OK, right from the get-go I admit this was dumb, stupid and brainless. A friend gave me a "muzzle brake-flash hider" for my seldom used SKS. It was the type that just slips over the barrel end and clamps down. Well, it only slid on about half way, so being the resident genius here, I tapped it on down with a brass hammer. Really, really tapped down. (Give me a break, I only got to chapter one of the Acme Online Gunsmithing School...) So anyway, it occured to me after-the-fact that this might have constricted the barrel. So I pulled a 7.62x39 bullet and dropped it in the muzzle. Sure enough, it only went as far as the end of the muzzle brake and stopped. Couldn't even tap it through with a cleaning rod. So, now what? Cut off an inch of barrel? Lap it out and destroy the lands? Buy a new barrel? Throw this hunk-of-junk away?

I'd appreciate the thoughts of any real live gunsmiths.

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"Don't let so much reality into your life that there's no room left for dreaming."

The bullet should not even be able to enter into the bore of the rifle. The bullet is sized to fit against the flats of the barrel and the rifling has to cut the barrel to make it fit. There may not be any damage to your barrel but you would have to make a cast to be sure. There are some other methods of measuring with a turned rod to check the diameter between the rifling but you need a lathe to do it. There are some devices (have some, dont know the name) that expand to fit the bore and then can be miked. You might find a smith who only charges you $5 or $10 to check it.

And dont worry about dumb mistakes, I am up to 32,458 and counting.

Chic Worthing

[This message has been edited by Customstox (edited 01-06-2002).]

You probably did not hurt the barrel. (How could you tell on an SKS? )

You can never drive a hardcast lead or copper jacketed bullet through the bore of a rifle!

To check the bore size at the muzzle, drive a soft lead bullet into the bore about two inches, then drive it back toward the muzzle. To drive the bullet you need to use a solid brass rod just barely smaller than the bore, hit it with a BIG hammer (at least 4 lb). As the bullet gets back to the muzzle use a weight (brass hammer head) to hold it back so that it will upset to the bore size. Then drive it on out. Then measure the bullet with calipers.

If you do not have a soft lead bullet, use a soft lead egg or bullet shaped fishing sinker just bigger than the bore.

Don

I agree with the others, one reason being that it takes a lot of swaging pressure to constrict a bore like that, and your flash hider would have split open long before, not to mention you hammering out the flash hider wings.

Just don't try to shoot out the the stuck bullet!

Customstox,

The gizmos that you have for checking the I.D. of holes can be either two things.

A) If it is a two anviled device that basically collapses one small tube into another, it is called a "Telescope gage". You have to use an outside micrometer to check the I.D. and it is accurate to about .001. Comes in different ranges for checking holes around 5/16 of an inch or larger. I've never seen one smaller than that.

B) A three anviled thingie that is used like a micrometer (which it is) and is generally called a "Hole test" micrometer. Comes in different sizes for a varity of hole diameters, accurate to .0002.

C) Small hole gages that are basically a split anvil sort of thingie. It has a screw device on the end of the handle that pulls a tapered plug into the handle. You adjust it for a slip fit and mic over the outside, accurate to .001.

Regards,
Eric

oh yea, I don't think there is anything wrong with that SKS either. Many of those brakes are tight. Whacked mine on with a soft mallet also, shoots just fine.
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Surely we must all hang together, for separately we will all surely hang.

[This message has been edited by Eric (edited 01-07-2002).]

[This message has been edited by Eric (edited 01-07-2002).]

Why not take a small butane/propane torch and warm up the flash-hider and pull it off?

Watched a buddy of mine do that with no ill effect to the rifle,He opted not to install the retaining pin since he had such a battle beating it on,,,,,It fell off a couple hundred rounds later

Don,
Check the procedure at http://www.zibycom.com/members/002245268/Site2/hvbore.html

Do you think it could also be used to check the bore size? It is easy to do and the copper will not compress under measurement.

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Gerard Schultz
GS Custom Bullets

Gerard - You could start marketing one of your bullets in a package with a .$25 copper rod as a bore gage. Guess you could get $25 per package for this.

Great demonstration!