# Finish chambering and headspacing new barrel



## Melvin Edwards (Aug 7, 2015)

About to finish chambering a Mauser and set the headspace.  First time attempting this.  Any advice would be appreciated.  Particularly wondering how long a cautious approach to this project will take.


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## EAGLE EYE 444 (Aug 7, 2015)

Lawd, Have Mercy. 


Maybe somebody else can answer your question because I am not qualified.  However, my short answer would be to give a cautious approach of at least another 50-60 years or so.  

I really think that you need to forget about this crazy idea of you even being around firearms !!!!  You better stick to sling-shots instead !!!!  

Heck, I am surprised that you are even allowed to handle bow and arrows too.  

Are you still frequenting Diamond Hill ?????  Dang, that was the only place that I've ever seen that over the years actually drew the outhouse all the way up to the back door!!!!   That alum was some powerful stuff for sure.   

Back in the late 1970's, I was vacationing down in Daytona Beach and I remember seeing a pretty girl swimming out there about 40 yards out in water and she was holding onto some dude.  She had on a little black bikini too.   Every little bit she would grab his head and do her best to hold him under water until all of the bubbles would stop coming up to the surface.  While that dude's head was under water, I asked her just where was she from and just what the heck was she doing.  She told me that she was from Georgia and that this dude's insurance policy was paid in full and she wanted to cash in on the big bonanza of $500,000 when that dude drowned!!!!  

I told her to make it snappy then because I would be glad to give her a ride back to Georgia with a pocket full of insurance money.  

I think that back many years ago, I remember seeing a "wanted poster" on you and best I can recall, it had the  street name of "Dawkins" listed on there as well !!!  I remember that the Habersham County Deputy was not real friendly during the visiting hours on Sunday afternoon at 2 PM.

I also think there is still a chic flick theatre in Hot Lanta that is still looking for some muscle guy from back around 1970 that tore some of the seats completely loose from the floor too.  


Just remember.....PopGuns, PopGuns, PopGuns.  Yep, you might need to stick with just PopGuns !!!!!

As for me, I like Darts....just ask your right foot !!!  I also like Drive-In Movie stolen speakers that were ultimately hooked up to an old record player that ONLY played the theme song of the "Beverly Hillbillys" sang by Earl Scruggs and Lester Flatt and ONLY at 2 AM.  Yes, it was ONLY played at the 78 RPM speed and NOT the Standard 33 RPM like it should have been !!!  Crazy times for sure !!!!

Oh, I forgot, stolen apples were good too !!!!


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## jglenn (Aug 7, 2015)

are you using a short chambered barrel to start with or chambering on a lathe?


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## Melvin Edwards (Aug 9, 2015)

A ghost from the past?  I'm in deep doo doo now. I may need that rifle sooner than I thought.
Short chambered barrel.


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## Melvin Edwards (Aug 9, 2015)

Wondered who she paid to chum the water....your plan was sound in concept but flawed in detail.  Too much chum.  Surrounded by ravenous sharks I was able to dive and swim away, making my way to the beach while those ravenous predators gorged on copious gobs of bloody fish guts. Might have known it was an old Lincoln County boy.


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## jglenn (Aug 10, 2015)

if you are starting with a short chambered barrel it's not bad at all...  get yourself go and nogo gauges for the caliber.. you also will need a barrel vice and receiver wrench.. the Wheeler mauser receiver wrench works fine. some folks will simply add a piecwe of tape to the base of the go gauge to create a no go but   gauges are fairly cheap and you can always sell them on Ebay



screw the barrel on a tighten it up (95 Ft lbs will do).  I use Mobil one wheel bearing grease  on the threads to keep them from galling but any anti seize will do.  You can then dip your reamer with pretty much any cutting fluid(Brownells DoDrill is fine)  and start finish cutting the chamber by hand.. Brownells also sells long handles to hold any reamer made today.. simply turn it slowly by hand and makes 3-5 turns... stop by pulling the reamer out(turning it in the same cutting direction) never turn a reamer backwards..  clean the chamber and barrel by blowing it out after shooting some carb cleaner up into it.. I also use a chamber mop to insure the chamber has NO leftover chips... Then clean the reamer by dipping it  in some Mineral Spirits and blowing it all over to remove all the chips

now take you go gauge hang it on the bolt face... slowly chamber it and see if the bolt will close(gently). it will take you several of these cycles to approach the minimum headspace..  as you get close stop after ever 2-3 turns and measure your headspace again.. eventually you will feel the handle slowly beginning to close.. at that point you are within a few thousands of being right.. continue until the handle will close on the go gauge with very little effort..( don't force it)  .. once the handle will close fully.... Stop and try your no go gauge) it should not close at all.  at that point you are done...  I do like to finish my chambers with 220 grit emory cloth wrapped in a slotted bit I made just for that purpose.. you can also remove the barrel and break the edge of the end of the chamber to keep its sharp edge from scratching you brass as it's chambered... simply screw it back on and torque it to the same 95 ft lbs.

if you want to see how much you have to cut prior to starting, you can screw the barrel onto the receiver with the go gauge in place held onto by the bolt.. once the barrel stops measure the distance between the receiver face and the barrel matting surface. that is the appox. amount to have to ream out for minimum head space.

most short chambered barrels are about .010-.015 short

total time might be 30 - 60 minutes your first time...once you are all setup.

