Sticky Chamber

[Bigdad123]

I have a Savage 110 Ultralite 308 win with a PROOF Research barrel carbon fiber wrapped barrel. The chamber is sticky and difficult to extract fired brass with factory ammo and handloads. I scoped the chamber and there appears to be some significant scratches and a groove cut in the neck area, see the attached photo and video. Do you think this would cause the brass extraction issue? Should I send it back to Savage?

Scratched Chamber Video

 

[DaveTooley]

Look for marks on your brass to identify problem areas.

 

[rijndael]

I have seen scratches like that in other Proof prefit barrels. They still shot well.

 

[Bigdad123]

The groove worries me more than the scratches.

 

[Acyr]

^^^^This, that large groove is likely causing your brass to form itself into it during firing. Causing hard extraction.

 

[K22]

I had a Weatherby Vanguard with tool marks in the chamber which created difficult extraction when the cases expanded on firing. You could see the impressions of these marks on fired cases.

My rifle smith polished the chamber and the problem disappeared.

 

[urbanrifleman]

It can be really scary making barrels for people with borescopes. You can look at a chamber through a digital borescope and everything looks magnified. I describe it to my customers as putting fingers smudges on a mirror. I can polish a chamber to 320 grit with oil and it will still have little micro scratches on it but they're not scratches. They're more like smudges on a mirror because that chamber is smooth. That's why I Scotch-Brite every chamber after I'm done with it to get rid of all the shine.

Even if you did have a scratch in the neck area it's not going to affect extraction. The neck expands and then contracts and isn't touching when you go to extract it. Unless your neck is too tight. Only scratches in the body will affect extraction. Neck and shoulder shouldn't have any effect.

That's my opinion.

 

[Bigdad123]

I took a couple picks of fired brass with ring marks on the neck that I believe were caused by the grooves in the chamber. Funny thing is that piece of brass did not stick in the chamber when fired. I looked at a couple pieces of brass that did stick and could not see any defined rings on the neck.

 

[gunsandgunsmithing]

Like urban said, I seriously doubt that's the problem. Yes, if it was further down the body it very well might but I'd say it's very unlikely to cause any issues where that is and judging by the brass.

 

[DaveTooley]

Those marks, while not good, don't appear to be bad enough to cause your problem. Just a guess but most of the time it starts with a primary extraction issue which leads you to look for other explanations.

 

[J.d. Popkes]

I’d bet money that it’s a primary extraction/timing issue. Easy to identify if you are looking in the right place. Easy to test also.

 

[urbanrifleman]

I’d bet money that it’s a primary extraction/timing issue. Easy to identify if you are looking in the right place. Easy to test also.

THIS!!!

 

[K22]

It can be really scary making barrels for people with borescopes. You can look at a chamber through a digital borescope and everything looks magnified. I describe it to my customers as putting fingers smudges on a mirror. I can polish a chamber to 320 grit with oil and it will still have little micro scratches on it but they're not scratches. They're more like smudges on a mirror because that chamber is smooth. That's why I Scotch-Brite every chamber after I'm done with it to get rid of all the shine.

Even if you did have a scratch in the neck area it's not going to affect extraction. The neck expands and then contracts and isn't touching when you go to extract it. Unless your neck is too tight. Only scratches in the body will affect extraction. Neck and shoulder shouldn't have any effect.

That's my opinion.

I'm not gunsmith - not even close. So, when I had cases in that Vanguard that won't extract without consider effort, I took the rifle to my gunsmith. The cases showed significant abrasions along the body of the cases after firing. This rifle was new and exhibited this condition from day one with virgin cases dedicated solely to this rifle. Even after fireforming a carefully sizing.

He examined the rifle and then polished the chamber. After that the extraction problem disappeared. Not saying that is the problem with the OP, but I thought I'd mention my experience with a "sticky" chamber.

 

[urbanrifleman]

I'm not gunsmith - not even close. So, when I had cases in that Vanguard that won't extract without consider effort, I took the rifle to my gunsmith. The cases showed significant abrasions along the body of the cases after firing. This rifle was new and exhibited this condition from day one with virgin cases dedicated solely to this rifle. Even after fireforming a carefully sizing.

He examined the rifle and then polished the chamber. After that the extraction problem disappeared. Not saying that is the problem with the OP, but I thought I'd mention my experience with a "sticky" chamber.

Well keep in mind I do polish every chamber and I take great pride in having a great finish in my chambers to minimize any such occurrences. And I've looked at hundreds of chambers using my digital borescope so I have an idea of what they look like. Sometimes they appear much worse than they actually are to people who aren't used to looking at them was my point.

 

[K22]

Well keep in mind I do polish every chamber and I take great pride in having a great finish in my chambers to minimize any such occurrences. And I've looked at hundreds of chambers using my digital borescope so I have an idea of what they look like. Sometimes they appear much worse than they actually are to people who aren't used to looking at them was my point.

I'm sure that's true. I wouldn't know a good one from a bad one, but I assume my smith did. Anyway, he fixed the problem. This was a factory rifle, new out of the box. Might have slipped by their "quality control" check if they have one. I opted for him to fix it rather than go through the hassle of returning it to Weatherby.

PS: It's obviously raining today so I'm not out at the range.

 

[Ksracer]

Might try putting some stripes on the sticky brass with a sharpie and running them through the chamber again. That should help highlight any problem areas.

 

[shoot4fun]

I have a Savage 110 Ultralite 308 win with a PROOF Research barrel carbon fiber wrapped barrel. The chamber is sticky and difficult to extract fired brass with factory ammo and handloads. I scoped the chamber and there appears to be some significant scratches and a groove cut in the neck area, see the attached photo and video. Do you think this would cause the brass extraction issue? Should I send it back to SavageView attachment 1387251

If it is, as @J.d. Popkes opined, primary extraction then I would point the finger at Savage. The good news is that primary extraction issues are a much easier fix than with many other brands.
It seems you feel like there is an issue with the Proof Research barrel and, at least to that end, I would give the people at PF a call to discuss. You may be surprised by their willingness to "go the extra mile" to make sure you are satisfied with their product. I say that from a recent CS experience I had with them. They were absolutely fantastic!
My issue was a new SS prefit that not only had difficult extraction but ejected brass left a pretty deep ring al most all the way around the brass. A chip had gotten on top of the reamer.

 

[Pawnee Bill]

Wrap some 600 grit wet/dry sandpaper around a dowel rod and gently use your drill to smooth out your chamber.

 

[J.d. Popkes]

Use a feeler gauge between the rear of the receiver and that baffle thing that has half of the camming surface for primary extraction. Everyone likes savages, myself included, but to me it’s only logical that a $300 action may not be perfect. They can be made to get the job done, but let’s manage expectations a little. Give it a shot.

 

[ebb]

If you paid the ticket for a Proof barrel, you should get a lot better than that. they needed to know about this before the world did.