Thread: "Dont shoot the donor!"

A few people have a fair idea that Im rather partial to Husqvarna rifles, and about 18 months ago a local asked me if I was interested in buying a Husky 1600 in 270. But he told me it had a buggered barrel, would only group about 5-6". So I had a look, it was nice and tidy, but the barrel did look pretty bad. A bit of cash changed hands and I had a Husky that I intended to rebarrel at some later stage.

Roll on this lockdown BS, and being in my 5th week of lockdown I was getting pretty bored this afternoon. So thought to meself, that I would get the rifle out of the safe, fit a scope to it and see what I had. First thing I did was check all the important screws etc. The bases looked like steel Weaver's and I checked the torque on the rear one, and both screws torqued up a bit more, but felt "squishy" so I had a real close look. Somebody at some point had fitted the bases and there was no evidence of epoxy, but there was a decent gap around the bottom of the rear base. So I took it off - and this is what I found......

Removed the offending star washers and did some more checking. The base was about .5mm too low, the screws were the wrong thread and had buggered the screws and there was a slight bump around the screw holes in the action. Fortunately it hadn't damaged the threads in the action.

Then I looked at the front base. The rear screw was loose, and the front screw was frozen and the torque 'hole' was all munted. Couldn't fit any torque keys in it that would hold. there was no way I could get that front torque screw out so took to it with an angle grinder and carefully cut a slot in it, and the base. With the heat of the disc and a correctly fitting screw driver I was able to get it out and remove the front base.

Thought I could find a rear base of the correct height in my box of spares, but sadly nothing that would level up the bases. So then I checked out my PH bases and was able to find a set of front and rear bases that fitted correctly without any modification. I carefully stoned off the 'swelling" around the rear base screw hole, and checked all 4 holes with the correct screws to make sure they threads weren't damaged. I then fitted the bases, but didn't epoxy them as I still want to go back to picatinny bases as soon as Im out of lockdown.

Rummaging through my spare rings I was able to find a tidy set of original PH 26mm low rings, fitted them to the bases. I had a 2.5X Kahles scope waiting for a period correct rifle, so mounted that in the 26mm rings. The barrel did look pretty bad , so I took to it with a bronze brush and G96, scrubbed it all nice and shiny. Then boresighted it off the dining table, aiming at spot on a bulk fuel tank about 100 metres away.

Had a few random 270 reloads in the gunsafe so grabbed them and went down to the range. Three shots at 25 had me on the mark, but a tad to the right.

Then I put 1 shot on target at 100, and walked down to check it out cos you cant see bullet holes with a 2.5X scope. Happy it was close I then walked back and sent another 2 down range. This is what I got........

Put up a new target, and adjusted the scope 3 clicks left.......


Not bad for a 1950's rifle with a "buggered" barrel, a 2.5X scope, and some random reloads, I'd be happy to take it hunting.

Classic

Great yarn, and even better result!! Kudos for taking on the job, another one "saved"!!

oh yeah baby!!!!!!!!! you are away and laughing now.....IFyou have some speer projectiles handy give them a whirl....being softer than most they may like the rifling as it is anyway and might do wonderful things for the old girl...now you have forgotten to put up photo of rifle with wee bush scope on it.....love to see bush hobbit worthy rifles....

Unbelievable what some people do, great you were able to diagnose and fix.

youd be happy with that

Not the greatest pic, but thats as it sits as of a few minutes ago. Its a 1640 with the longer barrel rather than the shorter 1600, probably not quite bush hobbit worthy - too long. Have used low power scopes for years, would be happy to take it out for a tahr to 300 or so. One group was 32mm and the other 35mm.
The reloads were 130gn SST's pushed along by 57 gns 2213, records show they were doing just over 2900 in a previous rifle. The records also show that I was getting another 150fps using Superformance with the same projectile. When I get some more spare time I will load some SPF loads and see what they do, but not too concerned with speed.

That scope looks familiar!!

Originally Posted by The bomb

That scope looks familiar!!

Gotta love looking through a Kahles eh! Was gonna leave it in the Weaver rings, thought it would be a 30 minute job until I found all the bubba work.

bush hobbit worthy she is.....with scope like that it would work just fine....how short it is isnt the whole picture.love the recoil pad,bet that soaks up the punch well.

you found the gold with that one .best of luck looks like a ripper!!bet previous owner is feelin a little sick!!1

My favourite make and model, I'm always here to give any of your 1600's a home

Good result but just one more validation for me of my hate of roundtop actions.
Really if they were too lazy or rough to mill a dovetail or picatinny from the factory it doesnt deserve a scope.

I hope you are still going to rip that 270 barrel off and make something decent of it Al

Originally Posted by Mathias

I hope you are still going to rip that 270 barrel off and make something decent of it Al

A new barrel is on the cards Andy, just not in a panic any more. Is the poo seventy not decent?