Checking barrel wear

[matconcrete 0]

This may be a dumb question but I recently picked up an erosion gauge to use with my garands, any reason why it wont even start to fit into 

the muzzle of my 41.??

[Joseph Scott 0]

The M1 muzzle gauges are larger than .300" to enter barrels worn by use of the U.S. jointed cleaning rods.  Johnson barrels do not have this wear and are usually right on .300" bore diameter.  The only cleaning kit I ever found in a butt stock was the older pull-thru on a cord.   When screwed together, each joint of the sectional rods acted as a gouge and cut the bore entrance.   The German's K98's used a pull-thru aluminum chain and their bores have no muzzle wear.  I don't know what cleaning equipment the Dutch intended to use for their rifles.  The old Springfield specification was that if a .302" pin gage could enter muzzle, barrel should be replaced.

[ArtR 0]

I shot quite a number of years on our state rifle team. One time I questioned the barrel on one of my M1's and a sage fellow shooter asked me, "When you shoot the rifle, does it group?" and I had to admit that it did so, pretty well. He said  not to worry about either muzzle or throat erosion until your rifle does not group the way you expect it to. He said then you might check the erosion,  but other than that, do not worry. He said the same holds true if you are a marksman or a high master. It is when your groups are not what you expect, then worry. I then ran across this article by Bruce Woodford on Fulton-Armory. com. For what it is worth

[ryche_me 0]

ArtR: Thanks for that article. That cleared up alot of questions i have had for a while after seeing guys use those gauges at gunshows.

I always used the bullet test at the muzzle myself. If the muzzle swallows the bullet then its not that its bad, it just may not be very accurate.

On some of my collector pieces that doesn't matter much as i may not shoot them anyway. Anyway great article. and thanks.

Ryche

[ArtR 0]

I relayed the same advice to a few other shooters and they questioned it. "How do you know what group to expect?" My reply, "If you are a Marksman, at 200 yards you can expect a shotgun pattern with the occasional flyer or miss, but most of 20 shots should be on the target paper. If you are a High Master, at 600 yards, you can probably cover most all  of your 20 X's and 10's with your hand!" Keep in mind, this was in the days all HighPowerRifle was shot with open sights.