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The humble .22 BSA International target rifle, we have all shot or owned one and if not, hopefully you will one day.

This one is a Mk3 with the floating barrel and it came in for a re-crown and re-time//head space the barrel. At some point the barrel had been twisted very slightly which was enough to cant the fore sight over, yet still operate correctly. The head space was also out. Now interestingly, there seems to be some mystique about these things and I remember reading on a forum quite recently that they were factory pressed together and could not be adjusted. OK, well here is one in bits on the counter so you can see how they come apart and the process is remarkably easy:

Drop the action parts out of the receiver and place them some where safe.

Remove the two knurled cap-head screws from the left hand side of the receiver, they are going to be tight so you have been warned!

Now pull the barrel out of the receiver, it might be quite a snug fit!

What I do is pop the barrelled actioned in the barrel vice (I use a 25000kg hydraulic press) I then flood the barrel tenon with Plus-Gas and make myself a coffee. I then attach my universal action wrench with masking tape or aluminium shims to protect the receiver.

Nip the wrench up very lightly, if you do it up tightly the receiver will tighten on the barrel tenon.

Now get hold of the action wrench and rotate/pull back and the receiver should detach from the barrel with a bit of effort.

Clean everything carefully and inspect, in this case it went into the lathe and was crowned.

OK, back in the vice, clock the front sight base to zero (Or use a precision level)

Now push the receiver onto the tenon and fit the two screws loosely, I usually nip them until the receiver will no longer rotate and back off a 1/4 turn. You should have a few degrees of rotation.

Fit the action internals ensuring everything has been thoroughly cleaned as we really do not need a piece of grit to mess up things right now.

Fit the GO head space gauge, push the receiver forward and ensure it is level, now nip the screws up and check everything. Did you fit the GO Gauge before fitting the receiver? Start again :)

Open the action keeping a hand over the load port or be prepared to spend an hour or so looking for your gauge.

Check with the NOGO and if all is good you can put the rifle back together.

One small detail, the fore end support is held in place by the front screw so you do have one last chance to mess things up, which, hopefully you will not.

So there you go, a BSA International MkIV stripped and head spaced.

...and why am I telling you this? Because you need to know.

Interesting job - like working on a classic car.
I think the only floating barrel International is the Mk III, the Mk IV was the ISU model with the fore-end screwed straight up into the barrel

Interesting thanks for posting it up. I never knew the barrel was held in by two grub screws. You learn something new every day.

1066 wrote:Interesting job - like working on a classic car.
I think the only floating barrel International is the Mk III, the Mk IV was the ISU model with the fore-end screwed straight up into the barrel

Of course it is, thank you for reminding me :)

Always love write ups like this.

I've certainly had the issue before i nearly buggering up a gun because i couldn't find the appropriate info on it so posts like these are always great to see.