No free bore/factory ammo getting stuck in lands

[Mikey7373]

Gentlemen, let me start by saying I've been lurking and reading on the forum for years soaking up information. well now I need your help. a little background on the firearm I bought the complete upper from a vendor at a So Cal gun show. the barrel is a 1-9 twist SS Bull Barrel but there are no other engravings on the barrel (I have it off right now)so I don't know who made the barrel. I bought it 3-4 years ago never shot it, with a lack of time with my wife's health issues it ended up in the safe, well my wife is better and the Grendel found its way out of the safe.

after reading about short chambers and factory ammo getting stuck in the lands I decided to make a cerrosafe cast and have a look for myself, i found that a couple sets of lands all but run all the way to the brass, leaving no free bore/jump at all,i also found that the American gunner ammo with finger pressure will get jammed in the lands as well as the 123 gr sst Hornady, having to pop them out with a cleaning rod, Im going to post some pictures and see what you guys think and is there anything I can do to remedy this problem. two pictures are of the cerrosafe cast, two pictures of an American gunner round after coloring with black marker and inserting them with finger pressure and two pictures of a 123 gr sst round after coloring with black marker and inserting with finger pressure both had to be pushed out with a cleaning rod. you will the two sides on each round where the marker rubbed off at. both rounds will chamber and the bolt will close but they both get really stuck when I close the bolt on them.any help on what I can do to fix this issue would be appreciated..

[bj139]

I made a chamber cast of my Howa 6.5 Grendel and the lands start more forward than yours.
I am thinking you may need a gunsmith or a finish reamer to clean that up.

[Mikey7373]

Thank you BJ, Any idea if a hands on guy could safely use a finish reamer without screwing it up ? Maybe the safer bet is to be looking for a gun smith nearby, I’m sure that would be the safer route, cost wise if I bought a finish reamer and tried doing the work myself which I have never done and possibly screw something up. Probably just better to let someone who’s done it before do it.

[JASmith]

Outstanding Cerrosafe casting and troubleshooting!

The Grendel has a tapered throat, so the lands should appear to run to close of the case mouth but be rather shallow at the end. That can be seen in the excellent casting.

Also, the age of your barrel is consistent with the spate of tight or improperly cut chambers we saw a
few years ago.

The problem appears to be that someone resharpened a minimum diameter reamer or that the reamer was cut with too small a throat diameter in the first place. Both seem to have happened earlier and led to many of the discussions you reviewed.

Asking a gunsmith (or DIY depending on competence and confidence) to lightly ream with a Manson finishing reamer should clear up the challenge. I am sure that at least a few of our fellow Grendeliers have done this and can offer advice on how to get the results you want.

Be sure to use a Manson reamer — we have confidence that his reamers correctly reflect the throat configuration as shown in the SAAMI spec.

[Mikey7373]

JAS, thank you sir on the compliment. So that’s what the tapered throat means exactly. I was unclear about that before your explanation, so the lands should run just about to the case mouth but be shallow. So looking at where those two bullets are sticking at it appears not very much reaming is needed ? Hopefully someone in the horde will chime in with advice on how to get it done myself,I fix a lot of expensive pumps and motors for a living so I do not lack confidence or competence of doing it myself, my wife may not agree with me on the competence part so I won’t ask her what her opinion is. 😀. Ok I’ll wait for someone to hopefully chime in with the how to get it done part of it. Thank you.

[Randy99CL]

Mikey
If your barrel is nitrided (or other name for those treatments) the steel is now harder than the HSS reamers and you're likely SOL. If you could find the maker you'd send it back to them.

You can rent reamers for about $30 for a week; that's what most gunsmiths do. I googled and lots of companies popped up.

I don't know if I would try reaming the barrel myself. It seems simple but it might not be easy to get the depth exact and if you happen to chip the reamer you'd have a surprise bill to replace it.

Maybe you can find a video or article with directions?

Edit: wow, google has lots of articles and videos: https://www.google.com/search?q=reaming+...irefox-b-1

[ricsmall]

If you can rent a finish reamer of the correct spec it’s not hard. Otherwise you’ll need to find a gunsmith with the correct reamer local to your area. I would fix for you but shipping both ways from/to SoCal would be pricey. Randy is correct on the nitride, it’ll dull a reamer. Sounds like your pipe is stainless tho. Keep us posted.

[Mikey7373]

Ric, that’s why I love this forum you never stop learning new things, so is there a way to find out if the barrel is nitride treated or because it is stainless does that mean it won’t be nitride treated ?

[Kswhitetails]

Nitrided barrels are black. If your barrel is "in the white" meaning just a shiny metal finish, no coatings or paints, then it's probably stainless, and you should be gtg.

