M1917 Remington JA barrel, WWII rebuild from CMP

[wsfbernie]

It's long past their warranty period, but I'm having feeding problems from the mag. Sgl. shot is fine, but
repeating "scores" the ammo, not to mention jamming the bolt. Dirty chamber? Thx for any suggestions.

[jaie5070]

Has the rifle been fine in the past? Check for any burrs on the inside that may catch on a cartridge. Check the mag spring. If it's weak or maybe an '03 spring that doesn't give enough tension.

[kcw]

Is the scoring along the bottom side of the brass as it feeds into the chamber? I'm thinking that you might check for a burr on the bottom edge of the extractor which is blocking the rim of the brass from being levered under the extractor and into alignment with the bolt as the bolt is pushed forward. Only modest forward pressure on the bolt should cause the brass to be levered by the feed ramp (the fulcrum in this operation) and flipped/popped into alignment with the bolt/chamber. A burr on the underside of the extractor will result in excess forward pressure being needed and correspondingly pressure the brass against feed ramp and possibly resulting the marks you refer to. With a dummy round in the magazine and the bolt fully retracted, slowly push the bolt forward so that it pushes the round forward. At some point the front of the round will be lifted by the feed ramp. The advancing the bullet tip contacting the interior of the chamber, will pressure the front of the round downward, resulting in the rim wanting to flip upward under the extractor. With only modest resistance, the rim should "pop" under the lower edge of the extractor, something easily observable. If the bolt requires excessive pressure at that point the extractor should be checked for a burr and proper clearance for the rim to pass under to and come into alignment with the bolt face.

[chuckindenver]

extractor adjustment is needed

[wsfbernie]

Thx to all. Yes, there are definately burrs at the ramp. I'll check the extractor. I guess what surprises me is that this rifle was "ready to issue" and it doesn't work right. Scary. I have examples of the three manufacturers in war 1. The finishing is better.
I've read that many of the war 1 survivors rebuilt for war 2 were in pretty bad shape, preservation wise. Well, time to do a
little stoning on the JA replacement barrel receiver set-up. B

[kcw]

Thx to all. Yes, there are definately burrs at the ramp. I'll check the extractor. I guess what surprises me is that this rifle was "ready to issue" and it doesn't work right. Scary. I have examples of the three manufacturers in war 1. The finishing is better.
I've read that many of the war 1 survivors rebuilt for war 2 were in pretty bad shape, preservation wise. Well, time to do a
little stoning on the JA replacement barrel receiver set-up. B

That situation isn't as unusual as you might expect. The WWII M1917 rebuilds weren't necessarily checked for function in the same manner as new WWI production was. For example it is VERY common to WWII rebuilds with obviously used front sight assemblies (ie a W sight assy on an E barrel) that won't allow the gun to hit the broad side of a barn. The fact is that the arsenal never bothered to sight them in after the WWII rebuild. That was to be done in the field. They were viewed to be secondary weapons, never likely to see combat. A number of years ago I was offered a crispy WWII rebuild from an old collection. The bolt was still stiff in the action from re-parking. Taking it to the range I found that it wanted to dig up dirt unless I stood up the ladder sight and elevated the ap about halfway up! Testing the barrel @ the muzzle I discovered that there was no UP pressure being applied by the stock, but rather HUGE down pressure from the forward band. In taking the forward & middle bands off, the barrel POPPED upward over a full inch! What I found was that the stock (NOS @ time of rebuild) was never fully routed to allow the chamber end of the barrel to rest freely in the stock. That caused the muzzle end to ride upward when the action bolts were tightened. All the arsenal evidently did to this "Friday" gun was to bend the muzzle of the barrel down and install the hand guards and bands, and put it out the door. I can imagine the gunnery sergeant's response when he saw that it was so useless. I'm guessing it was cleaned and relegated to the " to be fixed someday" pile and forgotten about until the day it was sold off as surplus. As the owner of the collection was deceased I don't know if he ever tried to fire it. Anyway, I routed out the stock but then still had to install a much higher front sight blade & reposition it for windage in order to bring the rifle in spec with the regular combat sight. Heaven forbid that some unfortunate soldier suddenly found himself in a combat situation with that thing the way it was! Hopefully, he did well in bayonet practice