i have read some smooth their actions with flitz. How do they do it and does it have any downside? I have not tried or ever used a gun that it has been used on. thanks
POLISHING MY CHAMBERS.... When I got my 223 Ackley Improved Virgin Valley (no longer in business) barrel, it had a very rough chamber. The fired brass had marks I could see where it had been gripped by the chamber and then slid backwards a tiny bit until stopped by the bolt face. It looked almost sandblasted. There were protruding primers on some of the fired rounds. When the firing pin hits the primer, it pushes the primer and the new case forward in the chamber. When ignition occurs, the pressure expands the walls of the brass. The rough chamber, with its high friction, grabs the case at the forward position and the gas pressure first pushes the primer back against the bolt face. As the pressure builds, the brass case is stretched until the case head is pushed back against the bolt or the case supports the total load. If the case head is pushed against the bolt face, it would produce a flat primer, but flush. If the load is light, the case does not stretch so much and leaves a gap between the case head and the bolt face, but the primer is still against the bolt face. This produces the protruding primers.
CONTROVERSY OR GOOD ENGINEERING.... Now some controversy. I polish my chambers with Flitz. I don't want excessive friction between the brass and the chamber wall. Some are going to argue with this, but I have thought long about this. I have tried it and it works and is good engineering. I polished the chamber in my new Virgin Valley (no longer in business) barrel and it has made quite an improvement. With a polished chamber, the friction coefficient is much less between the brass and the polished stainless steel chamber. The pressure is able to force the case head against the bolt face before the case walls grab the chamber. First, this lets the primer (on the first shot with new brass) protrude, but be immediately reseated in the primer pocket as the case head is pushed back. The brass does not stretch nearly as much as it would in a rough chamber. Now some will say that a polished chamber will increase the force of the bolt face (frame face on the Encore) and that is bad. WRONG! That is faulty logic. The force is increased on the bolt face, but that is where it belongs. As all modern rifles, the barrel and frame of the Encore are designed for strength. They are strong enough to support large diameter Magnum-belted calibers. The force from the much smaller area of the .223 case head is easily supported by the frame face. The brass case is designed to act as a bladder and encase the gas pressure. Trying to use the weaker brass to lighten the load on the action and bolt face of a rifle by having the brass grip the chamber is analogous to using a car's radiator to protect the bumper in a front-end collision. A polished chamber minimizes case stretching, reduces case head separation, and increases case life. More information on chamber finish here. To polish a chamber, I put Flitz on a cotton bore mop and a piece of cleaning rod long enough to be held in a drill motor. I polish for about 30 seconds or more at a 300 to 600 rpm speed. Sometimes I have to wrap a paper towel around the swab and put Flitz on it to get a good fit. Be sure that the end of the bore mop's metal part is much smaller than the bore and covered so it will not damage the rifling in front of the chamber.
____________________________________ There are those who would misteach us that to stick in a rut is consistency - and a virtue, and that to climb out of the rut is inconsistency - and a vice. - Mark Twain |
Chinese Proverb: When someone shares something of value with you and you benefit from it, you have a moral obligation to share it with others.
The theory is you load the Bolt Races and Recesses with some Flitz, Whitening Tooth Paste, Puma Metal Polish, JBCompound, or basically any kind of non-overly aggressive Polishing mixture. Then cycle the Bolt 25-100reps. Tear it all down, hose it out, clean properly, lightly Lube and see if it now cycles "slicker".
It is supposed to speed-up the process of removing rough edges and tiny machining burrs which typically get worn away by normal use.
One of my old buddies used a lot of toothpaste in Revolvers - years ago - before the Whitening Toothpastes. And of course it is water soluible, so it washes out real well.
Best of luck to you.
Posts: 9920 | Location: Carolinas, USA | Registered: 22 April 2001
I did exactly the same thing with the chamber in my 30-06. It was rough and the brass was sticking so bad, I couldn't open the action on anything other than a minimum load.
I used a 20 ga bore mop, put Fritz on it, and chucked it in a drill. After a few minutes of this, I spent a lot of time cleaning it and now full power loads work like a champ.
I haven't tried it on working the bolt, mostly because none of my rifles need any polishing. They all seem to work quite smoothly. Granted some of them are older than I am, but I was thinking more of the newer ones.
RobertD
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Posts: 269 | Location: East Bay, CA | Registered: 11 October 2003
JB Bore paste will get you there a bit faster than Flitz, as it is slightly more agressive. Still, the last one I did took around 500 cycles of the bolt before I was happy with it.
BTW, don't turn the bolt handle down on each cycle. That would polish the back of the lugs, and potentially change the headspace dimension.
Originally posted by gwindrider1: JB Bore paste will get you there a bit faster than Flitz, as it is slightly more agressive. Still, the last one I did took around 500 cycles of the bolt before I was happy with it.
BTW, don't turn the bolt handle down on each cycle. That would polish the back of the lugs, and potentially change the headspace dimension.
+1
JB is what I used to smooth up my Rem 798 and 500 cycles is just about what it took. Made a big difference.
Posts: 2767 | Location: The Peach State | Registered: 03 March 2010
Originally posted by RobertD: I did exactly the same thing with the chamber in my 30-06. It was rough and the brass was sticking so bad, I couldn't open the action on anything other than a minimum load.
I used a 20 ga bore mop, put Fritz on it, and chucked it in a drill. After a few minutes of this, I spent a lot of time cleaning it and now full power loads work like a champ.
I haven't tried it on working the bolt, mostly because none of my rifles need any polishing. They all seem to work quite smoothly. Granted some of them are older than I am, but I was thinking more of the newer ones.
That musta pissed off Fritz.
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Posts: 11142 | Location: Texas, USA | Registered: 22 September 2003
Coat the bolt and rails w/ flitz and veg out in front of the TV working the bolt back & forth as fast & as many times as possible, until its as smooth as you'd like it.
Put a towel down as the flitz will be flying.
I have a stainless rifle, and it will "shine" up some spots on the bolt. Not sure if it would change the finish on a blued rifle.
Posts: 132 | Location: WI. | Registered: 02 June 2009
I first read about it at varmint-als he has a good explaination and diagrams.
essentially you polish anything you want to work slicker. but some on a patch and go to town, clean it up with dry patch and lightly oil.
I have used it on new barrels for breakin, actions, bolts, chambers, bearing surface of hammers, and loading dies. And is great for cleaning powder residue on stainless revolver cylindars almost effortless.
The disadvantage argument is you are increasing the wear on the metal ie life, but flitz is a polish, more than an abrassive like toothpaste, JB, or bon ami. So of the choices flitz is the least aggressive.
I am satisfied that the advantages out weight the disatvantages in all applications I've tried
Posts: 131 | Location: Southern WI | Registered: 09 March 2007
