22 BR chamber question

[Ajwilly96]

I picked up this pistol from The Shooters Corner, unfortunately Bob did not have much information because the previous owner passed away.

The other day I purchased some 22 BR headspace gauges to have on hand because I plan on getting a 6BR barrel for it as well.

I completely disassembled the bolt, and to my surprise it will not close on the Go gauge. It is a shouldered XP 100 barrel and there has been rounds down it.

Any ideas? The barrel is marked deadeye rifles, 22 BR Lapua, and .254 neck.

Maybe it was chambered with a fired case or the reamer is a tight chamber that’s not SAAMI?

Which brings up my next question, I’m waiting for it to come in the mail but I’m curious to see if a standard FL Redding die will work still

 

[RegionRat]

You can either seek specialized gages, or I will suggest a hack.

Sacrifice a piece of brass and size it down till it fits. That requires wasting a shellholder too, but that and a piece of brass is still pretty cheap.

 

[jds holler]

Cerosafe?? jd

 

[urbanrifleman]

I picked up this pistol from The Shooters Corner, unfortunately Bob did not have much information because the previous owner passed away.

The other day I purchased some 22 BR headspace gauges to have on hand because I plan on getting a 6BR barrel for it as well.

I completely disassembled the bolt, and to my surprise it will not close on the Go gauge. It is a shouldered XP 100 barrel and there has been rounds down it.

Any ideas? The barrel is marked deadeye rifles, 22 BR Lapua, and .254 neck.

Maybe it was chambered with a fired case or the reamer is a tight chamber that’s not SAAMI?

Which brings up my next question, I’m waiting for it to come in the mail but I’m curious to see if a standard FL Redding die will work still

Wrong recoil lug?

 

[Ajwilly96]

It looks like an aftermarket recoil lug, but it also does not look like it’s been taken apart since put together, not sure if it’s a complete deadeye build or just the barrel was chambered by them

 

[fkimble@charter.net]

If the neck is .254, then subtract .224, that leaves .030 for both sides of neck combined plus any clearance! Maybe the necks need a little thinning? How much does it lack when trying to chamber? Maybe pull the barrel and see how much case is sticking out?

Frank

 

[Ajwilly96]

If the neck is .254, then subtract .224, that leaves .030 for both sides of neck combined plus any clearance! Maybe the necks need a little thinning? How much does it lack when trying to chamber? Maybe pull the barrel and see how much case is sticking out?

Frank

it will not close with the headspace gauge, thanks to another forum member I have a piece of brass coming my way to see if it will close on that!

 

[Walt Krafft]

It could have been chambered with a piece of brass being used as a headspace gage.

 

[RegionRat]

Cerosafe?? jd

Good thoughts, but...
That gets you to the end of the barrel, but can't really tell you what the gap relationship is to the bolt face.

 

[William Vogel]

I picked up this pistol from The Shooters Corner, unfortunately Bob did not have much information because the previous owner passed away.

The other day I purchased some 22 BR headspace gauges to have on hand because I plan on getting a 6BR barrel for it as well.

I completely disassembled the bolt, and to my surprise it will not close on the Go gauge. It is a shouldered XP 100 barrel and there has been rounds down it.

Any ideas? The barrel is marked deadeye rifles, 22 BR Lapua, and .254 neck.

Maybe it was chambered with a fired case or the reamer is a tight chamber that’s not SAAMI?

Which brings up my next question, I’m waiting for it to come in the mail but I’m curious to see if a standard FL Redding die will work still

Does it nearly close? A couple thousandths can make the bolt not close completely but it will get started and find a stop. Will a piece of brass go in and close heavy or not at all? I ream my chambers at 0 or just slightly short of a go gauge and once torqued the bolt will close on the gauge but it doesn’t just freely fall. I don’t buy no go gauges because I chamber so close. I have a reamer handle that I sometimes use by hand if after torquing the barrel I get to much drag. You’ll have to investigate further. I’d screw the barrel off and see how far it must be backed off to get bolt close and make judgement after that.

