Barrel replacement 1917 DMW

[sstanley]

I am a newbie to this forum, gun lover, tool lover and tinkerer. Great grandfather was an old time gunsmith. Grew up watching and "helping" him. Obviously I am in over my head but I enjoy it.

I have a 1917 DMW I found in a junk store. It shoots and proceses ammunition fine.

Barrel is bent slightly and bore is bad. It looks like someone shot corrosive amunition and let it sit for years. The serial numbers are from 2 or 3 different guns. FIt is tight but reasonable.

My goal is a decent shooter. I shoot a fair amount, mostly rifles and target pistols but just for fun. I would kind of like to get one of the artillery stocks and a artillery barrel and use the conglomeration to plink.

I bought an action wrench and barrel vise from here. http://stores.ebay.ca/wallycooper-gunsmith-supplies It is an extremely nice setup. The photos on his site do not do it justice. This is a very nice tool.

I removed barrel (a lot of force a little liquid wrench and very little heat). I got the old barrel off without buggering anything up.

Before removal I could see the alignment of the witness marks where they calibrated the barrel on installation.

My questions

Sarco, Numrich and others show standard reproduction barrels. Is it reasonable to think one would thread on and shoot without modifications? If no then what kind of modification should I expect?

I guess I am asking will a new barrel thread in and stop in the appropriate location? I feel pretty certain that is a fantasy but I am wondering how you stop at the appropriate position (I guess where sight is perpendicular to sighting plane) and lock down the barrel so the calibration does not drift?

Sarco shows an Artillery barrel with artillery sight. Are there any mechanical obstacles to threading this barrel on my shooter and it working?

I have seen you guys say Sarco has marginal quality. Where can I buy a good barrel?

Is a new barrel going to go in so tight that it is difficult to remove? I would like to get a long and short barrel and maybe swap when I am bored. Is this a bad idea?

Again I don't consider this an investment. It is a hobby. I don't care about ROI. I will find a valuable collector some day and will buy it. For now I just want to shoot.

I appreciate any input you can offer.

Scott

[Ron Smith]

Hi Scott,

Welcome to the forum.

No, the chances of a repro barrel coming up to true without fitting are pretty slim. I have fitted a couple, and both had to have the rear surface of the barrel flange relieved to get them to true-up. I relieved them until I had about an 8th of a turn or less from true, and then cinched them up. Both Lugers shot well when finished.

Both of the barrels were from Numrich, and were acceptable in quality. I was fortunate, in that both came up with correct headspace.

Ron

[John Sabato]

Let me add to Ron's advice, that the artillery barrel will screw in just fine with the same chance and limitations that it will require some fitting and possibly some chamber adjustment. You may be as lucky as he, or require a chamber reamer to complete the job. But the Artillery rear sight sits lower than top of the Luger receiver ring and will require that you "notch" the receiver so that it can sit as low as it was designed to sit. Do a forum search for "notch" and you should find some photos to give you some idea of what is required. Since your Luger is a parts gun, this modification will not lower it's value any.

Instead of swapping barrels when you get tired of one configuration, I would recommend that you purchase an additional receiver and mount and headspace your extra barrel on it. That way you won't wear out the receiver threads and the fit of your new barrels.

Please post what you would consider quality photos of the receiver wrench and vise that you have purchased...

Please check your private messages.

[sstanley]

John>

Wow, I wondered what that notch was. At first I thought it was for some special tool. Once I saw how massive the barrel vise and wrench was I knew that was totally wrong.

I will post photos of the wrench over the weekend.

Stellar idea on the duplicate receivers. I am not certain why I did not even consider but that would be only way to go unless I find another entire gun.

I am going to persue the longer barrel for now.

RON>

Part of my problem is I don't have a new barrel to look at and the photos don't show the entire story. I am trying to assess how big of a mouthfull I am biting off.
Somedays I have more tools than skill.

If I understand you correclty you are saying remove material on the flange so the sight rotates into position.
Do you tape up the threads and just use a file and slowly remove material, test and repeat or is there a more apropriate method?

My gun ( I guesss all) has a notch in the barrel that lines up with the extractor and indentation for the extractor in the receiver.
Does a new barrel come with that notch or is that by me.

There is also an area at the bottom of the barrel in the receiver where it is ground out to help the cartridge enter the barrel. Is that "ramp" on a new one or do I have to do that?

I found some articles on headspace gauges and reamers....I will have to read up a little before I leap.

Thank you for your help

Scott

[Lugerdoc]

Scott, You may be in for a frustrating but interesting experience. All of the currently available luger replacement barrels that I'm aware of, do come with the cut for the extractor & feed ramp. In the case of the Sarco LPO8 barrels, the extractor cut may not be lined up with the front sight base &/or the rear sight base. I returned 8 out of a dozen ordered, due to these 3 items not lining up. The "notch" that is refered to above, it on the front of the receiver and should line up with the rear sight base of the LPO8 barrel, so that the rear sight will be able to lay down to it's designed 50m position. Most of the barrels that I have received from Numrich are short chambered and many gunsmiths perfer this so they can do the final chamber ream for the correct head space, which may vary depending of breech block dimentions. When installing any luger barrel, you may have to "fudge" a bit on lining up the barrel extractor cut (which can be opened up) with the cut in the receiver, to insure that the front sight base is perpendicular. This is something that an experience eye can pick up better than any tool. Finally, you will probably have to make some brass shims to adapt the hole in your vise to the diameter of the luger barrel that your are installing/removing, and you should make sure that the barrel is clamped as far to the rear as possible to avoid twisting it, as may have been done on your original one. If you decide to give up, let me know as I've been installing them for over 20 years. Lugerdoc

[John Sabato]

Here is a photo of the notch in the receiver ring under the rear of the Artillery sight... borrowed this from another recent posting... but it will let you know what the modification of the receiver needs to be to use an artillery barrel

[sstanley]

I purchased the Sarco Artillery Barrel and sight set. I also bought headspace gauges.

Like Ron said I definitely had to remove material on the back side of the barrel flange for proper barrel alignment.

The extractor groove and feed ramp seem perfect.

The chamber needs to be deeper. Does anybody have a headspace reamer they want to sell?

If someone does not post I will probably order a Clymer reamer Monday.

Is this as simple as it seems? Slowly cut material by manually rotating reamer checking with headspace gauge between minimal cuts?

I will post photos when I am finished.

Scott

[policeluger]

also a finish reamer, to give the chamber smother finish followed by chucking the barrel in lathe for the final polish using a hard wood dowl and coucous cloth.....well it works for me....good luck !

[jamese]

Scott,
I have a reamer that I would let you use, with some type of collateral or security deposit if your interested

Send me an e-mail

jamesegg@bellsouth.net

Jim