I've got a K. Kale Turk 38 that I got cheap. I'd like to get a better unissued or used barrel in very good condition with the same military contour.

Any suggestions where I might find such a barrel.

It is the common large ring small shank type.

If you want a 6.5x55 you can get a swedish mauser barrel and it fits right that K.Kale

Highvelosity, I've got some real crap from GUNPARTS in the past. I'm hesitant to order from them again.

I should have also mentioned that I want to keep it in original 8X57 ........ so the 6.5 barrels are not an option for me.

If you're not SUPER cheap, you can get a new take-off Remington barrel for about $40 if you shop around. The shank is big enough to turn down to Turk threads. The Swedish barrel idea is a real good one, and 6.5x55 is a great caliber.

Note: not all Turks have small-ring threads.

We were posting at the same time. If you want 8x57, you will need extreme good luck to get a good barrel that will fit.

quote:

The Swedish barrel idea is a real good one, and 6.5x55 is a great caliber.

The Swedish barrel idea is a good one. Also the Remington barrel idea. But I want to keep the 8X57 and military length and contour barrel.

quote:

If you want 8x57, you will need extreme good luck to get a good barrel that will fit.

I'm finding that out, Denton!

Why not divest yourself of the Turk and find an unissued or excellent condition Mauser to play with? If you start thinking about rebarreling your Turk, it may end up costing the same as buying a new one anyhow...

BEST/CHEAP hmm i see an oxymoron here...

quote:

Why not divest yourself of the Turk and find an unissued or excellent condition Mauser to play with?

That would be the logical solution. Especially since I already have other Mausers that are much better shooters.

I bought the Turk 38 for $50. It has a very pretty tiger striped stock, a slick action, and looks "cool" (at least I think so).

It's a "project" gun, and I just enjoy working on them. Can't explain it logically! It's just a hobby of mine that keeps me off the streets and out of trouble. A type of "occupational therapy".

DaMan,

Which do you have? First you say Turk K.Kale M38 then you say 03/38. The first is essentially a standard length 98 with SR threads and is marked K.Kale. The second, 1903, is a standard length 98 with intermediate bolt & magazine along with SR thread and is not marked K.Kale. Obviously a SR barrel will work on either.

If you want to keep it original, which it sounds like, the obvious answer is to get someone's take off barrel.

Of course, you can get a new barrel and habve the steps cut into it but that is not an inexpensive proposition. The challenege to finding a good take off barrel is to find someone who is accurately describing its condition.

try here

http://www.gunboards.com/forums/forum.asp?FORUM_ID=6
http://www.mausercentral.com/

Sorry, for the confusion! It's a K. Kale 1944 M38.

The action is the same as the M98 but it's front ring is a little bit longer because of that "lip" that holds on the forend ..... and, of course, it's SR.

I haven't removed the barrel but it's external measurements are identical to the receiver shown below.



I was hoping I could get a good pulled barrel (or better yet "unissued" military).

Seems they're hard to come by!

I chronografed the Turk with surplus Turkish ammo. Damn, it run almost 3000fps. Man sam that is fast for milsurp stuff. I rebarreled one of mine to 308WIN. Its a good shooter. I dont want to drill the receiver for scope mounts. I eyes are getting to where they might need some optical assistance. Put it in a walnut Boyd's stock, it turned out quite nice and shoots good. Good luck with yours. If you change your mind about the long bbl. Rebarrel it with a REM. takeoff and carve the stock into a Mannlicher style and you would end up with a real unique shooter.

My theory of milsurps is that they should be left pretty close to original, and just enjoyed for what they are.

The minute you decide to put a scope on one, you have decided to whack the straight bolt off, and weld it back on, grind down the bridge (well, not truly necessary), and replace the safety, plus the drilling and tapping.

If your eyes are over 40, the next best thing to a scope is to knock out the sights and put on Mojo sights, www.mojosights.com. It's not as good as a scope, but I have a couple of milsurps that have them, and will reliably do five-shot groups under 2". You can leave all the safety, bolt, and drilling stuff alone, and it's easy to put back to original.

Don't buy a barrel that hasn't been slugged. I spent quite a bit of money to get a Persian, which was supposed to have a bright, shiny bore. Bore was black as a coal bin at midnight, so it went back. It also slugged at .327", so it was never going to be accurate.

Zastava Mauser actions are $199, and come freshly blued, drilled, tapped, with bent bolt, and scope friendly safety. No way you'll ever buy a milsurp and get it into that condition for that price.

On eBay, you will occasionally find new commercial military contour 8x57 barrels. Usually they are LR. Someone else can give you better advice on this than I can, but maybe your 'smith can turn one down to SR for you.

The other cheap fix-up is to ream it out to 8mm-06. That gives a useful improvement in power.

I do have a 30-06 on a $50 Turk action, with a turned down Remington barrel. That $50 Turk is the most expensive dang gun I own (now).

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=31709&item=7144262616&rd=1

It will need a little bit of lathe work, but it's new, it's cheap, it's SR, and it's military contour.

Now you have a new problem: Making way for the scope, because you just gave up your iron sights.

I suppose if one found a real good deal on LR barrel, might it be possible to get it turned down to SR thread?

Still, that's spending money on an inexpensive Mauser. Just be careful you don't end up paying for this rifle again. I've already found that one out the hard way...

quote:

Rebarrel it with a REM. takeoff and carve the stock into a Mannlicher style and you would end up with a real unique shooter.

olcrip, I've seen a "Mannlicher" treatment performed on an M38 retaining the military stock and shortening the barrel. It looked pretty darn nice! I'll try to find the picture that I saw on the internet.

Guy's, thanks for all the suggestions. I'm keeping all options open but I would really like to keep it in military configuration and caliber. If this is not feasable...... then I'll go to plan "B".

Here is an article on rebarreling the M38 with a Swedish Mauser barrel.

http://www.turkmauser.com/gunsmithing/93s/

Last I heard Samco Global Arms had the Swede barrels.

http://www.samcoglobal.com/access.html

Good luck to you.

My $60 beater mismatch Turk Mauser training project rifle is the most accurate milsurp I own, even beating out the Tula ex-sniper.

ZM

If I wanted a nicer turk I would go to Big-5 and buy one on sale. Big-5 is a chain sporting goods here in Kalifornia. They have Turks for $50 from time to time. Make nice with the manager and get into the stash of guns in the storage room. Punch the bores and find a mintie one. I have two new condition rifles I got that way. Cheaper than messing around with barrel swaps. 8mm is a fine caliber. Surplus ammo is super cheap. I have two rifles and about 4K rounds. Should keep me busy.

If you must mess with a new barrel in a different caliber I would go with the Swede barrels. It will cost more than the wohol rifle though. Maybe get a carbine barrel and make a "Tanker" Turk. I would leave it in military dress. Shorten the forend and handguards. Re-install the nose cap. It would be cute in an ugly way and keep them guessing at the range.