Chamber problems

O

obaro

New member
I picked up a used 17-223 upper a while back; said to have been from the original owner and not shot much at all. So far its been pretty challenging in getting it running. I have sized and resized brass, small based dies,and bumping shoulders back,and still was having trouble getting the brass to chamber, and then once I did get some that would cycle through as empty brass manually cycling and then as loaded rounds I would shoot it and the brass would stick in the chamber and fail to extract. Got some virgin brass and it seemed to do a tiny bit better until I fired it. After more research I looked at the brass pretty close and can see that there is a 'scuff' mark completely around the case that encompasses the middle half of the case. It looks to me like polishing up or honing the chamber is in order. From what I am describing is this what any of you guys would do? Thanks for any input.
 
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I would definitely polish it. Hard to say how exactly it was reamed. Good companies do a rough then a finish reaming. But not all barrels are created equal. I have seen plenty that could stand a good polishing.
 
you should be able to get a cheap USB endoscope from amazon, etc that will attach to your smartphone to let you look at the chamber.

you probably wont be able to find one thats small enough to get down the bore, as most of them (last i looked anyway) were around 5.7mm or so OD, but at least you can get a peek in there for under $20 to see whats going on.

hth
 
Originally Posted By: Plant.Oneyou should be able to get a cheap USB endoscope from amazon, etc that will attach to your smartphone to let you look at the chamber.

you probably wont be able to find one thats small enough to get down the bore, as most of them (last i looked anyway) were around 5.7mm or so OD, but at least you can get a peek in there for under $20 to see whats going on.

hth

Or for a few bucks more get one that will get down the bore: https://www.amazon.com/Teslong-0-2inch-Borescope-Side-View-Windows/dp/B07TTQF24F

Regards,
hm
 
I have been eyeballing those gadgets recently; for the money they look pretty beneficial.

This is supposed to be a Blackhole Weaponry barrel and I have one in 20 practical that has a chamber that can get sticky if it is not kept very clean. May just be their m.o. to keep things snug? My honing tool should be here tomorrow unless it rains too much for the brown truck to get out in the country. Its getting close enough to fur season here that I am getting a little nerved up about it.
 
Have you tried taking 1-2 thousandth off the outside of the necks, necking down to 17 may leave a tight neck fit. A couple of test brass would confirm or eliminate. Hard to get headspace correct if necks are tight.
 
Yeah, forgot to mention that I turned the necks, also. That was one of the other things I looked into when I started down this rabbit hole. Thanks for the consideration. This thing just has to be the most accurate, flattest shooting, hardest hitting, fur friendly, coyote hammer ever since I'm going to all this trouble, right?
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You need some "grip" on the brass when it fires in the chamber, so polishing correctly is important. Does your fired brass body fall in the SAAMI specs for the 223?. Have you tried a go gauge? A friend was having problems with a brand new 204r upper(factory ammo would not go into battery) with a barrel from a much more known manufacturer, rented a go no go, that upper is back for a new barrel.
 
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[beeep]- hadn't though about the go gauge; I'll give it a check with that, too. I am pretty sure that my brass is well within SAAMI specs, it has been through a small base die and had the shoulder bumped back.I am pretty certain that the chamber needs a good scrubbing at the least and probably honed. I am waiting a little bit to get one of those little phone camera scopes (like the guys referred to in the earlier posts)to look at the chamber before I get serious about honing. From what I have been able to learn with my 'research' is that honing will leave some 'grip' and yet still get rid of a lot of the 'grab' if that makes sense. Thanks for the thought about using the gauge.
 
I received a custom minimum saami reamer that cut the chamber a couple thousandth under SAAMI minimum about 0.250 above the base. This caused all sorts headaches.
 
Had to return the reamer, it was found to be under sized. New reamer, set the barrel back and chamber. Worked perfectly. I have also known a reamer to not cut perfectly round, leaving very slight longitudinal ridges in the fired brass, the brass would only rechamber when indexed. The brass would resize, but those barely able to feel(turn brass holding body with thumb and 2 fingers) return causing extraction and more sizing issues. If a chamber produces fired brass that is not round, I don't think it can be honed or polished out.
 
Originally Posted By: hm1996Originally Posted By: Plant.Oneyou should be able to get a cheap USB endoscope from amazon, etc that will attach to your smartphone to let you look at the chamber.

you probably wont be able to find one thats small enough to get down the bore, as most of them (last i looked anyway) were around 5.7mm or so OD, but at least you can get a peek in there for under $20 to see whats going on.

hth



Or for a few bucks more get one that will get down the bore: https://www.amazon.com/Teslong-0-2inch-Borescope-Side-View-Windows/dp/B07TTQF24F

Regards,
hm

thanks for the heads up on that. will be helpful to me and many others, but not likely for the OP's rifle in question since he's dealing with a .17-223 and thats a .20 cal and up. it'll still get him a solid chamber view though.

i needed a new one anyway since my endoscope is USB micro and all my devices have since been upgraded to USB-c
 
Well, 35 seconds with the hone really helped things out (pun intended). I'm not sure that things are cured, but it manually cycled and then fired a couple of rounds without a snag this evening. Hopefully get to do some more load testing soon. Thanks for all of your input!
 
Good deal, I really like my Shilen barrel 17 rem AR. It's pretty neat how critters freeze and just tip over when hit with a high velocity 17, very little blood hard to find an entrance and no exit. I use the Berger 25 gr match varmint for Red fox and raccoon. For coyote I use other bullets. How was the ejection direction/pattern?
 
I just shot two rounds into the ditch just at dark to test it. Brass landed close together about 9;30-10:00.




It’s a lefty upper.
 
I assembled my 17 rem upper before the brass production issues occurred. I would have went 17/223 had I known. Is it going to be mainly a coyote gun? It sounds like you have addressed the functionality and reliability for hunting is not going to be a problem. When I'm hunting birds in your great state, I have a rifle with for a couple calling stands, never spent the money to try for a bobcat(on my list).
 
Yup, primarily a calling gun, which in this area means about 97% coyotes with an occasional swift fox or bobcat showing up.

Pheasant numbers look promising for our area this season. Hope to get some time to take my kids out this season. We will see.
 
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