05-05-2017, 11:58 AM
Well, I think I fixed my problem and here is how I did it:
I got my very own Manson Finish reamer. It cost me 136 bucks delivered, but I figured that if it fixed my favorite gun, that then it was well worth it!!!
As a lubricant I used CRISCO which I was told is an excellent lubricant for this type of application my an old time machinist friend of mine.
I secured my upper vertically on vice and gently dropped in the reamer into the chamber. I turned it ONE full turn without applying any real downward pressure, just letting it scrape up axially whatever it might find WITHOUT cutting any deeper.
After that one turn I removed the reamer, cleaned out the lube and shavings, and lightly polished the chamber with 0000 steel wool on a brass patch holder on an aluminum rod in a drill.
I put the gun back together and chambered and unloaded 5 factory Hornady rounds and I could feel that it was easier, but still too hard; I was making progress,
So I repeated the process two or three more times but on one pass I actually made two turns of the reamer instead of one!!! BUT like I said, I never applied any real downward pressure.
On one pass in particular I did see some minute shavings and a lot of what I gather was CARBON on the cutting flues of the reamer.
I stopped the process once the rounds ejected "normally" and very smoothly.
I have yet to test fire the gun but I hope that I did not alter significantly the head space because I do not have gauges for this caliber....
But after seeing all the carbon on the cutter, I thought about some issues that I have had with this gun early on which might explain my current problem:
When I first built it, I only shot that cheap and MILD Wolf ammo. It worked fine. BUT AS I STARTED TO RELOAD for this caliber, I started having issues because (as I eventually figured out), my gun was WAY OVERGASSED by the hotter reloads. I would find the top end of my ejected cases covered in powder residue that was now blowing back into the chamber... and I guess this stuff was never really cleaned up properly and was left there to build up for a while...
So I got an adjustable gas block (which fixed that over gassing issue), but it was too late because the chamber was now pretty fouled - although it looked clean and I did clean it every time I shot the gun.... but apparently not well enough!!!
This created the roughness to not allow the unfired cases to eject easily.
Anyway, that's my current thinking.
I hope my experience will help others with similar problems.
Gene
I got my very own Manson Finish reamer. It cost me 136 bucks delivered, but I figured that if it fixed my favorite gun, that then it was well worth it!!!
As a lubricant I used CRISCO which I was told is an excellent lubricant for this type of application my an old time machinist friend of mine.
I secured my upper vertically on vice and gently dropped in the reamer into the chamber. I turned it ONE full turn without applying any real downward pressure, just letting it scrape up axially whatever it might find WITHOUT cutting any deeper.
After that one turn I removed the reamer, cleaned out the lube and shavings, and lightly polished the chamber with 0000 steel wool on a brass patch holder on an aluminum rod in a drill.
I put the gun back together and chambered and unloaded 5 factory Hornady rounds and I could feel that it was easier, but still too hard; I was making progress,
So I repeated the process two or three more times but on one pass I actually made two turns of the reamer instead of one!!! BUT like I said, I never applied any real downward pressure.
On one pass in particular I did see some minute shavings and a lot of what I gather was CARBON on the cutting flues of the reamer.
I stopped the process once the rounds ejected "normally" and very smoothly.
I have yet to test fire the gun but I hope that I did not alter significantly the head space because I do not have gauges for this caliber....
But after seeing all the carbon on the cutter, I thought about some issues that I have had with this gun early on which might explain my current problem:
When I first built it, I only shot that cheap and MILD Wolf ammo. It worked fine. BUT AS I STARTED TO RELOAD for this caliber, I started having issues because (as I eventually figured out), my gun was WAY OVERGASSED by the hotter reloads. I would find the top end of my ejected cases covered in powder residue that was now blowing back into the chamber... and I guess this stuff was never really cleaned up properly and was left there to build up for a while...
So I got an adjustable gas block (which fixed that over gassing issue), but it was too late because the chamber was now pretty fouled - although it looked clean and I did clean it every time I shot the gun.... but apparently not well enough!!!
This created the roughness to not allow the unfired cases to eject easily.
Anyway, that's my current thinking.
I hope my experience will help others with similar problems.
Gene