Anyone in LA able to rebarrel a Galil?

[22lr]

I have a ORF Galil ARM that needs a rebarrel. The headspacing is horrific and best I can tell is causing a lot of issues.

Steel cases will fire and eject but at least 1 in 4 fail to eject. With brass ammo the round fires, but every now and then one will fire and upon ejection the rear half of the shell is ripped off, leaving the rest of the round in the chamber. It happened 4 times with 3 different brands of brass ammo (including .223 and 5.56) so ive ruled out anything ammo related. Im 90% positive the headspacing is so off that the shell is expanding causing the case to stick to the chamber. The bolt fully closes on a 5.56 no-go gauge.

From my limited understanding of the Galil, altering headspace would also mess up the timing, and the gashole is already drilled so im assuming that rules out anything other than a rebarrel. Barrels are cheap enough that id just as soon replace the one on there, but im open to anything that would fix the problem.

If all else fails I may be selling it as a parts kit here if I cant get someone to rebarrel it. I have found some guys who build a lot of Galils, but I would rather do business locally instead of dealing with mailing the rifle. Someone around the Shreveport area would be ideal. So, any suggestions on who would be able to tackle the job?

I love the gun, it just needs to work, LOL.

 

[Guate_shooter]

Check with

kajuntriton

or

Tod with TCostumsLLC


None of the two are closer to that area though ............

 

[22lr]

Check with

kajuntriton

or

Tod with TCostumsLLC


None of the two are closer to that area though ............

Will do, thanks

 

[#1bambam]

Sounds like what happens to a AR when you shoot lacquer coated steel case ammo and then brass.Look in the breach and make sure its clean.Its will look like chrome lining thats flaking off and is hard as hell to clean.

 

[22lr]

I see a little of that happening, maybe......... That wouldn't create headspacing issues (bolt closes on the no-go) though would it?

But I might as well try a more solid cleaning, cant hurt anything. What kind of solvents would I use to get rid of that stuff? I fired a few steel rounds just to make sure the gun wouldn't shoot it either, but no clue on previous round count, so not sure how much there would be.

 

[#1bambam]

Do you have a field gauge?Id clean the breach with carb cleaner and a brush then check it with the field gauge if it closes on it Id worry about its headspace.A lot of AK type rifels close on a no go because they are desighned for steel case ammo and arent set as tight as a AR thats made for brass.

 

[22lr]

Haven't tried a field gauge yet, might be worth a shot......... Ill give it a go I guess, cant hurt it any further.

 

[rockmup]

Where did the barrel come from ? Where did you get the gun ?

 

[Akajun]

ORF? look at the locking lug recesses of the reciever see if they are deformed or appear to be set back. ORF had notorious quality control issues with the hardness of their recievers and the overal quality of their builds on galils. The guy that owned ORF was an alcoholic and had serious money problems, his work suffered.

 

[22lr]

Where did the barrel come from ? Where did you get the gun ?

Private sale at a gunshow but not sure who built it, I think its a green mountain barrel. For the price I paid I figured I could get bit to bad even if something like this was wrong Receiver is a Ohio Rapid Fire IIIgen unit. I basically paid the same price for this as I would have for a ARM parts kit, and receiver. I figured if it worked it was just a bonus.

 

[22lr]

ORF? look at the locking lug recesses of the reciever see if they are deformed or appear to be set back. ORF had notorious quality control issues with the hardness of their recievers and the overal quality of their builds on galils. The guy that owned ORF was an alcoholic and had serious money problems, his work suffered.

Ya, I found this out after I bought it. I was so adamant against a Century build that I let myself buy this without doing the proper research. But like I said above, I didn't get bit to bad at least.

 

[#1bambam]

A headspace issue wouldent make the cases stick.Can you post pics of the locking lugs and down the breach?ORF did have problems with there galil recievers though.

 

[rockmup]

GM had issues with the barrels they built for those too.

When you get the brass out of the chamber whats it look like ? Is it deformed in the neck area ?

