Need some advice

[rayfromtx]

Setting back and rechambering is an opportunity to get it right. For all you know, this rechambering job would be better than the original. In all likelihood they were both very accurate.

Many competition shooters set back on a regular basis to restore optimum accuracy to guns that already shoot better than your caliber is even capable of. Jackie Schmidt sets back every 300 rounds. Thats every month or so. He wins a lot in short range benchrest.

If I had the capability of setting back my chamber, I would do it today. The smith should have just done it when he discovered the mistake. Gunsmiths regularly take a little more depth if that is what it takes to get it right.

The advice you were given to buy your own reamer is the best advice in the thread in my opinion.

 

[GonHuntin]

Billy

I'm afraid it's you that is missing the point......I understand set back and rechambering......I understand the process of "dialing" the barrel in and I know how a reamer works.....I also understand that a competent smith could almost certainly get the barrel dialed back in....I understand that a reamer will follow the existing chamber....and I understand that set back and rechambering is a routine procedure for many people....I'm not a machinist, but I have actually done a bit of work with a lathe and mill.......what you seem to be unable to accept is the fact that I don't want my new barrel set back and rechambered! Doesn't really matter WHY I don't want it set back and rechambered...... the fact is, I am the customer, it's my barrel and I don't want it set back and rechambered!

Apparently, you also missed the point about receiving a previously chambered Krieger barrel......or just didn't want to answer a question that obviously proves my point.......


tightneck

To my knowledge, I have never met you.....yet you assume that I have "little knowledge about machining"......kind of foolish to make such assumptions don't you think??? I'll be the first to admit that I'm not a machinist, but that doesn't mean I don't understand the process or haven't done some machining......fact is, I do and I have. I would never attempt to fit my own barrel, but that doesn't mean I don't understand what I want......and I don't believe it is unreasonable for a customer to want something done a certain way......even if you don't understand why!

ray

Doesn't really matter to me who does what in the shooting world....I wanted something done a certain way.....was promised it would be......didn't get what I asked for and did not want it "redone".....since I'm paying the bill.....I think I should be the one making that decision....


I'm just glad the "smith" I am using understands that a job is not successfully completed until the customer is satisfied with the result....

 

[tightneck]

I recently sent a stainless 700 short mag action and a new Krieger barrel to a smith to have my first custom rifle built,7 SAUM). This rifle is a 25th anniversary present from my wife and I've been planning and working towards it for two years. I discussed with the smith that I wanted to be able to reach the lands with a 160 grain Accubond loaded to 2.8" OAL and sent a sample round loaded to those specs. Smith said he had a zero free bore reamer and could throat as requested with no problem.

Smith called this week and said the rifle was nearly complete.....said the barrel was straight, the chamber was perfect and that I had a 56 thousandths jump to the lands with the the supplied round......I was extremely disappointed! No way to touch the lands and function through the magazine as it is.

Smith says he can have the reamer modified, set the barrel back 56 thousandths and recut the chamber to correct the throat. At this point, I'm not happy about having a new barrel set back and rechambered....I liken that to buying a brand new vehicle with a bad crankshaft and living with a new vehicle that has been "fixed"...may work fine, but it's not what you wanted......smith says he can make the chamber perfect again.....he is probably right, but, at this point, it will always be "damaged goods" to me. I'm not a machinist or a gunsmith.....and my thinking may seem irrational to those of you in the know, but I just can't get past the idea of a new barrel being set back and rechambered.....it may shoot fine, but it will always have that stigma of damaged goods.


At this point, I don't know what to do to resolve the issue.....

Options seem to be:

1) Leave it as is and live with something I don't want.

2) Set the barrel back, rechamber with modified reamer and live with a set back, rechambered barrel I don't want.

3)Leave chamber as is, install a wyatt extended mag box and live with something I don't want.

,the reason I chose the 7 SAUM over the 7 WSM was because I didn't really want to use the extended mag box due to potential feeding issues)

4)Re-chamber to 7 WSM, install wyatt box and live with something I don't want.,again, possible feeding issues and rechambering a new barrel)

Smith says he hasn't worked with the wyatt box and doesn't know if there will be feeding issues....and we haven't really nailed down the additional cost for the mag box and installation.

I'd like to know what you would do and why.

