I recently purchased a 1941 K.Kale Turk Mauser that I am sending, in the next day or two, to one of the gunsmiths here on AR. I wanna see what it wants to become and I picked the K.Kale due to availability, price, and my choice of a low pressure round anyway.

After much research on the K.Kale I learned that two bore diameters were in use with a slightly smaller bore dia used early on and the Turks then standardized to .323 dia. I personallly know Murphy all too well, so I set about learning how to slug the bore using posts here on AR to guide me. Let me state that I have NEVER done this before. The lands and grooves look sharp and crisp in the bore, but what do I know? After following the directions of the posters here on AR...on THREE separate occasions to just be sure...the lead slugs started a bit difficult, but then pushed through the bore without much difficulty. I do want to mention, in case it matters, the slugs dropped out without ANY type of land/groove markings on the slug, at a crisp .313 diameter on all occasions. So now I am worse off than when I started coz I still do not know the bore diameter or bullet to shoot if it decides it wants to come back to me as an 8X57. (I truly hope it doesn't coz I want it to decide to be a 6.5X55.)
Please forgive the long windedness but, I am asking those in the know if this rifle truly has a .323 dia bore and should be safe to shoot the .323 dia bullets if it should decide to come back as an 8X57?

What was the diameter was your slug before you pushed it through?
Butch

Butch, I measured the fishing sinker at .380 which I felt would give me plenty. But I am now guessing my question should have been more along the lines of bullet jacket thicknesses.
I'm not sure how to explain, but am guessing that the bore/groove diameter is .323 with the lands diameter being .313.

The bottom line is that I've always wanted to try to slug a bore, saw that it appeared to be easy enuff to do and gave it a shot. BUT I always value my fingers, eyes, etc. so, I leave the professional gunsmithing to you guys.

A lead slug gets all out of whack when you first push it into the bore, so you need to upset, or, reset the slug in order to get a good reading.

Once you put the slug in the bore, carefully put a cleaning rod or a hardwood dowel in the bore to support it while you tap on the slug from the other end. This forces the slug tight against the bore so that you get a better reading.

I use a polished 1 piece stainless rod to support the slug and a shorter piece to tap against. You have to be careful around the crown.

When you measure the slug, you are measuring the groove diameter. That is the diameter of the bullet you should be using.

OOOPSSS....I didn't do the 'support' thing from the other end so it forces the slug tight against the bore. Back to the drawing board. (I dunno why I am doing this except to learn how. If all works out right I plan on a rebarrel.)

The military .318 "standard" was dropped and the .323 standard adopted prior to WW-1, so why would the thought of having a military barrel made in 1941 being made to the old standard even cross your mind?

IIRC the real difference between the 2 wasn't the bore/groove, but the chamber. With the old standard they used a smaller neck diameter and let the bullet slug up into the rifling, but once they went to the spitzer style bullet they opened up the neck and went with a groove diameter bullet.

If your not seeing any land/groove impressions on your slug, you've done something wrong and your .313 dimention means nothing.

quote:

Originally posted by Tailgunner:

If your not seeing any land/groove impressions on your slug, you've done something wrong and your .313 dimention means nothing.

Agreed. If you can't tell if the slug was engraved with the rifling, how do you know where to measure? You have to locate the ridges caused by the rifling grooves and measure across them to get an accurate reading.

It's the action that gives the date and wellll....forgive me ladies and gents, but I was in the military just a bit too long, plus Murphy has come to call one too many times....so, just to be sure that someone in the past had not used an older barrel and replaced a worn out barrel...I thought I would slug it. As said before, I value my pinkies and since I am a 'four eyes' I value at least two of those four. Plus I am learning how to do it, albiet incorrectly the first few times.

Do ya just know when something wasn't quite right? I got that feeling when the slug wasn't engraved with the rifling, so that's why I posted. Believe me...I am very appreciative of everyone's great feedback.