Fitting a bbl ?

[caster54]

Hi not new to Greybeards but  I found my handle wasn't available for a password after not loging on for a few years. I bought a 357 bbl used, reamed to 357 Max. It fits my receiver in that a 0.0015 feeler gauge slides fairly easily, 0.002 with great difficulty and 0.003 will not allow it to lock up. Ther is a side to side rattle indicating slop and movement when the gun is locked. Any ideas or previous fixes would be helpful. Thanks, JohmDM now caster54.

[quickdtoo]

Did ya read the barrel fitting info in the FAQs? You don't slide the feeler gauge blade in, you close the action on it, it should lock up tight on a .002" blade, .0015" should be very snug, .001" may slide out with some resistance, best to be tight. If the barrel is lose when locked up, it's too lose, it either needs shimming or the latch engagement isn't right.

There's no JohmDM in the member database, so I can't help ya there.

Tim

[caster54]

Yea in the FAQ I saw nothing about the side to side slop. There are no feeler gauges in town that go to 0.001, they all start at 0.0015. Shutting on a 0.002 is tight but moves under heavy pressure. The original bbl is 7.62x39 and has no issues. I will check about shimming one side.

[quickdtoo]

As I said, if the barrel is lose at all, it needs a shim at the hinge or the latch is at the end of travel on the shelf not allowing it to lock up properly. Shimmed properly at the pivot  there won't be any side to side movement, there's no shimming on the side, fitting is done at the pivot first, then latch engagement is checked.

Tim