Gunsmithing Rebarreling a Remington 541-s

[Easy_E]

I took on this project for a friend thinking it would be nice to work on a rimfire for a change. He said it wouldn't group well after trying different ammo .
After cutting the shank to match the factory barrel I noticed the shoulder on the factory barrel is about .023 off the action . If I zero a dial indicator on the action with the bolt shut when I open the action it moves forward to the shoulder ? Should a rimfire action float not touching the barrel shoulder ? It has a recess in the front of the action letting the barrel set in some covering any gap between the action and shoulder.
Haven't cut the extractor groves or pin slots yet so adjustments can be made yet.
Thanks

 

[Easy_E]

No rimfire smiths in here ? After looking it over today I can't see why the shoulder doesn't touch the face of the action . I did some trimming so the head space is right with the barrel bottomed out. Now I need to hold the barrel square in the action while I drill the pins .

Remington must push the barrel in against the head space gauge and pin the barrel . Not having the barrel touching would make assembly faster but between the shank being under sized diameter shoulder not touching it would seem accuracy would suffer ?

 

[pete_f]

In general, in a pressed and pinned breaching system there is no need for a shoulder on the barrel. The interference fit between the barrel tenon and receiver is what secures the joint with the pins there as a secondary safety measure.
I have no direct experience with the 514-s that you are asking about so I cant comment on it specifically.
You may want to consider gluing the barrel in with something like Loctite 620 or 680. This is a commonly used method for rebarreling smallbore actions with pressed and pinned barrels. Walther has been gluing the barrels into their competition guns for nearly 20 years, starting with the KK200 series.

 

[Easy_E]

Thanks for the reply Pete I was thinking of a way to hold the barrel straight in the action when drill the pin holes Loctite would definitely hold . The pins are 5/32 just waiting for the endmill to show up and a slot blade for the extractors.

 

[Easy_E]

I had the model # wrong it's a 541-s anyhow got everything together test fired , cycles and ejects fine.
The barrel was a Shilen 17 caliber blank for a 700 rem turned it down and chambered to 17 mk2.
Thought I would show how it turned out .
Thanks

 

[natdscott]

Ya know what, Easy? I think this is cool as shit, but you’re on the wrong forum.

Put all this over on accurateshooter, and some target results. That Shilen should be badass.

 

[Terry Cross]

I had the model # wrong it's a 541-s anyhow got everything together test fired , cycles and ejects fine.
The barrel was a Shilen 17 caliber blank for a 700 rem turned it down and chambered to 17 mk2.
Thought I would show how it turned out .
Thanks

I rebarreled 20 or 30 Rem 541 and a few 581s with Krieger blanks that duplicated the factory contour in the late 80's and early 90's for rimfire silhouette.

My method was to ditch the pin system. The little receivers are round and easy to hold in the machine. I would clean up and thread the I.D. of the receiver as well as the receiver face, then cut a matching thread on the barrels. Mark and time to make the extractor cuts and it was done. They shot lights out and I still have my personal 541 with this conversion.


./

 

[Easy_E]

I rebarreled 20 or 30 Rem 541 and a few 581s with Krieger blanks that duplicated the factory contour in the late 80's and early 90's for rimfire silhouette.

My method was to ditch the pin system. The little receivers are round and easy to hold in the machine. I would clean up and thread the I.D. of the receiver as well as the receiver face, then cut a matching thread on the barrels. Mark and time to make the extractor cuts and it was done. They shot lights out and I still have my personal 541 with this conversion.


./

I was thinking about this option but worried how thin the action was up front ? The barrel is green loctite and pinned now it would be nice threaded if someone's to change the barrel down the road.

 

[Terry Cross]

I was thinking about this option but worried how thin the action was up front ? The barrel is green loctite and pinned now it would be nice threaded if someone's to change the barrel down the road.

Considering they are rimfire, the action had plenty of room to thread allowing for stiffness and safety.

./

 

[Easy_E]

Terry what thread pitch did you use ? Too late for this rifle but knowing this guy I'm sure to see more .

 

[Terry Cross]

Terry what thread pitch did you use ? Too late for this rifle but knowing this guy I'm sure to see more .

I have no clue. I am sure it is noted in the workorder/invoices for those jobs.

I haven't done that in almost 30 years but I do remember I scaled everything to the receiver I.D.

./

 

[MarinePMI]

I rebarreled a 581 for all the .17 Aguila testing (prior to SAAMI certification), and just D&T'ed a small set screw in the bottom of the receiver to "pin the barrel" in place, and then did an interference fit with a small amount of epoxy.

It never budged, and that was with some pretty hot prototype ammunition (hence why we chose the 581 actions for test guns). We thought about threading the barrels as well (since as mentioned, the receivers are way overbuilt for standard rimfires, and were built so, to support the 5mm RM's increased pressures), but ultimately decided against it, since these were one off's and the barrels could be easily pulled if needed (via a jack screw, pinned barrel, removal tool).

Like Terry said though, it's been quite a few years since I've done any work on these older Remington actions (they're starting to become scarce/rare these days). They were definitely some nice actions though, and IIRC a Rem 788 c/f trigger could be fit to them...

 

[Grand]

Terry's work is top notch. You might also contact Chad Dixon at LRI. If memory serves, Chad did a lot of work for USA Olympics small bore.

 

[Easy_E]

Its windy and nasty here so conditions arent ideal but he's getting half inch groups at eighty yards with the barrel freefloaded .
Another smith friend thinks it needs up pressure on the barrel ? After the wind dies we will shoot before modifying anything.