Faxon GB Brass Scratcher

[keystone183]

Ok, i have read through a couple threads, but maybe i'm just not savvy enough. I'm not exactly sure what is happening, so i'm not sure how to proceed.

Helping bil build a rifle with a 16"gb barrel. Finally got it together last weekend and noticed the scratching. Bil doesn't care as he doesn't reload, but I CARE, bc i want his brass!!!

What are my options on how to fix this as easily as possible? Can someone use small words so i understand?


ETA, picture doesn't show scratches well....

[Sixoeight]

I am not as much of an expert as others here but to me it looks like chamber burrs. Is it all the way around the brass?

[keystone183]

I am not as much of an expert as others here but to me it looks like chamber burrs. Is it all the way around the brass?

10-4. Some deeper than others.

[Sixoeight]

Try to take a look at the chamber. That might mean taking it apart.

Certainly wait for some others to chime in.

[BCHunter]

Do a search on cases being scratched, look at the 3rd and 4th page of that thread and read what kswhitetail did. Can't get the thread to post,

[1075 tech]

http://www.65grendel.com/forum/showthread.php?16561-Casing-being-scratched&highlight=case+scratches

I think this is the thread you're looking for.

Looks like I'm about to do this myself. Finally got out to function test the 16"GB that I put in a build for a friend of mine. Chambered a round and then tried to eject it. I had to use a rubber mallet on the CH to get it to extract. Scratches all over the case. I used a sharpie on the bullet to see if it was being driven into the lands as in a short chamber. Again, had to beat the CH to eject the round. Bullet looked fine so I decided to go ahead and fire one round from the hip. No ejection but I found a gas block issue so I'm not too concerned about that. It still required considerable force to manually eject the case but was slightly easier.

I'm going away for the weekend but hope to be able to tear this down and closely check the chamber and extension next week.

[ErikS]

Not pretty but it won't affect the reloading. It is not uncommon from what I have seen. Faxon, BCA and others often have rough chambers when new but smooth out with some use. I reload, and would clean, and reload that brass.

[Kswhitetails]

If you assembled the upper, it's worth the effort to take it back down to parts, and polish the chamber with some rouge or polishing compound. A 20ga chamber mop dripping in CLP, then with some 1000+ compound at 2mins finished mine. Slow rotation, ~450 RPM. You're looking to clean the chamber walls and nitride finish, not cook the mop.

While you're in there, clean up the extension teeth. Either the mop spinning quickly ~1200, both directions, or use a felt point on a dremel. While you're here - polish those feed ramps till they SHINE. Worth the efforts, in both areas. The Mop works really well. I decided after I made up the foam earplug, which worked but didn't last long enough; and I got tired of re-making them when I was working on the extension.

My chamber is still a little rough on the brass compared to one that's perfect. But it's not bad enough to worry about, especially considering how well it shoots. And no, I ain't sendin' my new custom-lapped barrel in to have it replaced with one I haven't "loved" on as much. I'm still a happy camper. I will be buying more group buy barrels. Faxon or otherwise. This was fun.

[LRRPF52]

I don't install a barrel before doing several things:

1. I visually inspect everything about the barrel, extension, muzzle threads, and look for presence of a burr at the gas port in the bore. I look at the bore to make sure it has rifling in it and that all looks normal. (You'd think that sounds silly, but sadly, it's not.)

2. I check that all my dummy cartridges will chamber fully, and fall out with gravity or a light tap into my palm.

3. I inspect the bolt, lugs, face depth, extractor, ejector, bolt face sharpness around the ejector channel, sharpness of the extractor pocket/bolt face ledge, and deal with each of those areas if needed. I normally radius the ejector after removing it, and will ensure the ejector channel is free from burrs and machine marks. These are sometimes left over from the manufacturing process where the particular shop is focused on cranking volume, as opposed to detailed, quality inspections. As a builder, you now get to deal with this yourself.

4. I de-edge, blend, and polish the barrel extension. The only extensions I've seen where I didn't need to do this were the initial Lilja group buy barrels that used BAT Machine extensions. Those were works of art in the world of barrel extensions, perfect in about every way. The metallurgy was top-notch, concentricity, fit, and tumble polish removed any sharp edges we normally see.



Some extensions that I've done this to have very large grain structure, and appeared to be of lesser quality steel. I don't get a warm a fuzzy feeling when I see that. Others have been so hard from the nitride process that the lips cracked off like obsidian with just a rubber Cratex polishing bit (rubber/elastomer with impregnated fine polish media).

A lot of the extensions we're seeing nowadays show no signs of finish work in terms of taking the edges off, or removing burrs. If you go to chamber the action, the bolt lugs can drag or gall the burrs, or break pieces off and slam them into your chamber or bolt lug recess area in the extension.

Part of assembling the rifle yourself now is that you are the final check station in quality control, so while the TDP M16s and M4s are plug and play by call-out and specific lines in the Mil-Std documents, civilian parts do not adhere to those technical drawings and interoperability requirements set forth in the Military specifications.

