M1917 Barrel Change??

[MechAg94]

I was curious if any of you know a decent gun smith in reasonable range of Houston who can do a barrel change on an M1917 Enfield rifle. I saw a thread on the CMP forum talking about the barrel removal being pretty tricky as the wrong way could crack the receiver. It looked like something I would rather leave to a good smith. I just have no idea who that would be.

The rifle is a parade rifle and all the metal parts are chromed up and polished. The only problem is the barrel is corroded pretty good I assume due to firing blanks. If I can't find the right smith, I think I'll just forget it. The rifle can still hit paper but the groups are not near what my 1903A3 can do.

I see that I can get a barrel from egunparts.com though it needs a little machining before being put on. I tried to order one from the CMP, but they went out of stock.

I also have a Garand barrel change in mind, but that is secondary.

 

[rcmodel]

I might retire that old chrome plated 1917 Drill Rifle.

McFarland, in his book Modern Gunsmithing, has an interesting tail about old chrome platers, and a thing called Hydrogen Embrittlement.

During the electroplating process, hydrogen atoms are driven into the grain of the steel, and set up tremendous stresses. Especially in high carbon, high grade steel as used in rifle receivers & bolts.

McFarland specifically warns against chrome plating any high-power rifles receiver or bolt for this reason.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogen_embrittlement

http://mechanicalplating.com/hydrogen.htm

Assuming the plating was done on your rifle many years ago, by possibly an auto bumper shop, before there was any understanding of this phenomena, it could be dangerous to shoot it.

rcmodel

 

[MechAg94]

Thanks for the info. That is sad to hear. Now I have to find another one.