I have a 243 that is very difficult to close the bolt on a cartridge. Factory, reloads, doesn’t matter. I have confirmed it’s not the bullet in the lands, but rather the shoulder engaging the chamber. Am I right in assuming the chamber is just cut very slightly too short? And if so, what’s the best remedy? I can close the bolt but it takes a significant effort and it’s more effort than my young nieces and nephews that like to shoot it can muster.

Same issue as another thread; tolerance stack up between ammo and chambers. Or dirt. Have someone gauge it, and make it to spec, if it is not.
Is it a new rifle? What make? Savages have tight chambers and close headspace.
Assuming the chamber is too short is not necessarily a valid assumption. It is one possibility.
If it was mine I would have already reamed out the chamber. But as usual,, NO one do what I say or do. Ever.

Yes it is new. Kimber.

When I close the bolt on a cartridge (or just a piece of brass) you can see a very shiny ring on the shoulder radius when you extract the case.

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I have a 243 that is very difficult to close the bolt on a cartridge. Factory, reloads, doesn’t matter. I have confirmed it’s not the bullet in the lands, but rather the shoulder engaging the chamber. Am I right in assuming the chamber is just cut very slightly too short? And if so, what’s the best remedy? I can close the bolt but it takes a significant effort and it’s more effort than my young nieces and nephews that like to shoot it can muster.

I size cases for every length when measuring from the datum to the case head. I form cases that are .012" shorter than a go-gage length chamber. For me there is no such thing as a bolt that is difficult to close.

Reloaders have options; they can learn to measure the length of the case from the shoulder/datum to the case head. All of my dies have threads, all of my presses have threads.

F. Guffey

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Originally posted by F. Guffey:

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I have a 243 that is very difficult to close the bolt on a cartridge. Factory, reloads, doesn’t matter. I have confirmed it’s not the bullet in the lands, but rather the shoulder engaging the chamber. Am I right in assuming the chamber is just cut very slightly too short? And if so, what’s the best remedy? I can close the bolt but it takes a significant effort and it’s more effort than my young nieces and nephews that like to shoot it can muster.

I size cases for every length when measuring from the datum to the case head. I form cases that are .012" shorter than a go-gage length chamber. For me there is no such thing as a bolt that is difficult to close.

Reloaders have options; they can learn to measure the length of the case from the shoulder/datum to the case head. All of my dies have threads, all of my presses have threads.

F. Guffey

Not sure I understand this. If I’m already full length resizing (die is making “full cam over” contact with the shell holder) how could I push that shoulder down further?

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Am I right in assuming the chamber is just cut very slightly too short?

Why cant a reloader measure the length of a chamber?

If the chamber has the perfect length It is go-gage length. If the case has the perfect length from the shoulder/datum to the case head it is .004" shorter than the go-gage length chamber.

I do not know the history of the case but a reloader can upset the shoulder of the case when they crimp the case neck to the bullet. Opinion; crimping can be a bad habit.

F. Guffey

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Not sure I understand this. If I’m already full length resizing (die is making “full cam over” contact with the shell holder) how could I push that shoulder down further?

Forgive, if it was simple all reloaders would be doing it.

I use a feeler gage between the deck of the shell holder and case head. If I use a .010" thick feeler gage to raise the case off of the deck of the shell holder I am reducing the length of the case from the shoulder to the case head .010", I am also increasing the presses ability to overcome the cases ability to overcome resistance.

And then there is the remote chance the shell holder is not making it to the bottom of the die. If the die does not make it to the shell holder the case is not being full length sized. When a reloader gets familiar with the use of a feeler gage he learns to measure the gap between the bottom of the die and top of the shell holder when determining if the case is being bull length sized.

F. Guffey

TrademarkTexas, I live off of I-635 and Plano Road in Dallas near Garland, I have no problem with cutting across town to help.

F. Guffey

If the chamber is so tight you are bumping the shell holder and no joy..... you can grind a few thou. off the shell holder. I'd be surprised if the shoulder of the case couldn't be bumped before you had to do that. could be the dies are cut a little deep to do that, I suppose?

You could send the rifle back to Kimber and have them cut the chamber a little deeper. They shouldn't charge you.

Dave

Yep. And they should send you a call tag to pay for the shipping.

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Originally posted by nopride2:
You could send the rifle back to Kimber and have them cut the chamber a little deeper. They shouldn't charge you.

Dave

Check wear on lugs as well.

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TrademarkTexas, I live off of I-635 and Plano Road in Dallas near Garland, I have no problem with cutting across town to help.

Or I could do the work and then mail you the short chamber cases. If you decide to grind the die I suggest you determine how much grinding is necessary.

F. Guffey

OP, in this situation, send the rifle back and have it chambered correctly. I think this is solely due to a mistake by the maker.
Mitigation measures outlined above are best used in other rifle/ammo/die scenarios; one of which yours isn't.

What DP suggested both times is simple and logical

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OP, in this situation, send the rifle back and have it chambered correctly. I think this is solely due to a mistake by the maker.

Again, crimping the neck can be a bad habit, there is nothing I can do about reloaders believing they can move the shoulder back with a die that has full case body support. When crimping the bullet with a seating die can result in reducing bullet hold. The seating die does not have full case body support; what that means the case body/shoulder juncture can increase in diameter, I understand reloader believe the case shoulder can be moved back but when it happens the case starts to collapse. And as you have said there are all of those stacked tolerances.

