Winchester 94 barrel fitting question

[O.S.O.K.]

OK, my numrich barrel kit arrived. I screwed the barrel into the receiver and it comes up 1/4 turn short of lining up the ejector slot - which I figure is good. So it needs a little fitting. Do I just carefully remove material off of the barrel chamber end where it's contacting the receiver? It's making contact where the beveled part is (ahead of the 12:00 placement of the ejector slot - as you screw the barrel in). Won't take much to get it to fit perfect.

I'm thinking that yes, I carefully file that spot until the barrel fits snuggly as correctly aligned - and then check the headspace. If the headspace is too tight, I can always correct that when I ream the chamber for AI.

I have a bastard mill file that I'll use for this... not a dremel

Appreciate any help from those with some experience with this.

[mescalero1]

Coat with lapping compound, turn barrel in and out untill desired position is obtained, PATIENCE is VITAL here remove barrel CLEAN all lapping compound off. Only coat the contact surfaces.

[O.S.O.K.]

so place some lapping compound right where it's making contact against the receiver at the back - what grit level? I think the coarsest I have is 300... that do or would 600 or 800 be better?

And thank you for the information!

[mescalero1]

go with the finer stuff you don't have that far to go, be PATIENT

[BenT]

Just to make sure your going to be correct for head space. The barrel should thread in until it's flush with the receiver. Use a metal straight edge to see when it's threaded until flush. I had to take about .010 off the end of my numrich barrel. Since it was threaded in too far when the extractor groove was lined up. So make sure your not too far in already. Good luck!

[Griff]

This is job I leave to professionals.

[Malamute]

I wouldn't lap it in, that will effect the receiver as well, and that will forever change fitting any standard barrel. You want to fit the barrel to the receiver, not the receiver to the barrel. The Winchester factory barrels I've messed with came pretty close to indexing OK. Lapping yours in may adversly effect ever fitting a factory barel again.

You are already close, about 1/8 turn, maybe a touch more, will get your torque you want, 1/4 turn may be a little wide, but don't try to get it to turn up straight up by hand, or you won't have any torque room left. The rear of the barrel shoulder should be square to butt against the receiver face. If there's a bevel making cintact, it should be squared up to make even contact as it's torqued.

[awp101]

This is job I leave to professionals.

Which is why I dropped my barrel kit and Sears 54 off at my local smith yestiddy...

[O.S.O.K.]

Thanks gentlemen.

The shoulder of the barrel where the end is reduced to threading is making contact with the front of the receiver and there's about 1/8 turn to go - one "flat" of the barrel. So that should torque down - seems like a lot of torque.

And there seems to be room left inside - there's a little gap between the end of the barel and the points where the receiver is milled flat on the inside - I guess I'd have to remove the extractor from the bolt to check the headspace prior to lining the extractor cut up...

And I'm not sure it's actually making contact inside on the bevel - I think the limiting factor is the shoulder described above - its clearly making contact.

[Mike Hunter]

First of all, don’t lap it in. As stated earlier that affects both mating surfaces.
Take it to a gunsmith with a lathe, and who knows how to use it.
The 94 is threaded .13/16 -20. So one turn of the barrel will move the barrel in .05 (or fifty thou)
With that in mind, yes ¼ turn is a bit much, you want 1/8 – 1/16, basically half a flat. So depending on where she is lining up, you will need to take off .003 - .006 (three to six thou) off the shoulder.
A good lathe & operator can do that in about 5 min, I don’t , don’t think you can do that accurately with a file.

Now think about this for a second; lets say you take a little too much off? and the barrel is too loose, three thous is about the thickness of paper, now you will have to set back the shoulder a complete revolution to thighten it back up. That would require someone with a good lathe (hopefully you would have learned your lesson), but now the chamber will need to be deepened, oops forend wood need to be cut back 50 thou.

Mike

[Malamute]

Thought of something else. The headsapce isnt the major concern, don't try to get the headspace "perfect" by not getting the barrel indexed straight, it isnt to your benefit to do so. Index it properly and then check headspace, even if it isn't perfect,(meaning a bit loose), it isn't really a big issue in 94's and the rounds they use and pressures they produce unless it's WAY out of spec. Besides an oversize locking bolt, the only way to adjust the headspace will be to set the barrel back a full turn and rechamber it.

[O.S.O.K.]

Again, thank you for the feedback and advice. All helpful. I will say that the lapping isn't a bad thing in this case as I have no intention of ever changing the barrel out again - I'm only doing it this time because the original had pitting.

[Malamute]

Somebody down the road may want to rebarrel it some day. I generally have few qualms about modifying a gun, but generally do it in ways that could be restored. Tho, of course, my standard thought or reply when someone says something about my modifications is, "well, it's my gun, and I want it this way."


What caliber and configuration was the original barrel? How bad was the pitting? Just curious.

[O.S.O.K.]

The original barrel is 30-30 and the pitting wasn't that bad - could easlily be used for a 32 Special or 38-55 rebore. Though, the barrel shank is a little chewed up due to my using a pipe wrench on it to remove... figured I wasn't going to use it again... would rather have not done that but I'm a little impatient...

I just finished the barrel install. Decided to carefully remove material from the shoulder until it was hand-tight at 1/8 turn. Did that and then placed the barrel in the vice (made some aluminum pads for it) and tightened the barrel to alingnment - is very snug. Checked the headspace and it appears to be just right - there's no slop whatsoever - the boltface contacts the case head. I'll put a couple pieces of scotch tape on a case and check again after I rechamber. But it looks perfect.

Oh, I forgot to mention something to you guys. I'm a card carrying member of WECSOG.

That's Wile E. Coyote School Of Gunsmithing.

I've learned that if you are very slow and careful with a mill file, you can do a lot. Yes, a lathe would be preferable, but I don't see one in my shop at this time (might have to fix that...).

Next step: recut the chamber to Ackley Improved. Then, I need to fix the rear inlay of the handguard as it appears to be configured for an older 94. But that'll be cake.

I had to fabricate a new screw for the magazine cap (had to drill out the old one) but that's done already.

Onward.

[O.S.O.K.]

Here's a new post on the results: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=9678

Thanks again guys!