chamber polishing?

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bewsher500

bewsher500

Well-Known Member
the chamber on my .222 is as rough as a badgers arse....to put it mildly
some of my cases show the roughness in the brass

Now my "how hard can it be" mentality has me thinking a modified fire formed case on a extended power drill bit coated in some jewellers rouge would be a simple fix.
it is used for polishing glass and precious metals, surely must be able to remove some imperfections without removing too much metal or am I oversimplifying this?

thoughts before I get busy with the Bosch!
 
jcampbellsmith

jcampbellsmith

Well-Known Member
Not sure. Do you think the roughness is contributing to the extraction issue? In terms of cost of doing the work, I suspect it's like my £100 shotgun that I've twice spent £100 on and it's still worth £100. Unless the barrel is removed from the action, I would suspect any polishing would make the chamber less concentric.

I would be more inclined to set the barrel back and rechamber it, but that's not a cheap exercise.

Regards JCS
 
srvet

srvet

Well-Known Member
Veterinarian
Supporter
I once had a Rem 700 that had a rough chamber. I was told that it was caused by the chamber reamer chattering when it was cut. There were also score marks about 2 in into the muzzle where the pilot had also been loose. Advice at the time was to rebarrel or move the rifle on. With bore scopes being more available these days I would suggest that it is scoped before making a decision. As they say you can't polish a turd but you can roll it in glitter!
i suspect you would run into a few problems if you try to polish it out. The first being an oversized chamber and the second being loss of concentricity.
 
j0e_bl0ggs

j0e_bl0ggs

Well-Known Member
bewsher500 said:
the chamber on my .222 is as rough as a badgers arse....to put it mildly
some of my cases show the roughness in the brass

Now my "how hard can it be" mentality has me thinking a modified fire formed case on a extended power drill bit coated in some jewellers rouge would be a simple fix.
it is used for polishing glass and precious metals, surely must be able to remove some imperfections without removing too much metal or am I oversimplifying this?

thoughts before I get busy with the Bosch!
Click to expand...


Your fire-formed case [showing the roughness in the brass] will only exaggerate the problem that you have.


Love the comments about 'loss of concentricity' 'oversized chamber'....
 
O

Outback

Well-Known Member
I would get or make a cleaning mop the size of your chamber , coat it with a polishing agent and work away , not letting it run dry or become slack , then polish it with very fine wire wool again on the mop .
Give it a flush and a good clean and you should be good to go .

ATB
 
bigoak

bigoak

Well-Known Member
Is it causing extraction issues?
Has it been like this from new?
Is it significantly reducing the ife of the case then I wold suggest a set back and rechamber, hopefully with a sharp reamer.
I had a barrel set back and rechambered 2 years ago for under a hundred dollars. The lengthiest part of the process is centering the barrel in the lathe. This was in Aus so 60 odd quid.
If it still extracts and you get say one less reload out of your cases I wouldnt worry about it.
Hope this helps.
 
Brithunter

Brithunter

Well-Known Member
bigoak said:
Is it causing extraction issues?
Has it been like this from new?
Is it significantly reducing the ife of the case then I wold suggest a set back and rechamber, hopefully with a sharp reamer.
I had a barrel set back and rechambered 2 years ago for under a hundred dollars. The lengthiest part of the process is centering the barrel in the lathe. This was in Aus so 60 odd quid.
If it still extracts and you get say one less reload out of your cases I wouldnt worry about it.
Hope this helps.
Click to expand...

This is rip off Britain and I seriously doubt one could get a re-chamber done for less than several hundred pounds.
 
bigoak

bigoak

Well-Known Member
Shame. I would expect to pay the equivalent of 450 pounds for a rebarrel.
I was at a Field rifle comp a few years ago and one of the competitors had extraction issues with their Sako 22lr.
Rob Tobler (Tobler barrels) was there and he put a 22 lr reamer in an extension and very lighty turned it in the chamber, there may have been a burr or similar in it. Gun worked fine after that. May be worth a try if this is a new issue??
 
j0e_bl0ggs

j0e_bl0ggs

Well-Known Member
bigoak said:
Shame. I would expect to pay the equivalent of 450 pounds for a rebarrel.
I was at a Field rifle comp a few years ago and one of the competitors had extraction issues with their Sako 22lr.
Rob Tobler (Tobler barrels) was there and he put a 22 lr reamer in an extension and very lighty turned it in the chamber, there may have been a burr or similar in it. Gun worked fine after that. May be worth a try if this is a new issue??
Click to expand...

1) This isn't Australia - forget those prices.
2) It is not a 22LR so the 22LR extraction issue will not apply.
 
bigoak

bigoak

Well-Known Member
Hey Joe (theres a song about that)
Yeah I realise its not a 22lr, but if the roughness is caused by a surface imperfection in the chamber caused by foreign objects or corrosion, a light turn with a reamer might pick it up without altering he headspace. If its chatter from a previous chamber job it is a different story though.
 
Ronin

Ronin

Distinguished Member
Trade Member
You could polish the chamber using 800 then 1500 grit paper.

Do not go beyond the shoulder.

Do not polish for more than a minute or so max otherwise you will make the chamber oversize.

​Youl have to work out how to get in there,,,
 
Barkingsnake

Barkingsnake

Well-Known Member
Try some Autosol on an old brush wrapped with a bit of cloth: make sure the bush isn't so bit it'll fork up the lead and 30 secs should do at on a steady rechargeable drill...
 
Whitebeard

Whitebeard

Well-Known Member
bewsher, if it is not doing any harm leave it as it is, a chamber should not be polished any finer then 400 grit and then with a cross hatch effect, this helps case obturation and reduces bolt thrust, in a highly polished chamber the case does not grip the chamber walls well and bolt thrust is substantially increased.

Ian.
 
bewsher500

bewsher500

Well-Known Member
for clarity it is far from new, couldnt tell you what it did before I took ownership and tarted it up to look less like a tomato stake

It is a .222 BRNO Fox Md2 Mini Mauser action (controlled feed)
I don't have extraction issues unless I am firing several shots, tends to be at the range (not specific but more than 5 less than 10)
I do get primer cratering but put this down to soft CCI400's









what happens is when hot and after several firiings the spent case sticks in the chamber and as the .222 has a very small rim the extractor claw rides over the edge. once off the rim the claw is not designed to clip back over (poor design feature IMO, should it happen in the trenches you will be shot by the time you have knocked a case out!!)





Barkingsnake said:
Of course you could try reading this and make your own decisions.
http://www.varmintal.com/a243zold.htm
Click to expand...


Thanks for the PM read that and the other link you sent:
http://www.varmintal.com/arelo.htm#Polish_Chamber

if you read this you can see some of the marks on my cases would indicate that they are sticking during the firing, cant see how it will remove enough material to be oversized but it may helps with this issue
think I can achieve this without a reamer as I run the risk of finding a reamer that is oversized compared to my chamber, so new headspace issue
or
undersized..so it will cut the shoulder first...and new headspace issue






 
8x57

8x57

Distinguished Member
Barkingsnake said:
That firing pin is way too proud...should be only just a bit more than the front bit. :(
Click to expand...

Looks like it in the photograph doesn't it!

I wonder about the shape of the extractor claw also but it's hard to tell from just photographs.
 
Jager SA

Jager SA

Well-Known Member
Brithunter said:
This is rip off Britain and I seriously doubt one could get a re-chamber done for less than several hundred pounds.
Click to expand...

Yee who hath little faith...come on, how long does a chamber take? Hour and a half ish, so what's the hourly rate, £50?
 
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