Next was to find a smith to do the re-chamber of the 7x64 barrel and here we hit a brick wall. I contacted a good gunsmith who had done a re-chamber of a Century Arms P14 .303 to 303IMP and he obviously didn't want the job as he quoted me about $1100 US to do the job
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Another gunsmith who had fitted a new .303 barrel to a BSA Model C for me said he would do it but had never done an Ackley before and was obviously not happy when I described the procedure for setting headspace 0.004" tight so normal factory 280 rem ammunition could be used and come out perfectly fire formed. Just using a Go gauge to set headspace was foreign to him so after talking to the dealer at the local gunclubs shop he agreed to order the barrel on his dealers licence, a barrel cannot be sold to a member of the public unless it's proved and so stamped here in the UK and threaded and chambered barrel must be proofed to be sold and this new one had never been on an action so was not but by acting as his "agent" I could machine the barrel and chamber it but could not keep the barrel here unless when actually working on it. The barrel was duely obtained from Knibbs International and I set about getting a reamer and gauges.
The reamer is a PTG finishing reamer but PTG didn't have one on the shelf so it meant a 2 month wait at least. Luckily Midway did have one so it was ordered through their UK branch. The gauges are Forster and they had them on the shelf. I brought go and No-Go even though would only be using the GO they won't eat anything. The Postal apes managed to rip open the package and lose the Go gauge............................... yep the one I really needed was missing from the taped up package.
Had to contact Forster as they paid the shipping so they had to instigate the claim. Finally a new gauge arrived and we are now several months behind schedule. At last I could get to work. The .270 barrel was held in the lathe and a parting tool ran in slowly to thread depth about 0.015" from the front face of the receiver and the barrel came off by hand. Threads were cleaned and checked then new barrel tried as it came factory threaded................................... Hmmm a bit loser than I would have liked and it then became clear that the barrel tenons on the Maonrach and CF2 despite being the same diameter and thread were of different lengths so the tenon had to be lengthened and the counter bore for the bolt head deepened as well:-
Not the best way perhaps but the chamber was clocked up and made true in the independent 4-jaw and the tenon machined to length and the counter bore machined to depth the reamer was then run in and the chamber cut to the calculated depth. I must have stepped in something because it all came out right first time and did not need re-setting up to take any more cuts with the reamer. The barrel was then turned around and the bore at the muzzle clocked up and the barrel faced off and crowned then lightly polished:-
The lathe is a Colchester Student 6" which has since been sold.
Oh yes almost forgot whilst it was in the lathe a 1/2" UNF thread was cut at the muzzle so a brake or Sound Moderator can be used:-
Barrel fitted up for proofing:-
and the first cartridge from the new chamber;-
I fired two more as the Proof House wanted three formed cases and I also sent them commercial load data along with the Gauges. Another local dealer submitted it for proof along with his usual shipment as he would be handling the polishing and blacking. I had him remove the barrel as I wanted the threads and breech face blacked as well so no chance of trapped salts growing out of the threaded joint. I then re-fitted the barrel applying a trace of loctite to seal any moisture out in use to prevent rusting out of sight after use in rain and damp which being in the UK is almost guaranteed.
Continued in Part 3.