Hi all. This is the first time I've posted at this forum so please be nice!

Since I've got this plethora of nice 8mm ammo and had sold my last K98 (all matching vet bring-back) I needed another old bolt to enjoy at the range. I ended up purchasing one of the Turk T38 rifles from Allan's Armory and received it just the other day. It's in fine condition, really; a bit worn here and there but the barrel shows strong lands and with some cleaning and tuning, this old war-horse will see many more years on the firing line.

However.....there's always a "however", right? I've attempted to remove the barrel bands and am running in an issue. First, I assume that the front band comes off by pressing in on the metal tab inletted into the front of the muzzle, right? Well if that's the case, it's not working very well. I'm going to have to work out some way to make it collapse a bit further so the front band can slide off. There's probably some crud below it prohibiting it from moving far enough into the inletted area to allow the front band to come off.

The second, and more pressing issue, is that the rear barrel band is held in place by a screw which goes in on the right side of the band and crosses through the stock and exists through the left side. First of all, the head of the screw is worn to the point where there's no slot for a screw driver. So, I managed to file one carefully into it but still no joy when I tried to remove it. The tiny "pin" protruding through the left side of the barrel band is also worn and appears to be stalling the screw when I attempt to remove it. I'm going to have to get more aggressive with it and therein lies my problem.

I can't seem to locate a replacement screw or, for that matter, a replacement rear barrel band. I've look at Numrich but can't seem to locate one there unless I'm looking at the wrong list of parts. I suspect that I'm going to have to grind that screw away because of its condition and that means I may damage the rear barrel band. Now I've got to believe that there are some out there since these rifles were so prolific.

Two questions, then. 1) Have any of you experienced an issue with this screw and its removal? If so how did you manage to remove it? #2) If I do have to remove it with duress, can anyone point me to a replacement for it and/or the band itself? There's a lot of old cosmo in there.....I can see it. It's got to come off so I can do a completely proper cleaning on this hardware and it's evident to me that this band has not been off the rifle for many, many decades because of the screws condition.

Any and all help will be appreciated. BTW, it's a 1942. I'd be happy to supply anyone here with more specific info if required. And, if you've got parts, let me know. We'll work out a deal.

Rome