Thanks, Mark

You asked for opinions, but really didn't want them, did you? You rejected all the opinions from the people "in the know", but you just wanted to vent anyway, right. Your opening post indicates that you would not be happy with exactly what you have settled for. If you had the smith set the barrel back a few human hairs, you would have exactly the rifle you wanted to begin with. Since you feel that it's most important to get what YOU want, I imagine you spend quite a bit of time disappointed. JMHO

 

[billmo]

Guys, Not trying to get in the middle of nothing but I think that the whole discontent was the fact that even though very little, the customer was giving up that first setting back and re-chamber here. Probably would not mean that much to most people but that was what he wanted and his $$$. Please, guys I don't have a pony in this show. Just trying to look at both sides of the fence here. Thanks, Bill

 

[NateHaler]

Do I trust him......well, I trusted him to cut the chamber I specified, sent a sample round for and we agreed on....in the first place.....this isn't a matter of trust, it's a matter of what I want......what I don't want is a new barrel that has been set back and rechambered.....how hard is that to understand????

Seems to me that you didn't want opinions; you wanted sympathy.

You're the kind of customer that many businesses would,wisely) like to have shop their competition. You expect perfection, and there's no such thing. Setting back a barrel fifty thousandths is/was the best fix.

Your smith sounds like a stand up guy. I hope he still made money on the job.

 

[GonHuntin]

Tightneck......while the solution that was reached was not perfect, it was the best choice under the circumstances.....there are other considerations that you don't know about and I have no interest in sharing with you at this point.

If you go back to my first post, you will find the purpose of my posting in the question.....

"I'd like to know what you would do and why.".....

That's ALL I asked.....unfortunately, that's not what I got from most, including you....

I would have appreciated an "I'd do this and here is why"....even if what you would do is not what I did......instead, many decided to pick apart my decision....instead of offering advice.....there IS a difference!

Bottom line, I believe the decision we reached was the best way to solve the problem......I'm sure the rifle will shoot better than I can......I would have prefered the build to have been completed without any problem.....it wasn't, but the problem has been resolved.


billmo

Thanks, You actually "GOT IT"!


Catshooter

More foolish assumptions......the factory mag box will actually accept rounds loaded to 2.820" + OAL.....if the chamber had been cut to my specs, I would have been able to adjust seating for erosion......

As far as being "an anal compulsive child"....hardly, I just expect to get what I ask for,in writing, verbally and via a sample loaded round in this case).......my expectations are high when I pay someone to do a job and I expect to receive what I was promised....and, yes, I am sometimes disappointed......but that doesn't cause me to lower my expectations and accept something that is not what I wanted......I don't order a steak and accept ground sirloin......I'm also not inclined to have my steak just thrown back on the grill when it's not cooked as ordered the first time......maybe you do????

As to your statement that "You need to take some of the responsibility in this mess.".......that's funny! I contacted several different well known rifle builders, I spoke with the the one that did the work, before I sent the rifle and he assured me he could cut the chamber I wanted with the reamer he had on hand.......I, again, specified exactly what I wanted on the order form that accompanied the rifle to the smith.....and I sent a sample round, loaded to spec, along with the rifle and new barrel.......what more could I have done????

You are correct, if the "smith" had set the barrel back and re-cut it without telling me......I would have never known.....however, since his reamer would not cut the chamber as promised, without sending it out to be reground, and, since the job was already beyond the promised date of completion, he didn't have much choice about telling me.....at that point, I decided I did not want my new barrel set back and rechambered......you may not agree with that decision, but it's NOT your rifle....this is my first custom rifle, but not my first custom barrel......the last barrel I sent to be rechambered was a disaster....it was returned multiple times and the final chamber was egg shaped ruining the barrel...however remote the possibility may have been for a repeat, I didn't want to take that chance again.....


Nate

Actually, I'm exactly the kind of customer you would want.....*IF*......you are able to deliver what you promise.... I'm not the kind of customer that will nickle and dime you to death......I'm not the kind of customer that needs you to hold his hand......I'm the guy that expects to get what he asked for.....no more, no less......I'm the kind of customer that will bring you more work if you do the job right....and I'm the kind of customer that doesn't make you wait for your money.

If you don't supply what you promise.....then, rest assured, you don't want me as a customer.....

As far as setting back and re-cutting being the "best fix"......the best fix for who......is it the best fix if the customer isn't happy???? a set back and rechamber might be the cheapest fix for the smith, but not necessarily the best.....if I was interested in cheap.....I wouldn't be having a custom rifle built!!......in this situation, I can't see how recutting a "perfect" chamber is a better "fix" than leaving a "perfect" chamber alone and lengthing the magazine.....lengthing the magazine lets me reach the lands while retaining the "perfect" chamber.....


To those of you who answered the question I asked and provided the requested advice.....thanks!!!