That means some hand-fitting might be required, and if you're not exactly sure of what you're doing, this can be a problem.

Since the barrel extension is a pressure containment component with specific heat treat, how much material and where do you polish it? If the barrel maker was loose on their specs and QC for heat treat on what went into your barrel, knowing that he or she wasn't going to be test-firing it anyway, taking a grinder to it could present some problems.

I've already seen several cases now where people have had barrel extensions fail on them, which is normally rare. When you become the final assembler, you assume a lot more responsibility than in a normal scenario where you simply buy a complete rifle that has been tested by the manufacturer.

[pinetreebbs]

I had a similar problem with a Faxon barrel, polishing out the chamber cleared it right up and it ws much less trouble than returning the barrel or letting it wear in.

"We have found that those marks are a result of residual salt deposits from the nitriding process. It does happen occasionally, but we should have caught it. We would be happy to bring back your barrel and polish the chamber for you."

This is what my brass looked like:

GrendelEmpty by wbbh, on Flickr

[Kswhitetails]

52- I get you. I thought about the internal dims a bit before I started to move forward on what I did in my barrel. Here's what I assume. (I know, right?) The nitro finish here is so hard that any short polishing session of reasonable lay-men would be hard pressed to remove - if done so with low speed and finer gritted media. What is happening is simply a smoothing and removal of foreign particulates from the inside walls of the chamber, usually caught and competed before shipping. It's done the same way, with the same or very similar processes as it is in manufacture. Since we're dealing with Nitrite treatment, the actual likely hood of changing the dims in any significant measurable way is next to null.

Any person who is willing to undertake these steps should be aware of the responsibilities though, for that you are a welcome source of caution. Thanks, good advice.

[Cotay]

I would not accept a barrel that does that out of the box. I have had short throats on 4 of 5 Grendel barrels that I've purchased over the past two years. Two from Faxon, one from Anderson, and one from Bear Creek Arsenal. The Anderson barrel is back with Anderson right now for exchange/warranty work. The BCA is a door stop since they have a 30-day warranty only. The first Faxon was an 18" that made these marks and had a short throat...even the Anderson didn't do this. I exchanged the 18" Faxon at Optics Planet. If you've ever had to exchange anything with Optics Planet you know how horrible that is...18 days just to have it ship from CA back to Illinois. I called them and complained so they shipped a new one while the old one was in transit. The new 18" arrived today and it has the same problem, which leads me to believe that Optics Planet has a bad lot of these. I also ordered a 16" Faxon from Optics Planet at the same time as the first 18" barrel and it is perfectly fine. So I've been in contact with Faxon and I'll be sending this latest 18" barrel to them...

Apparently I have the worst luck with Grendel barrels.

[ErikS]

I would not accept a barrel that does that out of the box. I have had short throats on 4 of 5 Grendel barrels that I've purchased over the past two years. Two from Faxon, one from Anderson, and one from Bear Creek Arsenal. The Anderson barrel is back with Anderson right now for exchange/warranty work. The BCA is a door stop since they have a 30-day warranty only. The first Faxon was an 18" that made these marks and had a short throat...even the Anderson didn't do this. I exchanged the 18" Faxon at Optics Planet. If you've ever had to exchange anything with Optics Planet you know how horrible that is...18 days just to have it ship from CA back to Illinois. I called them and complained so they shipped a new one while the old one was in transit. The new 18" arrived today and it has the same problem, which leads me to believe that Optics Planet has a bad lot of these. I also ordered a 16" Faxon from Optics Planet at the same time as the first 18" barrel and it is perfectly fine. So I've been in contact with Faxon and I'll be sending this latest 18" barrel to them...

Apparently I have the worst luck with Grendel barrels.

BCA has a better than 30 day warranty. Send your door stop back.

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What is the procedure for warranty work and what does it cover?
BCA warranty is a limited lifetime guarantee. If you are dissatisfied with your product, please download the Warranty/Return Form or contact warranty@bearcreekarsenal.com. Upon receiving the product, BCA quality team will inspect and repair or replace, as needed. Please allow 2 weeks for inspection and return. For more details on the limited lifetime warranty, please review our terms & conditions page.
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[bj139]

BCA has a better than 30 day warranty. Send your door stop back.

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What is the procedure for warranty work and what does it cover?
BCA warranty is a limited lifetime guarantee. If you are dissatisfied with your product, please download the Warranty/Return Form or contact warranty@bearcreekarsenal.com. Upon receiving the product, BCA quality team will inspect and repair or replace, as needed. Please allow 2 weeks for inspection and return. For more details on the limited lifetime warranty, please review our terms & conditions page.
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I sent one back and they sent me a new one after I owned it for 4 or 5 months.

[BluntForceTrauma]

OP, that kind of brass scratching is not acceptable for a new barrel.

Send that sumbitch back to me for chamber polishing.

I'm on vacation til next week, but PM me to make arrangements.