Just been handed an interesting problem: a bubbaized MAK 90 with a 16.25” barrel.

The problem began when the owner wanted to put a flash suppressor on the poor thing. The owner ponied up the cash for a LH 14X1 die and mandrel/pilot and a friend of his said there was nothing to it and it would be an easy job.

The next thing I know I get a phone call asking me if I could take a look at my friend’s gun. My friend arrives and plops his case down on the table and I open it up and find a MAK 90 “zombied up” in green, orange, and yellow cerrocoat. Once my retinas recovered I noticed the flash suppressor was about five degrees off the centerline of the barrel.

I asked my friend what happened and he pulled out the die and mandrel then told me that something had gone horribly wrong when threading the barrel. I looked at the die and noticed three of the five flutes had been broken and the mandrel had been chewed up where it went in the muzzle.

I removed the suppressor and was treated to the absolute worst looking threads I have ever seen; to top that off, the muzzle looked like it had been countersunk with a 45 degree reamer. I thought that was weird until I took a closer look at the threads. It seems the barrel was larger than 14mm so the friend of my friend used a file to reduce the diameter of the barrel before attempting to thread it. I believe this accounts for the broken die and cocked threads. REALLY looked ugly.

I managed to chuck the receiver and barrel up in the lathe, supporting the barrel with a live center and turned the threads off then silver soldered a sleeve on the barrel, turned to the appropriate diameter and cut the threads again. I then repaired the crown as best I could by counterboring it, then installed and timed the flash suppressor.

Not liking to heat the barrel that much, I decided to test the final product to see if anything came off. I rounded up ten magazines and loaded them, I quickly fired eight of them, let the barrel cool and then set out to see how accurate the rifle was.

Unfortunately, while the suppressor remained tightly affixed to the barrel, the accuracy was poor. Even after vigorous cleaning and hand lapping, the best I could get it to group was about 2.6” at 50 yards.
I would have liked to replace the barrel but my friend was under funded.

So, I learned two things from this.

“Yes” is a word to be used sparingly.
AND
“I am sorry, I can’t fix that” is a phrase that needs to come out of my mouth more frequently.

Maybe this time is the last time I will attempt to be the Patron Saint of lost causes?

Some people just like a challenge. 2.6 inches at 50 still is useable.

Most self defensive shootings are a heck of a lot closer then that.

No you well not be making 200 yard head shots but any body your shooting at well be in grave danger

Sure beats the heck out of a sharp stick or a rock.

true enough, I had hoped it would be better.

I really have no idea how it shot to begin with so I really cannot be sure I made a difference.

Been there, done that!

Be happy. My older brother is on his fourth divorce. He has this thing about women over 200lbs...

Jim,
Good to see you posting, even with a misery story.

Remember, you never saw me raising my hand when someone was looking for a volunteer for a project like that!

dave

2.5"@ 50 yard is well with in the 150MM the arsenals shoot for @100 meters. It an AK buddy it's just meant to keep heads down.

I do a lot of AK work here in California due to the shortage of good rifles. We build these things from parts kits.

Best thing to do on a thread job like that is Press the barrel out. Chuck that up in the lathe recut and possibly sleeve the barrel recut your threads press barrel back in.
I never ever ever use dies on a barrel. Dies are for chasing threads not making new ones. They are never clean never straight never good to my liking.

Dave, Yes, you are right. I could learn a lot from you and only . work on things that are either: a.) profitable, or b.) something I really like to do.

Kerry, Yep, that is the best way to do it. I would have done that but was not willing to have his gun apart at my place long enough for him to afford another barrel. I have done that before and liked the way the threads cut, will have to set my press up for that again if I happen to get another situation where I have to do that.

I was so opposed to the course of action I took that I thought of making a barrel out of one of the old Mosin barrels I have laying around but my brain took over and I did not even suggest it. kind of proud of myself for not doing that! Just one more POS I do not have to put my name on .