I did quite a few this way why learning to thread and chamber them myself.. still cut the last few thousands by hand..   don't worry, the reamer will follow the existing chamber just fine and not cut  off center no matter how bad you are...

Brownells used to have a nice article on chambering a short chambered Remington 700 barrel so you might search their site for it...same logic applied to the mauser actions..


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## Melvin Edwards (Aug 10, 2015)

Perhaps we never can escape our past.  Just as I've planted my feet on the path of the straight and narrow, like a relentless Phoenix rising from the ashes of desperately troubled days the one man single handedly responsible for my spiraling decent into the depths of absolute moral depravity reappears.  Luring me off with a promise of meeting a sweet pretty girl, (I never found what happened the THAT girl), he instead delivered me into the clutches of the most wantonly wicked creature that I've met to this day.  And that single long ago encounter set the tone of my relationships with women.  Blithely oblivious to my keen intelligence, finely honed sense of humor, warm, sensitive, nurturing and caring nature, they have used and abused my magnificent body for their own sensuous pleasure and casually discarded me like a soiled t.....  you get the drift.

And I still don't understand why that deputy was so incensed at my half hearted attempt to scalp a miscreant with the audacity to interrupt my serene, peaceful commune with the good Rev Ezra Brooks.  After all, despite my efforts to dislodge him by hurling a barbell against the door, he remained safely ensconced in his room and suffered no ill effects with the possible exception of soiled jockey shorts.

Finally, Eagle one, if you still recall through the senile dementia induced fog shrouding your brain, the color of the bikini she was wearing, you were staring at my new bride with far too keen an interest.....lecherous old goat.


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## Melvin Edwards (Aug 10, 2015)

Thanks for the help jglen.  Fortunately there are some folks on the site who are a blessing instead of a curse.


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## EAGLE EYE 444 (Aug 11, 2015)

Melvin Edwards said:


> Perhaps we never can escape our past.  Just as I've planted my feet on the path of the straight and narrow, like a relentless Phoenix rising from the ashes of desperately troubled days the one man single handedly responsible for my spiraling decent into the depths of absolute moral depravity reappears.  Luring me off with a promise of meeting a sweet pretty girl, (I never found what happened the THAT girl), he instead delivered me into the clutches of the most wantonly wicked creature that I've met to this day.  And that single long ago encounter set the tone of my relationships with women.  Blithely oblivious to my keen intelligence, finely honed sense of humor, warm, sensitive, nurturing and caring nature, they have used and abused my magnificent body for their own sensuous pleasure and casually discarded me like a soiled t.....  you get the drift.
> 
> And I still don't understand why that deputy was so incensed at my half hearted attempt to scalp a miscreant with the audacity to interrupt my serene, peaceful commune with the good Rev Ezra Brooks.  After all, despite my efforts to dislodge him by hurling a barbell against the door, he remained safely ensconced in his room and suffered no ill effects with the possible exception of soiled jockey shorts.
> 
> Finally, Eagle one, if you still recall through the senile dementia induced fog shrouding your brain, the color of the bikini she was wearing, you were staring at my new bride with far too keen an interest.....lecherous old goat.




First of all, I have to admit that I was guilty of checking out most every square inch of that pretty bikini girl with you at Daytona Beach that day back in the late 70's.  


I did a double take when I saw your name here on GON and the first thing that I thought about was comments about "Diamond Hill" and the alum story!!!!!    Man, after not seeing you during the past 40 years now, I thought that I would wake you up and "stir the pot" of some wild and crazy college days from long ago.  I bet those comments put your mind into a tailspin too.  I have to admit that we were all lucky to have even survived those days back then. 

I thought that those tidbits of happenings that I threw into the pot would probably make you wonder just who in the heck was posting this information from long ago days.

It is great to cross paths with you again, and maybe  sometime in the very near future, I can get some of the other side-kick participants from our crazy college days and we can possibly meet for lunch or something again.  


PS:  I apologize for hijacking your thread as such BUT I couldn't pass up that opportunity after all of these years.  I really do hope that you can get the proper information for working on your rifle as such too.

I'll keep up with you via email now instead of on the board.


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## Melvin Edwards (Aug 12, 2015)

Sent a round down range with rebarreling mauser.  Went bang, didn't explode, case extracted easily, brass looked good. Thanks for advice jglen.  Knowing what to expect was helpful.  And don't be too disappointed Eagle Butt. I could still blow myself to kingdom come.


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## jglenn (Aug 12, 2015)

nah  your good to go

fun project wasn't it..


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