I have a roll around barrel box and I haven't paid too much attention to what is in it until today. These were in a bunch of stuff I acquired a few years ago. It is 23.5" long with a left hand metric thread, approx 1.100" in diameter w/ 1 thread per 2mm. It has a really nice full length rib with a dovetail for a rear sight. The front of the rib is raised and has a dovetail running about 22mm from the front rearward. The top of the barrel is marked K. Junghans, Her? A piece of metal on the rear of the barrel fits the rib and has a dovetail with a piece in it that may be a claw mount. The left hand side of the barrel has a crown St.m.G and under that N.12 gr. The bottom of the barrel has a crown over RG, a symbol that I can't see well, 7,9mm, below that 60, 5/28. It appears to have had a lug soldered under the barrel midway in the length, but is no longer there. I was getting ready to throw away some of these old barrels, but some are just too neat.
Butch

It is a custom barrel, proofed in May 1928. It is most likely chambered for the 8x60 cartridge, using a jacketed 185 grain bullet and smokeless powder.

Butch,
it's probably an interwars guild 8x60... and I would expect that a 1x12 barrel thread, rather than 2mm metric....

You still have my mailing address, right?

jeffe

Do you want me to pay shipping Jeffe?
Butch

7,9mm would be 8mm "J" (0.318" bullets) not the 7,92 mm (8mm JS/.323" bullets)

Butch,
It sounds like Jeffe got that one! What other interesting barrels do you have in that there barrel box of yours?

Regards,
Jeff Pfeifer

Actually Jeffe and I are spoofing. I would really like to know what the barrel came off of. I will try to check the other barrels out this afternoon.
Butch

Butch,
ping Mike D.. he's pretty clued into the 8x60 ..

nah, you don't have to pay shippin!!

jeffe

After WWI, Germans were banned from possessing military rifles, including sporters chambered for military cartridges like the 8x57. Thousands of existing rifles were converted to 8x60, and new rifles were were chambered likewise.

It would be uncommon to make a custom barrel with a .318 bore as late as 1928, as the .323 bore had been adopted in 1904. I have heard of such rifles being so chambered because the owner already had reloading dies for it, or just preferred it for accuracy.

To the best of my knowlege, the bore does not prevent the use of .323 bullets, it is the chamber neck that does. It must be opened up to accept the larger case, so that pressure does not spike upon firing. A chamber casting would have to be done to find out if your chamber neck has been modified as such, and to make sure that someone had not already reamed it out 8mm-06 or something.

Guys I made a mistake, it does have RH thread. I don't know right from left I guess.
Butch