 

[22lr]

Lugs look halfway decent, and the brass isnt beat up more than you'd expect from a Galil. I thought I was having rounds go off out of battery at first, but eliminated that fairly soon since the brass wasn't really deformed in anyway other than being ripped in half. I then thought of a burr in the chamber, so had a finish reamer ran through the chamber. Reamer didnt take anything off and was spinning good with very light finger pressure and loaded rounds dropped in and out with no effort. Next up I thought the timing might be off which could explain failure to eject consistently on the steel ammo (the ejector had plenty of spring tension so I ruled that out). I tired different mags and ammo just to make sure something funky wasnt going on there (I was trying anything at this point) and got the same results every time. My final straw was back to thinking the rounds where going off out of battery, but no matter how much I made sure the bolts were engaged (IE pulling the mag out and looking at it, and applying forward pressure to the handle) the cases would still get ripped in half.

I was only thinking headspace issues since the brass could be expanding to the chamber and sticking to the walls. But as im typing this im not so sure as the stuck cases are easily removed and that doesn't make since if they are staying put while the back half is ripped off (im not a rocket science, but that seems like it would be a lot of force). But my thought was they were expanding and sticking to the chamber and the back was being ripped off. I thought of this because the steel case stuff was not having this problem and I know steelcase ammo is less apt to expand and seal completely against the wall (not much, but it might be enough to make a difference).

My only other thing to mention is that I could usually get a few rounds to fire and eject and they would be fine, but then id get one that would rip in half. The only thing that I found wrong with the gun was the bullet guide was awful loose and I cant get the rivet to stake down any further. But in my limited gunsmithing knowledge I just cant see that being my problem with cases being ripped in half.

Ill get better pics of the internals and brass tomorrow after work. Also im running into a problem of finding the specs for a Galil receiver so I have no clue if something is horribly wrong or not. But that said, everything looks fine visually, I just dont think there is any kind of abnormal wear. But again, im stumped here.

 

[22lr]

Ok some pics.

Bolt seems to be locking solidly in place. Again not 100% since im not finding a lot of comparison material but they seem fully engaged to my untrained eyes.

Pic of the receiver rails and such. Racking my fingernail over the right side rail and there is a catch/burr where it looks like metal might be beginning to deform. Its hard to judge wear based on finish wear as the finish used is not all that unlike black krylon spray paint. Also infront of the hammer there is that spur/what ever it is. It has some deformation as well, nothing major but you can feel the edge of the metal being pushed up.........

So now I guess I should be asking if its worth having this one tested, or if I should be looking at having the gun rebuilt on a new receiver or reheated (new Galil receivers don't look like they are easy to come by, so reheating might be the bet)? The deformation isn't that bad at the moment, but now that I am taking a good look at it it kinda looks like it might be soft.......

As for pics of the brass, I thought I had some but I guess I tossed it out while packing up. I do have a few of the ripped cases just to show what is actually happening. The rounds with that discoloration are NATO 5.56 rounds, the color is normal. The 2 unfired rounds are what results when the action tries to feed a new shell into the remains of the previous. The action obviously is cycling with a good bit of force. The case with no discoloration is an American Eagle .223 round, same thing with the 5.56, ripped in half, next round jammed into the stuck case.

 

[#1bambam]

You said the bullet ramp was loose?It looks like its been hit by the bolt.Can you take a pic like the one thats showing the inside of the reciever but showing the left side better?

 

[rockmup]

The two cases on the left look like they are bent at the neck. Maybe just the pic ?

 

[22lr]

You said the bullet ramp was loose?It looks like its been hit by the bolt.Can you take a pic like the one thats showing the inside of the reciever but showing the left side better?

This help?

Left

Right

Bullet guide is loose, but seems to be clearing the bolt fairly easily.

 

[22lr]

The two cases on the left look like they are bent at the neck. Maybe just the pic ?

The one in the middle is bent a bit, the others appear fine.

I cant confirm that it was bent before it was removed though, it might have gotten bent in removal or in transport home (I was riding my motorcycle to the range and the shell was in my pocket).

 

[22lr]

Sorry guys, I definetly just got left and right all mixed up. I dont have an excuse other than im tired as crap, and the booze isnt helping too much...........