"Chattered" chamber

D

Dennis Sorensen

Guest
I have received a job to repair... a new Lilja barrel had been fitted and chambered by someone unknown to me. (.223 Rem. on a Savage)

The customer said the fired brass looks terrible and is a mess... and wants it fixed.

I first tried my reamer and I could feel the chatter right away... it was terrible... as my reamer was cutting the chatter went away and it seemed to cut fine. I only set this back about 1/4 inch and headspaced it... the chamber looks real good... I test fired it and the brass looks real good... BUT... when you rotate the brass in your fingers you can feel it is multi-sided. The bad chamber has not been removed entirely or it still influenced my reamer...

My question is ... has anyone experienced this when fixing a chattered chamber? Do you think if I set back another 1/4 inch I will be able to make a round chamber or should I cut the chamber off and start fresh? (That's what I am leaning towards)
 
from a non-gnsmith

cut it off but save the evidence. It is important to receive the quality you are capable of not just barely repairing the other fellows mistake. You do good work and do not need to have any issues with the previous work still there. If the customer does not want the shortened barrel ask him to let the other fellow have another go at it.

let the real gunsmiths reply, just a customer's opinion when I would get it back to provide feedback to you, hypothetically

thanks

Jeff
 
Dennis,

This is a tough call. I think your reamer will 'eventually' follow the bore and come to a concentric, round fit within another 1/4", but perhaps the answer is to re-chuck the barrel and run a boring bar down the existing chamber taper to see if it can be cleaned up. If so, you can then use the cleaned up taper to guide your reamer and produce a better chamber. Whether it is worth the work is up to you. The problem here is that there may be more wrong with the original job than chatter - it may be crooked as well...

You are a very experienced smith, so I won't presume to do more than tell you what you already know.. Sometimes you do a favor for a guy and because of the previous smith's errors the job gets pretty hard. I hate workng after someone else to correct their mess.

Scott
 
cut it and start over again

I could be wrong but I think you'll be farther ahead. Obviously the barrel will be shorter. The reamer will follow this mistake for ever. Cut it off, indicate, single point bore and ream. I've tried this before and only made matters worse. Save the fired case and cutoff as evidence then proceed. I ALWAYS tell the customer first what I want to do before I proceed. Simple honesty.
Regards...Herb
 
HCP said:
I ALWAYS tell the customer first what I want to do before I proceed. Simple honesty.
Click to expand...

Yes I have done that already... we agree - cut it off and make it right... this is a used rifle he bought but the barrel looks like new... and is long... lots of shank to work with too.

So back to the shop... thanks for the replies.
 
Curious... If the barrel really needed its length, could this be bored out? Including the neck that is.
 
Dennis, have you tried wrapping waxed paper around the reamer as this has been reported to help on fixing chattered chambers.
 
Dennis,

What are you pushing the reamer with, a dead center or a floater? If it is the later it probably will probably follow what is there.

Rick
 
I did have an instance similar although not the same. I had built two AR's that started with heavy barrels and I turned them down to a lighter contour. Chamber was cut by the barrel manufacturer and looked great. Well after I contoured them I experienced a walking POI as the barrel heated so I had them cryo'd. Well after that was done, the fired brass showed longitudinal flats marked by the powder residue, although you couldn't feel it. They still shot great though, and the POI never shifted.
 
JohnVm said:
Dennis, have you tried wrapping waxed paper around the reamer as this has been reported to help on fixing chattered chambers.
Click to expand...
This will correct the problem. You may have to replace the waxed paper 3-4 times but it will get rid of chatter.
 
Dennis

Good Decision. From a machinist point of view, once a reamed hole is that bad, it is next to impossible to get it right with a reamer........jackie
 
Why not clean up the chamber with a light boring bar cut, the same as if the chamber was off center? Then ream as a new chamber.
 
Roger

Depending on the severity of the chatter, by the time you bore it to clean,you might end up loosing most of the chamber length anyway.........jackie
 
You can bore the body and clean that up,but the shoulder and neck will be a problem. If you can't get it done with the wax paper or cleaning patches on the reamer try a spiral fluted reamer if you have one. Definately one of the toughest jobs in gunsmithing.
 
Had it happen one time and I tried all the tricks, ended up cutting it off and starting over. Best of luck.
 
Would a chamber Hone for .223 help Midway USA Sells them? I have a barrel that cuts the brass as fired ither than that the chamber is perfect. Or should I use a hand finish reamer and chamber slightly deeper and setback the barrel? I do not have a lathe most stuff with hand tools on a Savage barrel though.
 
Reamer chatter

I tried MColeman's wax paper wrap trick on a badly chattered chamber I was trying to ream today, and it worked like a champ!

Can anyone explain to me WHY it works, though?
 
bill_meilahn said:
I tried MColeman's wax paper wrap trick on a badly chattered chamber I was trying to ream today, and it worked like a champ!

Can anyone explain to me WHY it works, though?
Click to expand...

I think it works because it causes the reamer to cut offset slightly mostly on the opposite side and the flutes cutting are not influencing the other flutes to chatter... if you can understand what I am trying to convey...:)
 
Dennis the barrel, did it happen to have BG stamped on it?

I've felt your pain. I set back and bored until the chatter was clear and the reamer could clean everything up.
 
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