Replacing Barrel Collar

[dogman5]

Hello, after reading here that Israeli barrel collars run the risk of cracking and destroying the gun while shooting, I have decided to look into changing the barrel collars of my Israeli barrels. How hard is it? Is it worth the hassle or should I just keep them as is for display purposes? Will I have to drill a new hole on the side of the barrel for the retaining pin if the collar doesn't line up perfectly? Thanks,
Brian

[messerschmittfan]

Brian, I have run a few thousand rounds through my Israeli barrels so I can keep the German ones nice. The Israeli barrels I have have a chrome lined bore and handle most of the nasty ammo out there with just a simple cleaning. I have never had a problem with them. Most are mid-50 production and are in 7.92X57. Just my thoughts on this Harry

[amafrank]

What is a barrel collar? Are you putting a leash on your barrels? Are you talking about the Barrel Extension which is the piece the bolt locks into? If that is the case I'd not worry about it. If the gun is just a semi you'll likely never wear it out. If its a real 34 than you'll wear it out if you shoot a lot whether its a German WWII part or one made by the Czechs. I don't believe the isrealis made barrel extensions for the MG34. Its much more likely they bought them from the Czechs along with a ton of surplus left over from the war. The MG34 wasn't really a frontline weapon for long and the cost of setting up production on a part like that is really high. Its a complex part not easily made by the average machineshop.
In addition, in all the years I've been working on machineguns I've never seen a damaged barrel extension in an MG34. Swapping one to another barrel seems like a silly thing to do and will require insuring and verifying headspace as well.
Worry about the things you're more likely to encounter.......ejectors, ejector plates, extractors, bolt heads and rollers, sears, firing pins etc.
Frank

[dogman5]

Thank you for the help guys! Saved me a lot of headache and work.