Maynard 2nd model headspace

[j.howardcycles]

Hi all;
a friend just bought a 2nd model maynard. It looks great .lotts of bluing and color case left. I can not see any worn parts = screws , holes or anything. Lock up is tight. But when i put in a brass cartridge . I can see daylight between the cartridge and the frame. I can slip a .011 gauge between the two of them. I can not find anything wrong that would make this happen. Or is this within spec for it ? Any ideas ?? All the parts look to be origanal to the carbine. It also looks to have been used for skirmishing as it has the l flip peep and front sight is taller.
Thanks
john

[John Bly]

The headspace without a cartridge in the gun should be .030"-.031". There really is no good way to correct headspace in a 2nd Mod Maynard. I've seen quite a few attempts, none of them good! The best solution is to get cases from Charlie Hahn with the rim thickness to fit your gun. He'll be set up at Nat'ls.

[j.howardcycles]

John ;
thanks. I will talk to charlie after i take a measurement.
John
c.s.a.

[Fearless Frank]

Where is Raider ANV when you need him?

[RaiderANV]

I was at the Fort shooting my Maynard in the Potomac Regional! John is correct as always. My mint unfired Maynard in collection measures .29 and two others measure.30 & .32 New cases with thicker rim my far the best fix. Reline barrel leaving more out the back a cheaper fix bit looks like a FrankenBarrel.welding holes up and redrilling,,,,,,,,well, ya better be a machinist as good or better then Charlie or John and ya might get it close.

[John Bly]

One thing you can do to compensate for excess clearance on the brass rim is to seat the bullet out so that it engraves the rifling upon closing the breech. This forces the brass rim against the breech face and helps prevent misfires. The bullet must be fairly tight in the case for this to work well. If the brass is not tight against the breech face some of the flash from the cap can disperse sideways instead of going through the flash hole in the case. This will erode the flash hole in the breech face faster than if it gets a good seal.

[j.howardcycles]

Hey all;
thanks for the info. I just checked the total heads space and it is way out there at .046.
With that much over normal spec. I would think something is worn. But all checks out. I will talk to my friend and let him know the options. I was thinking of putting the barrel on the lathe and boring out the chamber to be able to take a sleave that i would make. But i will let him tell me what he wants done.
John
c.s.a.

[Eggman]

Well I'll tell you something PJ, I had a Maynard experience a few weeks ago I'll bet you've never had. I shot with the Iredell Blues "C" team a man short at the Palmetto event, and such luxury one can only imagine. I poured through Maynard rounds like pee out of a boot! I got like eight on the P board, six on the tiles etc. etc. until I ran out of ammo (the Iredell Blues give a false impression that you can get by without a lot of ammo at a skirmish). I then borrowed some ammo from Dustbin, but to no avail. I must have that magic Eggman made ordnance. I think I topped out around twenty hits.
So anyway the point is PJ, why don't you do a dissertation on Maynard variations. Like for instance, I picked up a few empty cases on the line a year ago that turned out not to be mine, that would not even begin to chamber in my 2nd Model. What do you suppose they came out of? What is the difference between an original, a Romano, a (pitoey) Harpers Ferry, etc. etc.
I assume the bulk of the cases being produced are a close match to the originals as I have had none of the headspace problems. How many of our group are using custom stuff???

[Bruce Cobb 1723V]

why not just solder on a washer on the back of the barrel?

[RaiderANV]

Eggs,
You need to remember to change yer Depends more often and you'll not end up with pee in yer boots! Geez,,,,,

I actually started a project along that line years ago and never finished it along with 50 zillion other things.

What started it was a bought a white metal First Aid box someone had done a fine job of making thick lexan trays drilled for Maynard rounds to fit it with spacers. Was two levels and really neat-o! Best part was it came with 125 Maynard cases both brass and aluminium. Mostly Brass though. Paid $75 bucks and felt like I got over on him but it was his asking price. Took them home and tossed in a corner for a year or four. Ran across them one day and took everything out and cleaned case and shelves. ALL the rounds were loaded even. I got out a Maynard to see if I couldn't burn some ammo after checking to make sure BP was in them. Ya know,,,,those suckers would not fit in the chamber! Maynard rounds are .545 thereabouts. these were .575 OD and .518 ID. So needless to say they are still loaded and sitting in another corner ten years later. OH,,,,,I no longer felt guilty about that cheap price. :rolleyes:

The rounds you found may have been from an oversize chamber. I had a few barrels relined and the chambers were cut .553! And REVERSE tapered even. At rifling they were .553 and .548 at the back. Needless to say brand new cases fire formed and pliers just pulled the rims off. Had to use a cleaning rod. I have two mint originals and the chamber is actually tapered .003 from front getting larger in the back. Makes easy work of pulling cases out. Everyone chambering them these days does a straight walled chamber that I'm aware of.

[John Bly]

Pat is correct that the original barrels had about .003" taper in the chamber. I chamber my barrels with a straight .547" diameter piloted reamer. If the groove size is .518" or .519" then I ream the chamber to .550" so the brass cartridge will still chamber after the bullet is seated. I won't use anything with a .520" or larger groove diameter.


The Harpers Ferry Maynards seemed to use a 9/16" (.562") reamer as the chamber is way oversize. I don't know what others are using.

[John Holland]

The Harper's Ferry Maynard use of an oversize reamer was intentional so as to force you buy their oversized cases.

[Eggman]

How do the Romanos be?

[John Bly]

I've got a Romano in my shop for repairs and I measured the chamber. It is a straight .547" diameter, no taper, but the chamber measures 1.357" deep and originals measure 1.206 plus or minus a few thou, so it is an extra .150" deep. It is an early one with a serial less than 50. I don't know what is leaving his shop now.