DROR barrel

[M48TANKER 0]

Can an Israeli DROR barrel be altered to fit a 1941 Johnson JSAR. I know the barrel guide bushing would have to be relocated and probably changed. How about the locking lug bushing? If the DROR barrel in 8mm could be mated with a 1941 JSAR locking bushing and barrel guide bushing...would that work? I'd like to be able to shoot 8mm. Will there be differences in the DROR bolt locking lugs or might the JSAR 30.06 bolt fit the DROR locking lugs? It seems like I remember Mr. Scott having to fix a Johnson that had been retrofitted with a wrong bolt or wrong barrel locking lugs? I have the facilities to turn down the DROR barrel to make it fit the JSAR bushings if need be. Thanks, TANKER

[metrotps 0]

I would just find a shot out 30/06 barrel and fit the locking collar and guide bushing to a new or excellent surplus 8MM barrel.

Years ago a good friend made an 8MM X 57MM M1 Garand for fun shooting using a Douglas blank.

Ended up winning a couple of competitions with it.

With the price of 8MM going up I'm not sure it would be worth it unless you are sitting on a nice stash of 8MM ammo.

[M48TANKER 0]

I would just find a shot out 30/06 barrel and fit the locking collar and guide bushing to a new or excellent surplus 8MM barrel.

Years ago a good friend made an 8MM X 57MM M1 Garand for fun shooting using a Douglas blank.

Ended up winning a couple of competitions with it.

With the price of 8MM going up I'm not sure it would be worth it unless you are sitting on a nice stash of 8MM ammo.

When you do a project like that, how would you go about headspacing the assembly. I'm familiar with headspacing AK builds on new barrels, but that's all. I like to do things myself and have built many M2HBs, 1919A4s, AKs, Mg42s, etc. I've just built a few AKs with new barrels that had to be headspaced and that was easy with the right tools. On the Johnson barrel would you use a headspace guage and just screw the barrel in until the headspace is right and then pin it in place? or is there more to it than that? Actually I guess what I really want to know is: if you bought a complete DROR barrel, would it be a drop in change for the 1941Johnson or is the DROR locking lug bushing not compatible with the Johnson bolt.Thanks

[metrotps 0]

When you do a project like that, how would you go about headspacing the assembly. I'm familiar with headspacing AK builds on new barrels, but that's all. I like to do things myself and have built many M2HBs, 1919A4s, AKs, Mg42s, etc. I've just built a few AKs with new barrels that had to be headspaced and that was easy with the right tools. On the Johnson barrel would you use a headspace guage and just screw the barrel in until the headspace is right and then pin it in place? or is there more to it than that? Actually I guess what I really want to know is: if you bought a complete DROR barrel, would it be a drop in change for the 1941Johnson or is the DROR locking lug bushing not compatible with the Johnson bolt.Thanks

Note: I am not an expert on this subject but I found this in another post by Joseph Scott.

"The rear locking collar, which had been purchased for the barrel, had been faced off and didn't have sufficent clearance for the bolt head. I have seen this several times. I believe it occurred when someone tried to reduce headspace by cutting on wrong piece. You must machine the barrel end and re-ream to correct headspace. Also set the middle collar forward equal amount."

[Joseph Scott 0]

I have one of the Dror kits that were sold some years ago. Found nothing that I could use.

To make a 41 barrel, first you need the blue print and a barrel blank. The length of the threaded section is critical compared to the depth of the locking collar. This insures correct space for the extractor to function and also partly controls headspace. You must thread on a correct depth collar, tighten it and mark the bottom of barrel chamber. Then remove collar and correctly machine the extractor cut for depth and angle using the bottom mark for reference. Then install collar and ream chamber for headspace. Next install center collar and drill/ream/pin it. Its' location is critical as it positions barrel relative to the bolt and main spring. Last is lug and sight. Tapering the barrel is not as easy to do as you would think. The limber barrel deflects and cuts very rough. The factory had a special lathe with four cutters and floating steady rests to turn the originals. I have never been able to find one of these special lathes. I am not sure how factorys taper barrels today. All of these operations take jigs and fixtures which I have made for my work. Even so, I recently made an incorrect extractor cut and had to correct it. Over the years I have found maybe 6-10 locking collars that had been faced off, someone thinking they could correct head space this way. Just had one sent for installation that look OK at first glance but could not use it.

[M48TANKER 0]

Geeze! That tells me exactly what I wanted to know....it's beyond my present skill level. I'll just save my 8mm for my MG42. Thanks again guys!

[Bob Lamoreaux 0]

One of the esoteric pieces of information that I recently picked up is that -- at least -- military rifle (and submachine gun) design and production incorporates something called either "ordnance chambering" or "ordnance headspacing". Apparently this technique allows mass produced barrels to be fitted to receivers possibly without the need to headspace. This, apparently, accounts for the need for "registration marks" on the barrels and receivers. I suspect that this type of production engineering allowed for the barrel to be screwed into the locking collar with the correct headspace for interchangability with all JSARs (or JLMGs). If the barrel/locking collar are original, I'd expect the assembly to fit and function with ANY Johnson rifle or l.m.g. (as appropriate). Problem would arise with a new barrel being fitted into the locking collar. Probably would get the same result with any weapon with an interchangable barrel assembly. Joe Scott could probably enlighten us on this facet of Johnson manufacture/design if anyone is interested.

[Joseph Scott 0]

The timing of a barrel to receiver or lug is a subject even the Garand experts could not explain to me. I found out what it was/is in a book on manufacturing the 1903 Springfield rifles. Basically, the barrel is marked with an index (timing) mark and then every operation is done using that mark as a index. The marked barrel was put in a machine for milling the threads with the index at zero. Each barrel had the threads milled (not lathe cut) exactly the same and distance to shoulder was also exactly same. The receiver or lug was threaded internally and faced off to a predetermined length with very close tolerance. When the milled barrel was screwed into female piece, it tightened such that the index marks matched. This index mark was also used for the sight and operating cylinder machining. This procedure allowed all of the barrel machining operation to be done with assurance that everything would align when tightened to match the index marks. Garand people call this tightening to mark as drawing. The angular difference is called "draw". If barrel goes past index, the barrel must be "rolled" with a pressure wheel next to the shoulder so as to deform the shoulder inwards. When you tighten, the index will be short and you can torque it to "draw" to index. Hope everyone can understand my explanation. Joe