[Mikey7373]

Got it , then I should be ok with the SS barrel, now I’m a little concerned with the gunsmith my local gun shop put me in touch with. I talked to him about 10 minutes ago and I mentioned the Manson reamer that JAS mentioned and his words were “brand doesn’t matter just look on eBay or amazon for best price and let me know when you get one” not sure where to go from here, maybe look for another gunsmith, or should I trust he knows what he’s doing. Ricsmall where in Georgia are you, I have friends in Saint Mary’s,

[JASmith]

For most reamers, “brand” is not particularly important unless experience suggests otherwise.

The tapered throat is an unusual, but highly effective, feature that some reamer cutters either cannot or refuse to cut to the SAAMI spec.

Hence the suggestion tomuse a Manson reamer.

[VASCAR2]

Here is a link for Manson’s, I suggest calling Dave and see if he will rent a finish reamer. If not I think there are forum members who have purchased Manson 6.5 Greendel finish reamer. You might be able to rent or borrow a finish reamer for the 6.5 Grendel from a forum member.

https://mansonreamers.com/catalog/

I used the Google Custom search feature for this forum and found these two threads. Look at these threads before calling Manson.

http://www.65grendel.com/forum/showthrea...ing-Reamer


http://www.65grendel.com/forum/showthrea...he-chamber

Here is a link to the google custom search feature if you want to search for more threads with Manson reamers mentioned.

https://cse.google.com/cse?q=+&cx=016368...aqd_0xcu1o

[Mikey7373]

Thank you Vascar that’s good information, I will kee you guys informed on how I proceed to fix this issue and the results that come from it. Thanks again .

[LRRPF52]

A 1-9 twist bull barrel unmarked is likely Model 1 Sales or a J&T/Doublestar.

Do you know what bolt face depth it's set for?

If it's .125", I wouldn't waste any time with the barrel as it's a Model 1 Sales "6.5 Sporter".

If it's .136", maybe consider finish reaming it, but I would personally just get a known barrel from a known source with a 1/8 twist anyway if you plan to shoot distances.

If you just want a beater, feel free to invest more time into a poorly-reamed unknown, or just get a new barrel.

BTW, that's a beautiful chamber cast.

[Mikey7373]

LRR, I will check when I get home this evening from work on the bolt face depth. The thought of a new barrel also crossed my mind, I figured if I had to buy a Manson reamer then pay a gunsmith to do it so I wouldn’t mess it up , was the price of getting that done be close to the same price as buy a new barrel. As far as a new barrel what would be your suggestion, I would like to be able to shoot long range, well the outdoor range where I live at is 600 yards max.

[Kswhitetails]

I smell one of the new PF barrels or one of the new GB barrels offered down in the group buy section.

[BluntForceTrauma]

M73, I've got a Manson finish reamer — my backup reamer for my group buy barrels — that you can rent for free if you PROMISE not to bugger it up.

In my opinion, both Hornady American Gunner and SST will sometimes stick in the chamber a bit — even on a correctly reamed barrel. Their ogives are just fat enough to stick in the "kiss" of the first angle of the compound throat. Lifting the barrel off the table three inches and then thumping it down should provide enough inertia to drop them out without pulling the bullet. But this is different from a bullet being really STUCK in the throat.

Bill Alexander said the first angle — one-half degree before it hits the second angle of 1.5 degrees — adds about 600-1000 psi, but is nothing to worry about. It's factored into the design of the cartridge.

[Mikey7373]

BFT , so if I close the bolt on those rounds and am able to get them out with about a 3 inch thump, that would be considered normal ? I will try that experiment tonight as well. That is awful nice of you to offer a free rental of your finish reamer, let me try that 3” inertia test tonight and measure the bolt face depth as LRR suggested and I will send you a PM if I need the free rental, chances are I will still have a gunsmith do the work so nothing gets buggered up.

[A5BLASTER]

BFT , so if I close the bolt on those rounds and am able to get them out with about a 3 inch thump, that would be considered normal ? I will try that experiment tonight as well. That is awful nice of you to offer a free rental of your finish reamer, let me try that 3” inertia test tonight and measure the bolt face depth as LRR suggested and I will send you a PM if I need the free rental, chances are I will still have a gunsmith do the work so nothing gets buggered up.

What BFT is talking about is placing a round in the chamber and giving it a thump to see if it will fall free, checking to see if the round is jammed in to the lands are simple kissing them.

This is done with the barrel uninstalled from the upper.

[Mikey7373]

Got it, should I place the round in the chamber without finger pressure simply letting it fall into place, or should I give it a little finger pressure before trying the 3” thump method ? Thank you guys again for the help and advice. After all these years of waiting to shoot this thing I’m getting excited...