I just bought a Higgins FN in 30,06. Its prety nice but the chamber seems rather tight.
I pulled it out of the stock looking for a barrel to reciver reference mark, and I can't find one on either.
I am thinking some body turned the barrel in 1 full turn so the sights would still be on top.
And it might just need to be finish reemed. I
plan to take it to my smith and have it gaged this weekend but, i am curious about this rifle, should it not have a reference mark someware ?
...tj3006

Your rifle is FUBARed. Please send it to me for proper disposal.

Seriously though it sounds like you have the right idea. I heve no idea about the referance mark as the one I had was only together long enough for me to get to the gunsmith and take it apart!

I just pulled the barrel on a JCH 50 and there was a ref mark on the receiver ring in the usual spot but none on the barrel.

I would doubt anyine would take the barrel back a turn and not headspace it correctly, is it tight with a new unfired case ?

A lot of barreled actions don't have a reference mark. The only way it could have been turned one too many turns is for a gunshith to turn the should of the barrel down before re-installing. And if it is a full thread "too far," then the chamber will be more than a little tight! You would not be able to chamber a round at all.

What is happening that leads you to believe the chamber is too tight and needs to be "finished reamed?" Have you tried SAAMI headspace gauges? Are you just trying it with factory loaded ammo? If so, how amny brands of ammo? Factory ammo is all over the board on actual size. If you look at the SAAMI specs for chambers and then the specs for loaded ammo, you can see quite a difference between a minimum chamber and maximum ammo-and maximum chamber and minimum ammo too. Have either one a little out of spec in the wrong direction and you can really get ammo that either flops around in a chamber or takes a good bit of force to close the bolt

The reason i think the chamber is tight is beacuse i seat my bullets well deeper than the boofk says and i still get marks on the bullet from the rifleing. I also have resistance when I close the bolt.
It could jus be throating and I have to ad mit it is brass resized and fired from a different rifle. I think I will jsut have to buy some factory ammo (yuch( ...tj3006

Marks on the bullet could have several causes, IE throat length, throat diameter, dragging on the feed ramp/chamber entrance, fouling buildup in the throat, etc. BTW, the chamber is where the brass sits, which is unrelated to the throat area (where the bullet sits and gets it's run into the lands.

When you say "deeper" than book, do you mean a longer OAL, or shorter OAL than specified?

You should invest in having your gunsmith do a borescope inspection and chamber cast.

BTW, you don't need to purchase factory ammo, they do sell unprimed brass

I acutualy bought some winchester brass today fresh. It does work alo tbetter and I think the throat is the reason for my problem.
I put some hornady 165s in the new brass and I do have to seat them deep, or the bullet comes out when I open the bolt . I seat the hornady to 3.219 while the manual says 3.30.
I guess its nothing to worry about, I loaded with 61 grains of RL-22, and put my old Busnell elite 3200 on her just to try it out.
, if it shoots well an 06 it will stay,
I will customize a bit put a better set of sites on it and have the trigger guard reshaped and blue it.
I will put a picture on tommorow. I think the stock has potential...tj3006

I can't speak for Ted Williams or J.C. Higgins, but of the four FN's I own, the only one with witness marks wears a custom barrel. The other three don't, but all have minimum headspace when checked by gauge.
Early FN's are a class act from the get go no matter who's name is on the barrel.