marlin for a rebarrel.

[KCSO]

I have never seen a rifle with crown damage thhat would shoot woorth a hoot. You will either need to cut the barrel back and recrown or cut a recess. If you cut a recess make sure it is concentric to the BORE and NOT the outside of the barrel.

[Old Ironsights]

Measure twice, cut once.

Shoot it first.

[Kansas Ed]

I think it depends on the bullet weight as to the impact of a damaged crown. For instance, a damaged crown with a easily influenced bullet will IMO show wide shot to shot variation over a heavy bullet with momentum behind it. If you remember, Winchester and Marlin in the early part of the 20th century just lopped the barrel off sort of square with the bore and called it good. While later in the century, fast moving light bullet rifles had more engineered crowns. On a 35 Rem. I would try heavy for caliber bullets and shoot it first. I would bet a weeks pay that with a scope, that rifle will shoot inside of 3 inches at 100 without a sweat.

When I was building handguns, we had more issues with our .22 LR's crowns than we did with the exact same crown on our .357's. That's what forms my opinion of the heavier bullet vs. light bullet theory.

The problem I see with the counterbore method, is that you are going to roll burrs into the grooves and off of the top of the lands, which will require some sort of lapping operation to make right, and that's in a best case scenario with the barrel pulled, put into a lathe and dialed in by the bore, which will require a snug gauge pin.

Never the less, shooting it first is the ONLY option for right now.

Ed

[kimwcook]

Yep, range time.

[marlinman93]

Shoot it before you do anything. If you find out it's not shooting well, then ream the last part to eliminate the wear, but don't ream or drill it with just anything, or you'll end up with a bad crown, and more troubles! The new "recessed crown" will have to be perfect too, or it will affect the gun's accuracy, so any rough edge, or burrs will just compound the problem.