Hideous factory chamber!!

[Groundhog Devastation]

Sold my 17 Fireball CDL-SF back in the summer when I lost my job ( legitimate .4" rifle with multiple shooters!) an then on September 1, (after I knew I had another job starting 9/10/12) another member of this board called me and told me he was at a gunshop that had 2 Remington 700 VSF's in 17 Fireball for sale NIB!! I went there on Labor Day and bought one of them. Scoped it, adjusted the trigger, proceeded to barrel break in with factory 20 grain loads. Got through the 10 shot,, shoot and clean deal, proceeded into the 3 shot and clean deal and wasn't really pleased with what I was experiencing! Then I reloaded some of the brass using AA2230 and the 25 grain VMaxs and was really disappointed! Tried 8208...still disappointed! MEASURED fired cases. They were growing .0012 on the first firing and .0021-0024 on the second!! You could not seat a bullet to lands at 1.955"!!! CALLED REMINGTON!!! Rifle is headed out tomoorow for their inspection. Person I talked too could have been a member here! Understood what I was telling him. We'll see what happens and I will post!! He says it will be a complete rebarreling or new rifle! Since they no longer offer 17 Fireball chamberings I really wonder what I will hear!! GHD

[sicero]

Where were they growing one and 2 tenths thousands? Kenny

[Groundhog Devastation]

Too many "0's"!!! Growing in length by 12 thousandths on first firing and by 21-24 thousandths after 2nd firing.

[long shot]

Maybe they stamped the barrel wrong and it's a 17-222.

Aaron

[Old Hawkeye]

I have been critical of Remingtons workmanship & quality control on the forum & caught some ridicule for my comments. For the last 15 years or so, I think buying a Remington is a crap shoot. Bad chambers, crooked barrels, poor bedding, & a general lack quality control seem to occur with all to much frequency. Yours is just another case that reinforces my poor opinion of how Remington operates. Hope you luck out & they put a decent barrel on it. That barrel would have never left the factory from a company that cared about it's product & customers. Bean counters rule @ Remington.

[Larry in VA]

Good Luck working with Remington. My experience with them was like “pushing a rope” to get something done right. Please keep us posted as to your progress with the problem.

Just for the record here is my experience:
Back when the Classic Rifle of the year was the 221 Fire Ball. I purchased one and it’s chamber and bore was so rough (viewed with my Hawkeye Bore Scope) I knew it wouldn’t shoot, but I have seen some pretty rough barrels shoot very good so I kept it and proceeded with break-in and load development. Two months of range work and I gave up and called Remington. The lady on phone was very cordial and sympathized with me and assured they would fix or replace it. In the end Remington and the lady sent me four supposedly new rifles that I rejected one after the other due to rough bores and chambers cut off center axis to bore or just crooked. At that time rifles chambered in 221FB were allot rarer than today and I had the hots for one badly so I ended up keeping the last one, Remington won… decided to send it off to Bob Green with a quality Lilja barrel and now I’m lovin it.

But what really ticked me off were the lies that followed with each rifle they sent me. Each rifle I described what was exactly wrong with the barrel and they would wright back that something completely different and would have little effect on accuracy. I tried to get them to just rebarrel the rifle and send it back but they insisted on sending another rifle. I never was allowed to talk to the techs doing the work; I could only speak to the lady.

Don’t get me wrong I love Remington design, but their execution of manufacture sucks. Problem is Winchester and Ruger you hear the same horror stories about manufacturing shortcomings. I own a few factory Remington’s that are very accurate, but have never owned a Ruger that shot smaller groups than a shotgun and I use to (still do actually) love their looks so in the beginning I purchased quite a few and took a beating when I ended up selling them because I could not get a one to shoot.

So now I just save my moneys and when I want a new rifle I ship something I already own off the Mr. Green with a custom barrel so he can do what he does Oh-So-Well. Unfortunately with this option I have one less excuse when I miss something.

[bowfisher]

Doesn't surprise me at all GHD. The factory Rem 17FB I had, was a little large in the chamber also, not as roomy as yours though.The barrel was straight, it shot well with once-fired brass. Turbo from the factory with that extra capacity.

I've never owned a factory Rem that wasn't sloppy, may just be bad luck but I won't own another, factory chamber anyway. Having a few custom guns now, it's dang hard to go back. Sure a guy can stumble across a shooter now and then, but life's too short to shoot factory barrels imo. especially if they say Remington on them.

[sicero]

A few aughts to few or many or a missed period can make a big diff. Kenny

[csterner]

my problem was with the expander ball in my RCBS dies. I have the die set to only bump the shoulder 0.001", but the expander ball pulls the neck and stretches it. I have to REALLY brush and lube the necks before sizing and polished the heck out of the expander ball, paying close attention to any buildup on it while sizing.

I know that's not doing anything about your seating depth issue, just saying, my FB was stretching cases (and still is today) because of the dies. It's measureable.

[Daryl]

Basically a problem with both dies and chamber? RCBS dies typically oversize not only the cases but the case necks as well, so there is a BIG pull to get the expander button out.

If lubed inside the OAL should NOT change. If cases grow in length even though neck lubed, that is a major die problem of overworking the brass, csterner.

Inside neck lubing is just a normal step in loading, unless, of course, one uses dies with neck size buttons in them. Dies can easily altered to accept the Wilson 1/2" buttons. I've no idea who is doing this as a business, though.