F. Guffey

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Originally posted by F. Guffey:

Forgive, if it was simple all reloaders would be doing it.

I use a feeler gage between the deck of the shell holder and case head. If I use a .010" thick feeler gage to raise the case off of the deck of the shell holder I am reducing the length of the case from the shoulder to the case head .010", I am also increasing the presses ability to overcome the cases ability to overcome resistance.

F. Guffey

Well, this is brilliant and exactly why I brought it here. I understand your premise exactly and and a bit embarrassed I didn’t think of this. Thanks!

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Originally posted by dpcd:
OP, in this situation, send the rifle back and have it chambered correctly. I think this is solely due to a mistake by the maker.
Mitigation measures outlined above are best used in other rifle/ammo/die scenarios; one of which yours isn't.

I’ll enquire with Kimber about this. Wise advice, thank you.

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Originally posted by dpcd:
Same issue as another thread; tolerance stack up between ammo and chambers. Or dirt. Have someone gauge it, and make it to spec, if it is not.
Is it a new rifle? What make? Savages have tight chambers and close headspace.
Assuming the chamber is too short is not necessarily a valid assumption. It is one possibility.
If it was mine I would have already reamed out the chamber. But as usual,, NO one do what I say or do. Ever.

Reaming the chamber is what I have always done in the past. Rarely took more than additional 1-2 thou

One of my favorite tools is the L.E. Wilson case gage; mot a problem, the Wilson case gage measures fired and sized cases. There is a chance a case that will fit the case gage may not fit the chamber because there is a chance the case body/shoulder juncture has been upset because of seating the bullet with a seating die that does not support the case body.

Then there is the chamber gage; I cut the barrel off ahead of the chamber to make chamber gages. I have never found it necessary to use the same reamer to cut both chambers.

If I do not have a chamber gage I find nothing wrong with using a barrel with a new chamber. All I have to keep up with is case head protrusion.

With the case gage I use a straight edge and a feeler gage.

F. Guffey

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Reaming the chamber is what I have always done in the past. Rarely took more than additional 1-2 thou

I have 65 reamers, I have access to 200 more, it is just a matter of driving 60 miles round trip.

Because I have to say "I do not know" I will form cases that are minimum length/full length sized to start with/ then progressively shorten the cases by reducing the length of the case from the shoulder to the case head by .001" and then progressively form the cases shorter.

When I start to ream a chamber I want to know if the barrel has a short chamber, after that I want to know how short, I am sure most can come up with two methds.

F. Guffey

I have had a set of RCBS 7mm-08 dies since the 80's with which I reloaded for my fathers Ruger MKI 77 bolt action without any problems at all. Later in life I reloaded for a Remington SPS I had purchased and noticed despite a good bump with the die the bolt was still a little stiff to close. I turned the shell holder upside down on some wet and dry paper on a flat steel surface and spun away until I obtained nice easy closure of the bolt on loaded cartridges. I now reload for all four 7mm-08's in the family and the ammo fits all four rifles, the Rem, a Weatherby Vanguard and two Marlins, perfectly with excellent case life. DON'T grind the die, just the cheap shell holder. If you get a sloppy chamber in the future you just back the die off a bit.

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Originally posted by TrademarkTexan:

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Originally posted by dpcd:
OP, in this situation, send the rifle back and have it chambered correctly. I think this is solely due to a mistake by the maker.
Mitigation measures outlined above are best used in other rifle/ammo/die scenarios; one of which yours isn't.

I’ll enquire with Kimber about this. Wise advice, thank you.

I met a guy at the UPS store a couple of months ago. We were outside, standing in the COVID social distance line.

He had a big red and white box with "Winchester" printed on it. I looked at it and asked him if it was a Model 70.

He said yes, it was brand new, and he was sending it back to the maker for repairs. He told me it was a .300 Win. Mag. and would not chamber any of three different factory loads he had tried. He could not close the bolt.

How something like that can make it out of the factory I will never understand.

he indicated the problem exists with factory so I would send it back, also shiny spot on one side of case could mean crooked chamber, either way needs to go back.

If other makers are like Remington was it is no surprise. Remington only pulled one gun out of every 200 to actually fire and function test. The rest were gauged in manufacture and assumed to fit and function. I have fitted a number of 1100's and 870's that could not even be assembled out-of-the-box. One 700 .243 Win that was not rifled. Dozens of 700 Mags that I have had to polish chambers to get extraction. Interestingly no stnd caliber. But Rem 770's frequently had to have chamber polishing to function. They usually came in with the bolt handle broken off.

Just an FYI...Last summer I sent a Kimber 84 back to Kimber for some issues related to the safety and bolt opening. They emailed me a shipping label and I dropped it off at the UPS place on Monday and it shipped to their new facility in Alabama. Had it back by Saturday the same week and the issues were fixed perfectly and the gun has been flawless since. Didn't cost me a nickle...just the time to box it up and drive it to the UPS facility.

Sorry to hear about your problem.
This is not a Kimber only problem. This seems to be a all to frequent of a problem with all manufacturers selling firearms some even 7 or 8 times the price of a Kimber. I am not sure what goes on in these rifle building facilities. I believe a lot has to do with lack of training , inexperienced employees put into a position they are not familiar enough with and afraid to ask questions, lack of supervision , lack of quality control checks, and some employees not giving a damn. It’s a really frustrating ,experiencing a problem with a new firearm.To keep the warranty in place its best to ship the rifle back to Kimber. Sounds like they will fix it for you.