Ackley Question

A

alf

Huh?
I've got a problem I'm trying to sort out on a 22-250 Ackley.

The fired rounds are sticking in the chamber, not at the web from pressure, but the .040" or so on the very front of the body that used to be the shoulder on the parent case.

On a once fired (after ff) I have a hell-of-a-time to extract the case, and the only marks are on that front portion. I then full length size, bump about a thou, and they chamber fine, but stick again on firing.

I then decided to chuck the brass in a drill press and flat file the front down on the fired, unsized brass about a thou, and they chamber/extract fine, until I fire them again. They do extract a little easier, but far from ideal. I've got about ten I've done this to a second time, but haven't shot them yet to see if it's a cure all.

I've looked at the chamber with my borescope, but don't see anything out of the ordinary.

I do need more than a single shot for a coyote rifle. Any ideas?

700 action, Rock barrel, headspaces perfect on virgin brass for a crush fit.

Four pieces of brass showing the ring and two after filing.

You can still see a line of untouch brass after filing on the last two
that show the first .040" that still may be fat.(?)

010vv.jpg
 
You obviously have a chamber with a ring or other imperfection. I'm surprised that you cannot see it with a borescope. A good chamber cast will show you exactly what it is. If it's a recent re-chamber job I'd take it up with the gunsmith. He may be able to polish it out, or maybe not. Do you trust him?

Ray
 
Ray,

The chambering's new, not a rechamber.

Here's the cast I did as soon as I got it. Not sure if it's in the good category, I was interested in neck diameter only.

I can't see anything, even with a magnifying glass.

012hal.jpg
 
Al, I can't now, they're all FF'd. Although, I anneal after every firing, and the twice fired are still sticking.

I even bought 100 W-W and they stick too....
 
Back a time when I was shooting target rifle (=Palma), some shooters used to get issues with sticky extraction with standard loads in their .308s with the local Omark actions, which tended to have limited primary extraction.

It turned out that the problem was cleaning technique. After working the bore, they would clean & dry the chambers with a wrapping of flannel on their Parker Hale jags. This wiped the walls clean but could push a "meniscus" of fouling/grit into the body/case neck junction. Cases would imbed in this crud & came out with a frosty halo right on that bend.

The solution was to spin a .45 bronze brush in the chamber & clear the crud out of the corner.

Maybe you have that issue.

As an alternative, have you measured your cases to check that the chamber does have some taper on it?
 
John, I acually did wrap a large bore brush with 0000 steel wool and polished that portion.

Again, the borescope shows nothing that I can tell, the cast looks normal, and there is 10 thou taper in the body.

A little background for you. I started shooting BR in the 80's, active in Hunter Class since the early 90's, and 1K the last 8 years, but I'm still learnin'.

The barrel cleans up real well. It will show a little copper at the muzzle, but that's to be expected with the 75's running a bit over 3500.

I think I'll probably have to pull the barrel and have the smith polished out a bit with 320.(?) Trial an error, a bit at a time.
 
Al, I dunno as I can go along with Al so I'll throw in wit' Cheech..... I too see the ring. It's almost as if the area right below the shoulder/body junction is parallel?

al
 
Well yeahh but Al, even if I agreed with you I wouldn't admit it to Al, it wouldn't make for funny prose :)

lol

al
 
Check the following:

1.Take a black or blue marker pen and completely mark-up the outside of a fired case. Allow it to dry. Reinsert case see where the case is rubbing in the chamber. Withdraw the marked up case and inspect it for contact in the chamber. You may need to polish in that area of the chamber. This should be done with the barrel in a lathe.

2. Measure the gap between the front edge of the bolt handle and the action with the bolt closed. If the gap is more than .020" then you may not be getting any primary extraction.

Nat Lambeth
 
If the cases had been fired and annealed as regular 22-250s before fire forming, that could be your problem. The cases may have been softened to the degree that they lack normal spring back. How do you anneal? If you are using the faint red glow, in a darkened room, you need to switch to something like using Templaq, so that you can work to a lower temperature. Ken Light lines this out very well as to why any glow is too hot. The new cases should solve your problem, as long as you don't anneal them using your current method.
 
Boyd beat me to it, but if you're annealing every firing it's likely that the neck and shoulder area of the case are too soft and not returning to their prefired size or close. Fire a few cases, resize them, don't anneal, and fire them again. It may take more than one cycle to work harden the cases back to where they'll spring back.
 
They're sticking on factory brass during fireforming as well.

BTW, I anneal my 1K brass everytime. The results speak for themselves.

I talked to the smith earlier today and the barrel's on the way back to the smith as we speak.

Thanks all.
 
Your gun needs to go back to the gunsmith, take all that you have done and mentioned to him.

I have had many, many Ackley's, never an issue like this.

good luck
 
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