The Firing Line Forums - View Single Post - Different ways to chamber a rifle barrel?

Gunplummer · June 4, 2013, 03:24 PM

I do not get that scenario you described. If I am reading that correctly, the guy hand tightened the receiver on the barrel, inserted the go (Snugly) and then torqued the barrel on. This is backwards. Are you sure he did not insert the NO GO ? When you crank the barrel on, the face of the barrel (or shoulder) area is compressed. This shortens the head space area. The area between the chamber shoulder and the bolt face is now closer together by whatever amount the steel compressed to. I often cut barrels in the bench block by hand. If you get the GO too tight on a hand fit, it will never work after you hammer the barrel on. You can see there are many ways to do this. Just find the one for you.

Handloading for a chamber is backwards also. Take a couple different brand cases and fire them. Re-size the cases. Now make the reamer to the case dimensions, which is also your die specs. I have been able to do that and get no more than .001 stretch from cases after making up a reamer like that. Or, you could just make a die to match a chamber, but it is a lot harder to do. Neck sizing is not what it is built up to be. Everything else has to work with it.

June 4, 2013, 03:24 PM	#15
Gunplummer Senior Member Join Date: March 11, 2010 Location: South East Pa. Posts: 3,364	I do not get that scenario you described. If I am reading that correctly, the guy hand tightened the receiver on the barrel, inserted the go (Snugly) and then torqued the barrel on. This is backwards. Are you sure he did not insert the NO GO ? When you crank the barrel on, the face of the barrel (or shoulder) area is compressed. This shortens the head space area. The area between the chamber shoulder and the bolt face is now closer together by whatever amount the steel compressed to. I often cut barrels in the bench block by hand. If you get the GO too tight on a hand fit, it will never work after you hammer the barrel on. You can see there are many ways to do this. Just find the one for you. Handloading for a chamber is backwards also. Take a couple different brand cases and fire them. Re-size the cases. Now make the reamer to the case dimensions, which is also your die specs. I have been able to do that and get no more than .001 stretch from cases after making up a reamer like that. Or, you could just make a die to match a chamber, but it is a lot harder to do. Neck sizing is not what it is built up to be. Everything else has to work with it. Last edited by Gunplummer; June 4, 2013 at 03:34 PM.