This is a rifle that belonged to my dad, he was notorious for ignoring max load data. While cleaning the barrell I noticed about a two inch section close to the end of the barrell that feels lose Its about 6 inches from the end. When you run the cleaning rod threw it is tight till you get to it and then it gets loose for the two inch section and then it gets tight again. Whats up with that? Is it a buldge. What is the shortest barrell you can have in a 257 Roberts? Can I have it shortend or....?

Myspellingsucks!

How does the rifle shoot? You can sometimes see the bulge if you look along the outside of the barrel. You can pick up a subtle deflection of light where the barrel has expanded. You can see a similar deflection of light looking down the clean bore from the muzzle end. With the bolt removed of course. You just never know who reads these...

Anyway, if the bulge is subtle enough to where you cannot pick it up with the unaided eye, then you might be able to by inserting an unprimed case in the chamber and checking out the diffraction rings. With an unprimed case in the chamber, point the back of the gun at a light colored wall. When you look through the muzzle, you will see the image of a target which is formed by the diffraction rings.

In a clean, straight barrel, the diffraction rings will be concentric and uniform is size and spacing. The straighter the barrel, the more uniform and concentric the individual rings. If there is a bulge present, the diffraction rings should appear distorted at the site of the bulge. Good luck.

First off, if the rifle shoots with acceptable accuracy, I wouldn't worry about it. How long is the barrel? If it's 24" and the bulge is 6" back, you could have it shortened and crowned at 18". Heck, you could go down to 16'' which is the minimum legal length. Might have a bit of muzzle blast, though. You'll have to figure real close where the bulge starts and make sure you get it all if you decide to shorten the barrel. The other option, of course, is to just have it rebarreled. I'd see how it shoots before I did anything.

I think Craigster has given you some good advice. If the rifle shoots well enough for the purposes you use it for...ignore the loose spot.

Although you could legally shorten it to 16", I suspect that if you get it much under 20 inches, you may regret having done so because of the fearsome muzzle blast you may get with some of the slower buring powders in particular.

I took my dads old 42 year old Rem 722, 257 Roberts out this morning with some freshly loaded ammo. I put a scope on it a few days ago and this was my first time to fire this rifle in years and years. I shot four five shot groups while zeroing the scope at 100 yards. after the last adjustment my last three shots were in a 1cm group. I think I will leave the barrel alone just for now. I was going to load the pic of the rifle and the target but I dont have permission as of yet.

quote:

Originally posted by steve box:
I was going to load the pic of the rifle and the target but I dont have permission as of yet.

You have permission to POST pictures but you can't make an ALBUM. As I understand it that is reserved for moderators. Anyway if you click HERE you can see a "tutorial" of sorts on how to post them.

Warning though once you learn how you will be addicted to posting pictures!

If it shoots that good I think I would leave the barrel alone, period!

If, it still shoots good don,t worry about the "deflection"rings,what ever that is suppose to mean.Shadows can be seen down the barrel,with a piece of paper inserted in the action by the ejection port and angled to catch the light to shine down the barrel. As, said if it shoots good why worry about it. Some here milght have you put a $500 barrel on it,new stock,and scope, and god knows what else.