A9926 Pics and Such

[tuskinventor 0]

Took the time over the past couple of days to completely disassemble and clean a rifle I picked up last year. A9926 came from a very picky collector in western Michigan and he also had the owners manual signed by Mr Johnson that I have posted about previously. Wanted to share pics of the rifle and get comments as appropriate. I did shoot about 10 rounds out of the rifle—worked flawlessly. 

https://imgur.com/gallery/PSpNB32

 

 

[Rarecat 0]

She's a beauty, so clean!

[M48TANKER 0]

Great photos of a beautiful rifle!

[camstuff 0]

I took a look at all the pictures and it appears that maybe the barrel has been reworked.  The forward collar has an extra ring around it, and I think it’s a spacer that I’ve read about on the forum. The pitting near the rear collar is also suspect, and perhaps has been machined with and head spaced, this requiring a spacer at the forward collar.   I could be wrong though. 

[Brian Alpert 0]

Bbls with spacers were a common factory alteration on both rifle and LMG bbls  When they did not headspace and the bbl had to be set back, a spacer had to be used to keep the locking collar in proper position.  When sight and bayonet lug were removed and repositioned additional grooves had to be cut for the taper pins.  I have had several

[tuskinventor 0]

Thanks fellas for all the information. Really learning a lot on this board. Appreciate all. 

[M48TANKER 0]

On 8/13/2021 at 9:34 AM, Brian Alpert said:

Bbls with spacers were a common factory alteration on both rifle and LMG bbls  When they did not headspace and the bbl had to be set back, a spacer had to be used to keep the locking collar in proper position.  When sight and bayonet lug were removed and repositioned additional grooves had to be cut for the taper pins.  I have had several

Hello Brian, I'm curious...if the factory altered barrels because of faulty head spacing issues, how do you suppose this happened? Perhaps over zealous chamber reaming, or worn reamers? What accounts for the differences in the manner in which the barrels are marked?

Also, I noticed that "tuskinventor's" barrel has a witness mark that might show that the locking lug collar has been rotated clockwise as it would have been when cutting the chamber deeper. The old "line" witness mark doesn't line up now and another "punch" mark has been applied to indicate the new position. This would be expected. Or is the "line" mark something different from the witness mark round punch?

Now, the locking lug itself has these two crescents milled out which I don't remember seeing before...but maybe it's just late and I'm tired.

Also didn't notice an NPC stamp on the barrel although it may be there? The more pictures I find the more differences in markings I see!

The barrel marking differences are interesting: