Rimfire chambering problems
 

This was an estate purchase. Owner was a national champion early 2000s iirc. He called this 001xx Swindlehurst rig "Spanky".....
I was going to shoot a fun match, so grabbed some Lap Red Box, Eley Black and Rem Green w Eley on label .
NONE would chamber. Best l can guess is maybe 2.5mm worth would start but absolutely would go no further.
I asked a few rf shooters at the mixed match and one had an idea.
I will never compete even semi seriously w it. Selling is an option awa altering to shoot reasonable quality ammo.
Solutions are solicited. :)

Why not rechamber. You have a good action and more than likely a very good barrel. The gunsmith's name might be on the barrel, talk to him. Lots of reamer designs out there that will work for what you want.

I would have to agree with Ray on this. It sounds like opening up the throat a bit will get it ready to shoot.

What did he shoot in it if he was a national champion? Unless he made his own ammo, my guess, he bought ammo from a mfg. for it. I have not run into it but I have read that some competition guys have chambers cut for certain brands of ammo, ELY, Lapua, et. Again if he was a national shooter someone should remember the rifle and shooter and be able to get you the information you seek.
Try rimefire central or accurate shooter.

JDM

If the barrel is high round count try to get a closer look at the breech face of the barrel, specifically look near the spot where the firing pin impacts the rim. There may be a chamber burr from impact damage. If you find a burr just file or stone it down.

Thanks to all.
There was some Midas in the gun case.
RareBear, you just might be on to something. I had to break the chamber edge on my S&W Model 41 .22 to get it to stop alibying.
I will run a cotton swab around it. His son was not the brightest bulb.....he may have dry fired it... :/
If I do go with removing a few tenths or so from chamber wall, would renting a hand reamer be a possibility? Which design?...I've read of a Bentz but have no idea what that designates.

If it chambers a round except for the last 2.5mm then I wouldn't think it would be a burr at the chamber mouth causing the issue.
Joe McNeil is probably right that the chamber was cut for certain ammunition.

Given that there are numerous .22 rimfire reamers I would try and find out who the gunsmith was that chambered the barrel, or the gunsmith that built the rifle and see if they would rechamber the barrel for the ammunition you want to use.
Running any reamer, except the reamer that chambered the barrel, into the existing chamber will usually alter the whole chamber not just the throat.

Kiwi

I assume you checked the chamber for build up carbon etc, maybe some mutt was shooting shorts or CBs in it

Kiwi - only .050 - .060 will start, leaving most of the case hanging out.
Going to check today for a burr and run a brush through as well as scope it.

I currently have a semi-auto with extraction issues. A burr appears to be leaving a well defined scratch on a fired brass case. The scratch is oriented with the firing pin strike.

There is a tool to iron out burrs in a 22lr chamber that has been peened by the firing pin. I believe Brownell's should carry it. i have an old Remington 541-S that had been shot a lot. It did not have a firing pin spring like the later versions of that rifle.

Also, the 1992 edition of the old Gun Digest has a very good article about 22lr chambers that was written the former Tech Editor of American Rifleman, C. E. Harris.

Last I heard only Tandemkross still sold those chamber "irons", at least that's what some folks on RFC had found.

https://www.tandemkross.com/ChamberM...erIroningSwage


If you can't find one elsewhere they do have them.

There's a guy at our club that has either Lapua or Ely make custom ammo for his rifle. IIRC, he buys 25,000 at a time. Just a WAG here but I assume his chamber is cut for this ammo. Your rifle may be in the same condition.

Chamber iron. Uses a chamber iron to fix the displaced metal from rimfire striker impact.

We had to build one at Gunsmith school. It irons the metal back in place. It doesn't cut out the displaced metal. Cutting with a reamer or file leaves a depression which can allow the rim to blow out, so the instructor said.

Used it a lot on old guns, not so much on modern guns.

Looks like you apply some force and spin the chamber iron?
https://th.bing.com/th/id/OIP.FmHIbI...r=1.25&pid=1.7
https://th.bing.com/th/id/OIP.DkYlRR...r=1.25&pid=1.7

Could a nailset be made to work? Oil up the nailset and judiciously tap with a hammer or would that be nono?
https://th.bing.com/th/id/OIP.NCuSYX...r=1.25&pid=1.7
Could probably find a way to spin a nailset.

A nail set would probably work if used carefully. It's end would likely be inside the barrel near the barrel rifling while you're using it unless you cut the extra off to duplicate the "real thing".

-BCB

You got lots of advise here, most of it bad.
This seems to be a match rifle, it should chamber any match ammo, specifically Lapua or ELEY.
Before you screw with this gun, a few thoughts.
I would guess, the camber is fouled badly, maybe some corrosion.
First, clean the barrel with a good RF solvent and a bronze brush. When done get some C4 carbon cutter…often there is hard carbon/lead in the throat. Follow directions….only for throat.
That may very well do it but as stated,check the radius of the chamber for a burr.

P.S. Lapua & Eley do not make custom for anybody, including olympic teams.
You might buy most of a given lot….but it is a production lot made to THEIR specs.
I know a lot about these guns, have been shooting IR50/50 since 1980’s and sit way up in the gold HOF , winning state, regional, national champs.
There’s lots of ways to screw up these guns.

THIS! ^^^^^^^^^

Good Lord, people.......:eek::rolleyes:

My take on this is that perhaps it was already screwed up. If the OP is clueless, I would hope that he has enough sense to ultimately get the rifle examined by someone who does know and can recognize a problem before doing anything with it himself.

-BCB

Virtually all real 22RF 'match' and BR chambers force the driving band of bullet into the rifling when the bolt is closed.....they don't just 'plunk' into the chamber like a normal 22LR does.

The amount of rifling engagement differs as these specialized chambers are done for specific ammo. That's where swapping ammo back and forth in chambers on real-deal 22LR target rifles can at times pose a problem.

It's probable that there's nothing whatsoever 'wrong' with the chamber. Be aware that these target chambers may require the occasional use of a toothed little tool to remove the carbon and leading in the throat with "may" being the important word, here.

Inspecting the chamber/throat with a borescope and identifying and correcting any cleaning-related issues is the first thing to do. If you have any questions, get the gun into the hands of someone that knows RF target chambers and builds these guns to help you out.

These guns are specific and extremely specialized. Leave any nail setters, punches, hammers, trowels, etc. in the toolbox....:eek:

This chart shows just a few of the different reamers that PTG has for specific ammo. There are many, many more variations! You can easily see the significant differences that can give issues when mixing different ammo and chambers:

https://i.imgur.com/WuXL1YQl.jpg

Good shootin' -Al

Winner, winner, chicken dinner. Most injury to perfectly good firearms is self inflicted. I had a guy talk to me about a gunsmith to install a Clark match chambered barrel on a 77/22. I told him that if he didn’t feel comfortable, bring it by and I will do it while he watches. All it takes is an inch lb torque wrench and possibly very minor fitting the receiver if it is too tight.

He takes it to a shotgun guru here in town who inspects the barrel and runs his own personal 22 LR chambering reamer into the barrel because it would not accept a round dropped in the chamber. The damnable thing shot worse than prior to the new barrel and he sent it back to Clark and then had the audacity to demand Clark warranty it. Clark, to their great admiration from me, at that point, retracted their offer to sell him a replacement barrel at a discount and told him to take his future business elsewhere.

Al, with all due respect… I know you’re an informed guy but, some facts.
Those little toothed cutters made by Frank Tirrell never worked even back 20 years when he sold them and nobody really ever used them. You want a couple never used ones I’ll send’em to you.Don’t need them anyway since C4 will take that ring out with a 15 minute soak and zero brushing in the throat.
Lastly, several BR smiths don’t chamber to engrave but bump the drive band or minimally engrave, but a long ignored carbon ring is easilly attended to these days. Also, lots of top flight smiths don’t chamber to a set depth, based on several factors including barrel configuration, the black art of RFBR gunsmithing.
Finally, the Lapua only, or ELEY only chambers are largely a myth, while some smiths do make chamber adjustments, most of the active top flight shooters laying down big target numbers, now shooting Lapua, are doing so with guns that were previously only shooting ELEY. The exceptions to this might be for guys shooting real short or long(ish) chambers in MI barrels. There is a pretty good OAL variance between lots of top flight ammo….sometimes over .010” This is pretty much why a certain “ self important” Kentucky RFBR smith used to endlessly drone on for ELEY to publish OAL data with their lot info.

Another thought to maybe consider. So, in the past, with rifles with chambers like this, shot a lot of 22 rf Shorts and this caused lead buildup and carbon forward of the case, which left a ring that would stop the proper rim fire case to fully chamber.
So maybe as mentioned, by some, a very good cleaning of that chamber will cure your issue and save you some pocket money. :)

tim simbari: Thanks for the update on what's currently being done...appreciate it. :) Given the age of the gun, it would be interesting to see how the chamber compares to modern practices.

Good shootin' -Al

I suspect nobody built a match rifle like this and ever ran shorts through it.

My guess is it is probably similar.
Question remains who built it, likely marked on barrel.
Even back then a Swindlehurst was a $1500 action, I ran two of them for years, very elegant but kinda tricky to get ignition right.
Vic Swindlehurst shot with us @ Camillus a few times and recently departed Billy Brawand had a fair amount to do with the finished product.
Hows that for some completely usless trivia. ::eek:

My guess is it is probably similar.
Question remains who built it, likely marked on barrel.
Even back then a Swindlehurst was a $1500 action, I ran two of them for years, very elegant but kinda tricky to get ignition right.
Vic Swindlehurst shot with us @ Camillus a few times and recently departed Billy Brawand had a fair amount to do with the finished product.
Hows that for some completely usless trivia. ::eek:

Have had an extremely full schedule since posting
 

It will be next week before I can scope it and or clean chamber.
Engraving pressure via bolt wasn't an issue as the case, at best, entered barely 25%. Factual trivia...
Bill Calfee is barely 40 mi straight south of me. I used to deliver UPS to him when he was building sillywet pistols. Very much retired now. I'd surely like to be able to watch him give it the once over twice and just listen....
Your suggestions have been thought provoking awa welcomed.
Will keep you posted when l scope it.

My take on the non-chambering issue.

The rifle is a 20 or so year old rifle since being fired as far as you know, the issue may well be nothing more dryed bullet lube in the chamber. Give the chamber a good cleaning with a solvent of choice and a brass brush, let the solvent soak enough to break down the fouling.

If the rifle has been dry-fired and the firing pin has impacted the barrel enough to damage the rear area of the chamber this should be noticable, if nothing else at least by firing pin impact (shiny) marks on the barrel chamber area.

It is likely that the rifle was still functioning properly when the owner quit using it so do not attempt to use something like a nail set or a chamber iron until you know if the chamber has an issue. A new barrel and chamber job will likely be somewhere between $600 and $800 so think about that before jumping in and doing something irreversible.

Question - when attempting to chamber the cartridge are you just using finger pressure or are you inseting the cartridge and using the bolt to chamber it?

I have 22 LR rifles with match chambers that I cannot insert the cartridge by finger and even the last bit of the bolt closure requires a bit of forward thrust pressure. If you are only using a finger pressure to insert the cartridge then try using the bolt to insert it.

Last but not least advice - if none of the above work then turn it over to a benchrest gunsmith - not just your average scope installer.

drover

Wellllll.......it looks like some stupid, idiotic, dumba$$ has dry fired to a fare thee well. :/ :/ l would give odds after original owners passing.
I started cleaning several rifles, bore scope came out and put the Swindlehurst in rotation.
There is the most perfect, bulged radius staring back.
Now what??

Maybe dress it up to work, or re-chamber and take away the value of the old gal. :)

Dress it up = ?
A bit of background: 20+ years as an apprenticed toolmaker. This may help you describe methods or tooling.
No mill, lathe or precision grinders on premises or available. ::/