Gonna slug my VZ58 barrel. Recommendations/suggestions/warnings?

P

Pond James Pond

New member
My VZ58 is a reconn'ed military rifle. The barrel is used; something I only found out after I had bought it. Anyway a 'smith had taken a look and told me that the rifling is fine.

But it is still not new, so I' like to know "where I is at" with barrel condition.

My only pure lead source is a few .454 lead round balls. I plan to roll one down to about 8mm diameter with a slight taper to easy entry into the muzzle. I'll be using a 1lb rubber mallet to get it in. Then I'll just push it thought with a bore rod with a jag on the end.

Once in it should not require much pressure to push through.

Any glaring accidents waiting to happen that I should consider first?
 
Well....I'm not sure what it is you will learn. If someone has a bore scope it will help.
USA military ordnance gages include very slightly tapered erosion gages .You can read muzzle/cleaning rod wear,and throat erosion.

We hope that generally a bore is slightly tapered (very slightly) larger at the breech and tighter at the muzzle.

So if you push it through from the muzzle,it gets sized down,and won't tell you much about the throat...where heavy wear will show.

And something could go wrong. There is always something that could go wrong.

Your gunsmith said its good. What's a reasonable expectation for accuracy out of that rifle? Will it shoot that good?

I suggest there is probably a good local beer. Do you have another can of sprats? I imagine there are beautiful women in Estonia.....

Its nearly time for fishing. I have heard potatoes can be grown efficiently in a barrel.....
 
I suggest there is probably a good local beer. Do you have another can of sprats? I imagine there are beautiful women in Estonia.....

Its nearly time for fishing. I have heard potatoes can be grown efficiently in a barrel.....
Click to expand...

Yes, yes, very much so, yes and yes!
;)



As for the slugging, well I just wanted an idea of the state of the lands. Good is not "in new condition"...
 
About 8mm diameter is still too big. 7.62 x 39's bore should be .311". 8mm is .323". Got any lead fishing sinkers that are close at the top of the Baltic? A regular cast .30 cal bullet works too.
And a plastic mallet will be better than rubber. They're just a bit harder but still won't damage anything. The rifle must be securely held in a bench vise too. Use holster thick(usually 8 plus ounces) leather as a pad on the jaws.
Mind you, slugging the bore will only tell you its diameter. It won't tell you anything about the condition. A flashlight will do that though. So will a wee bit of white paper in the action to reflect light.
 
I guess I just hoped to have an idea of how much rifling there still was on this gun. I realise it's not an in depth diagnosis of the barrel's condition...

Either way, I can roll it down further. As far as fishing is concerned, I think that EU directives have stamped down on lead in fishing due to the risk to wildfowl that can swallow the weights...
 
You probably won't learn much by slugging it other than true bore diameter (which should be very close to .311"). A bore scope would be better for checking the rifling.

Even better... shoot it and be happy it it groups well!
 
I use fishing sinkers from Walmart. :)

And slugging won't tell you anything useful other than bore diameter.

Jeff

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
 
Is it a real Czech Arms 58 or a Century Arms VZ 58??

What will slugging the barrel tell you? It is what it is unless you plan in reloading and want custom sized lead bullets which I wouldm't run through a gas gun anyway.
 
When you push the slug past the gas piston bleed hole, chances are good you'll scrape off enough soft lead to plug the hole. If you slug it and the gun won't cycle afterwards, this would be a good place to start looking for the reason why. Just sayin'
 
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