[Erik]

Hello!

I bought a replacement 8mm barrel from Numrich for my Mauser K98 military model. It's a brand new barrel that theoretically has the same contours, caliber, and everything else as the original. It arrived today. Tomorrow it goes to a gunsmith to be professionally installed.

While I was looking over the barrel, I dropped an 8mm shell round down in the chamber and was surprised to see the case stopped with about 5/8" still sticking out. It would not go further in.

I was under the impression the case should just barely stick out of the chamber.

Is there something wrong with this barrel or do I just know nothing about barrels? And if there is something wrong, can your typical gunsmith fix it?

Thanks,

Erik

 

[Shawn Crea]

Erik,
The barrel is likely just rough-chambered and needs to be finish-reamed by the gunsmith. The finish-reaming will remove more of the chamber diameter - won't take much - and that cartridge will set down a lot deeper. Your gunsmith 'better' take care of it! Don't lose sleep over it!

 

[Erik]

Should I even bother to mention it to the gunsmith?

 

[Shawn Crea]

You shouldn't have to mention it Erik, if he knows his business. Doubt he would be offended if you ask him about it though.

 

[oneoldsap]

Most new barrels are short chambered if the are cartridge specific , or not chambered at all if they aren't for a specific round . Don't mention to your smith because A you will look stupid or B he'll think you think he's stupid !

 

[Cobbler]

You could ask the gunsmith..., "Are these barrels typically chambered this short?" That would show you are aware that it needs more work without pointing out what should be blatantly obvious to a qualified gunsmith.

It sure could have been chambered deeper and still left enough final cutting for the smith to finish cutting the chamber but I suppose the manufacturor figures, "better the gunsmith's tooling than ours".

 

[Sinbad12-2007]

Yes, it's "short-chambered". By design. The 'Smith will know this. He'll ream it and fit it and ream and fit some more. He'll headspace and check it with a "Go / No Go" gauge and will likely test fire it. It's not a problem but good for you in checking it out first.

 

[Erik]

I don't know, I told him about it and he said something about it having a long chamber or a long action or a long bolt or something, which he claimed was good for people who didn't have reaming equipment. He said he'd test fire it when he was done. Supposedly, this guy is supposed to be a good gunsmith. He's been doing it for decades.

 

[MikeG]

Hmm. Those phrases mean different things. I would be surprised if you can even buy a mauser barrel that already has the chamber cut at full depth. Too much liability if the headspace ends up being excessive.

The base of a cartridge should stick out less than an eighth of an inch. I grabbed an old mauser barrel out of the garage and dropped a factory Rem load into it. Right where the front bevel of the extractor groove meets the side of the case is where the end of the barrel is. About 0.11" inches (an eighth is 0.125", just fyi).

No question the chamber is short and will need some more reaming.