 

[JSH]

If one is in the habit of buying wildcats, as mentioned above cerosafe saves a lot of by guess and by golly.

 

[urbanrifleman]

254 is a no turn neck with Lapua.

 

[Jonnyofalltrades]

If your new die doesn't size far enough, you could get by with just facing a little off the bottom in a lathe.

 

[William Vogel]

I would turn off the top of the shellholder. I took 0.010 off mine to get the bump without cam over. Turning off the bottom of the die, I wouldn’t do because the radius lead in will be harder to re establish to accommodate the same thing and the shell holder will always work with other dies.

 

[Ajwilly96]

Back with an update.

Another member was kind enough to send me a piece of brass that was formed to 22BR. It was fired through his rifle then FL sized and the shoulder bumped .002.

Testing the brass I was getting a hard bolt close, and a “clicker” when extracting it. My FL die came and I was able to bump the shoulder another .0015.

Chambering the brass now it’s a stiff bolt close but not as hard as before, and I am still getting a clicker on it.

Would taking some material off a shell holder get rid of the clicker or am I going to need a custom die?

 

[RegionRat]

Back with an update.

Another member was kind enough to send me a piece of brass that was formed to 22BR. It was fired through his rifle then FL sized and the shoulder bumped .002.

Testing the brass I was getting a hard bolt close, and a “clicker” when extracting it. My FL die came and I was able to bump the shoulder another .0015.

Chambering the brass now it’s a stiff bolt close but not as hard as before, and I am still getting a clicker on it.

Would taking some material off a shell holder get rid of the clicker or am I going to need a custom die?

Well, there is a possibility you have diameter issues which don't get fixed by length corrections.

The shoulders and 200 line of your brass should be checked, not just the headspace.

It is easy to work down a shell holder if you don't mind the possibility of wasting it. Sometimes this extra bump solves the issue if it was due to shoulder datum length, but sometimes it won't if this is due to diameters.

 

[boltfluter]

Back with an update.

Another member was kind enough to send me a piece of brass that was formed to 22BR. It was fired through his rifle then FL sized and the shoulder bumped .002.

Testing the brass I was getting a hard bolt close, and a “clicker” when extracting it. My FL die came and I was able to bump the shoulder another .0015.

Chambering the brass now it’s a stiff bolt close but not as hard as before, and I am still getting a clicker on it.

Would taking some material off a shell holder get rid of the clicker or am I going to need a custom die?

The shell holder mod most likely won't fix a diameter problem in my experience. But, sometimes a .243 or a .308 fl die works great as a small base die on a .22BR with a diameter problem at the .200 line. Works great for me, give it a try.
Paul

 

[JSH]

It’s a wildcat, no matter how many were chambered, so there is a rough standard but not anything written in stone. Make the brass fit the chamber. I would highly suggest virgin brass, for the time being any way. It could have been chambered for RP brass and not Lapua.
Cerosafe will give you an idea of neck length and anything else that may have been done. It’s not a factory barrel, don’t believe everything you read etched on the barrel. Will also give an idea of throat length.

I do t mean to sound critical, but I have bought more than one rig over the years that were rebarreled, with no markings or wrong markings. I just recently looked at another 22BR, only to look in the chamber and notice it looked long. I happened to have some 22-250 brass in my truck dropped right in.
Yours could have been set back for what ever reason, who knows.

A wildcat is a wildcat no matter how popular or wether brass is available or not. Same goes for dies not all are the same, even if the box or stamping says so. Went through that years ago with a 7BR.

 

[NorCalMikie]

A wildcat is a wildcat no matter how popular or wether brass is available or not. Same goes for dies not all are the same, even if the box or stamping says so.

As far as the "shell holder"? Chuck it upside down in a drill press or drill, measure first then run it down on a well oiled sharpening stone. If that doesn't work, you havn't lost much and you have answered one of your questions.

 

[Ajwilly96]

After I slept on it, I formed a piece of virgin brass and it is a snug close but no clicker.

So I’m assuming I would want to still have a body die on hand just in case once the brass is fired it turns into a clicker?