Unrefurbed 91/30s barrel is loose in stock?

[TheSovietSamurai]

Howdy fellas, I acquired my non-refurbished 91/30 today and discovered that the barrel is a little loose near the business end of the stock, pretty terribly loose to be honest. Is there any sort of remedy for this, perhaps some cork or foil supporting the barrel?

[Junk Yard Dog]

If the barrel is loose it's because the action is moving around in the stock, shim the action with beer can metal like the Finns did, but be sure the barrel is not then binding against the wood, it's supposed to have some freedom of movement.

[desdem12]

The barrel floating in the stock is usually a good thing. It should improve accuracy. The finn rifles are all floating like that. If the action is tight and it shoots good then leave it. If not then use card stock or cork in different spots to improve the accuracy.

[Celt]

The goal is to have nothing touching the barrel past the forward action screw. As long as you receiver is snug,i suggest shooting it before you start messing with it. Might be a great shooter as is.

[mogunner]

First, check the action screws and make sure they're tight. If they are then remove the trigger guard and look to make sure there are two thin pieces of metal "stuck" to the wood of the stock, these keep the trigger guard from smashing in on the stock too far. I'm assuming that the entire action is moving and not just the barrel.

[Rongo]

All great advice.

[bunkysdad]

Can you show pictures of this non refurb? Sounds like a good one.

[Junk Yard Dog]

Sounds like one of the Romanian army rifles, I have a good number of them and have seen this sort of irritating problem before. They kept stocks in service even to the point of eight or more stock repairs.

[TheSovietSamurai]

Can you show pictures of this non refurb? Sounds like a good one.

Sure thing, I'll just have to take a couple of good ones.

[TheSovietSamurai]

Sounds like one of the Romanian army rifles, I have a good number of them and have seen this sort of irritating problem before. They kept stocks in service even to the point of eight or more stock repairs.

Interesting, that's quite a bumpy life for a stock, huh. Sorry, i forgot to mention this one is a Finn capture, perhaps the stock has been knocked around a fair bit, or maybe it's just the way it always was?

[zhuk]

The goal is to have nothing touching the barrel past the forward action screw. As long as you receiver is snug,i suggest shooting it before you start messing with it. Might be a great shooter as is.

Agreed, could still be a good shooter Would you consider giving it a bit of a run first?



Then you can shim/whatever as needed - if its needed.

[TheSovietSamurai]

The goal is to have nothing touching the barrel past the forward action screw. As long as you receiver is snug,i suggest shooting it before you start messing with it. Might be a great shooter as is.

Agreed, could still be a good shooter Would you consider giving it a bit of a run first?



Then you can shim/whatever as needed - if its needed.

Of course, I'll take it down to the rage and see how she shoots. After a little more observation, it's really not quite as bad as I thought, pretty similar to my refurbed 91/30's barrel, which I never even realized felt a little loose. The refurb still shoots like a charm so I guess this shouldn't be a problem either.

[zhuk]

Look forward to hearing how she goes...sounds like it could be fine.

[Junk Yard Dog]

Sounds like one of the Romanian army rifles, I have a good number of them and have seen this sort of irritating problem before. They kept stocks in service even to the point of eight or more stock repairs.

Interesting, that's quite a bumpy life for a stock, huh. Sorry, i forgot to mention this one is a Finn capture, perhaps the stock has been knocked around a fair bit, or maybe it's just the way it always was?

Age, the Finn's also kept a stock going for as long as they could, it's mostly the sort of thing you see in the Soviet captured 91/30's.

[Junk Yard Dog]

Any possibility of making a video showing exactly how loose that action is?

[TheSovietSamurai]

Any possibility of making a video showing exactly how loose that action is?

Yeah, I don't see why not. Although the action itself is as tight as could be, no movement at all. It's just that the very end of the barrel feels a little loose in the stock.

[Junk Yard Dog]

OK, that's what I was looking for, that is a good movement, the barrel is free to float a bit, this increases accuracy as wood pressing against the barrel can change the barrels harmonics and effect accuracy. Modern high end sporting rifles tend to bed the action in the stock so it's rock solid and free float the barrel. As the barrel heats up from firing it moves a bit, your rifle has the freedom to move properly.

[TheSovietSamurai]

Sounds good, making sense to me now, Here is a quick video showing the movement anyway:

http://tinypic.com/player.php?v=2w3vst3&s=5

[bunkysdad]

It looks like a lot of movement doesn't it? I have a British Enfield No4 mkI that moves just like that, and shoots very well.

[Junk Yard Dog]

OK, there is way to much movement there for that action not to be moving in the stock, that or the barrel came loose, and that does not happen with these rifles. You are going to have to shim that action up in the stock to restrict it's ability to move. This can be done by cutting shims from thin brass stock, or beer can metal and placing them in the stock under the action, maybe one layer will do it, maybe three or four, as the Finns did it, it's all experimentation. The following photos show the location of the shims in the stock the action screws run right through them.



In this picture you can see the metal shims sitting in the stock, front and rear were the action screws go through the wood.