Nearly have a finished receiver for a 5.7X28 bolt gun. Not a Mauser copy but should be fun to shoot. Now I will have to make a stock for the darn thing. I hate wood work. Only way to get better is to practice.

Glad to be back, it has been a rough year.

quote:

Originally posted by Idaho Sharpshooter:
Be happy. My older brother is on his fourth divorce. He has this thing about women over 200lbs...

Yuck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

have you tried self flagellation

I did such a bang up job the owner decided he wanted me to cut the barrel down and move the sight back, then permanently affix the flash suppressor to meet the minimum length requirement. I was offered compensation, he ask how much, I asked where he was going to get the money, he offered trade, I said five hours of his time. He appeared shocked.

I do not think he will be asking me to do the work. Kind of a complex way to say no but I was a little pissed that I do all the work to fix his screw up and then he wants me to disregard it and cut the barrel off. Go figure.

quote:

Originally posted by Idaho Sharpshooter:
Be happy. My older brother is on his fourth divorce. He has this thing about women over 200lbs...

Never date a woman smarter then you or heavier then you.

kc,

the smarter thing is okay, as long as they do not have more common sense. Of course, if that were so, they would not marry someone like me.
She told me, at the wedding; that I had "potential".

Rich

i saw a sign you need in your shop
1. repair 35.00 per hour
2. you watch 65.00 per hour
3. you help 150.00 per hour
4. all work completed in the order it comes in, want a rush job bring it in sooner.

I am going to make that with my vinyl cutter this weekend!

Here's my version:

1. repair 35.00 55.00 per hour
2. you watch 65.00 per hour
3. you help 100 per hour
4. you screwed it up trying to fix it yourself 150.00 per hour
5. I work on things when I can do the work right. If I can meet your schedule, I'll tell you when I take the work. If you want it sooner than I tell you I can do it, take it somewhere else.

Interesting, I already charge $50/hr for work with a .2 hour minimum. This job was for a friend, I should have told him I would take payments rather than just doing it like I did.

I came to a realization today: roughly 60 percent of my repair work comes to me after someone else has screwed it up; be it another gunsmith, the customer, the customer's family, or friends. The worst cases are when something goes wrong and it is apparent something is wrong, but whomever does not stop what they were doing like breaking off three 1/8" punches inside a receiver while trying to drive a pin out.

I do not mind people trying and failing, that is how a lot of learning takes place. What I really mind is when people do spectacularly dumb things and then compound the error, like trying to remove a bullet lodged in the bore by shooting another one in behind it several times (I have seen this more than once).

So, if I do not charge enough to make the repair a little painful, then I am probably not helping them learn since there is no real penalty for misjudgement or ignorance.

End result is that I resolve to be kind to my friends but still make sure their mistakes have some kind of penalty to encourage them to think a little more next time.

How about this one form a deceased member of the ACGG:

"If you want it bad, you get it bad"
or:
"The worse you want it, the worse you get it"

Seems to follow reason!

I got a call, earlier this morning, wanting to know "how much to work on a .22?". I asked what he had and he rplied "it's a Remington 550. My Grandpa gave it to me last weekend. My brother and I fired it this last week. It fired 3 yimes OK, but the fired case ouldn't come out of the chamber after the 3rd. shot. We tried to dig it out with a jack knife and it wouldn't. My brother tried to knock it out with a cleaning rod and ended up knocking the bottom out of the case. the rest is still stuck in the chamber.What;ll it cost to get it out?" I replied that my shop rate is $55 per hour and that I wasn't sure how long it might take. He said "it doesn't sound like you're much interested in helping me,,,, I think I'll call someone else". I sad FINE WITH ME!

Those who want you to work on their BooBoos would have a "fit" if their employer wanted to cut their wages or work 'off the clock' for free. Yet, there are some who will 'discount' their work. I see no reason to. I've always got a pretty good back log,,, there's no shortage of work. Call a plumber, an electrician, or the heat & air guy and try to dicker over the hourly rate.