I recently purchased a nearly new Winchester FW 257 r. which may have a very tight chamber, and was wondering the best way to remedy this problem?

Here's the problem.....When chambering a round the bolt closes very hard and upon inspection of the cartridge there are scoreing rings around the shoulder and the brass around the primer pocket has been shaved off.

Thanks in advance-Griz

Is this with new unfired brass?

If it is the chamber, then the rememdy is to pull the barrel and have a standard reamer run into it to clean it up and re-set the headspace. Don't be tempted to polish it out. Polishing might take care of the marks on the shoulder, but not the brass shaving. You need a reamer for that.

Thanks Westpac,

I used both new and reloaded cartridges.

it might be a .257 AI chamber!!!!!

quote:

Originally posted by vapodog:
it might be a .257 AI chamber!!!!!

That might explain the brass shaving at the case head, but not the shoulder. The AI chamber doesn't contact the shoulder of factory brass. Just the neck/shoulder junction.

Have the chamber cast

Westpac, I have a similar problem with a Model 8400 Kimber, .300 WSM. FACTORY rounds chamber hard, some I cannot close the bolt on. My question: do you have to remove the barrel to run a finish reamer in? I'd guess I only need another .001-.002 clearance to fix this. Can you finish ream a chamber with the action and barrel out of the stock, or do you need to pull the barrel?

TIA...

MKane160

Thanks for the reply's........I'll get ahold of my smith and see about rechambering it.

Would you have the action ect. squared up at the same time?

quote:

Originally posted by MKane160:
Westpac, I have a similar problem with a Model 8400 Kimber, .300 WSM. FACTORY rounds chamber hard, some I cannot close the bolt on. My question: do you have to remove the barrel to run a finish reamer in? I'd guess I only need another .001-.002 clearance to fix this. Can you finish ream a chamber with the action and barrel out of the stock, or do you need to pull the barrel?

TIA...

MKane160

I would always recommend pulling the barrel for this type of work. It allows you to polish out any tool marks so the brass doesn't hang up, or, drag. Plus, if you go too far, the barrels off and you can immediately set it back. I know they use "pull through" reamers for M1A's but I always prefer having the barrel off where I can see what I am doing.

quote:

Originally posted by Grizzly1:
Would you have the action ect. squared up at the same time?

That depends on what you want. If you were my customer I would check the action while the barrel was off, and if things were clearly out of whack, then I might recommend it. But if it were out just a hair, then no, I would probably recommend holding off with that work until time to rebarrel it.

If its new why mess with it? Send it back. Or am I missing something?

Bill,
I think you are right.
Butch

quote:

I recently purchased a nearly new Winchester FW 257 r. which may have a very tight chamber

Bill & Butch it might be an issue of who he bought it from. Since "nearly new" says used to me.

Yes, it is a used gun bought by my friend, NIB in the 80's. It is in like new condition......I now know why .

Westpac, I contacted a gunsmith today and he said he probably wouldn't take off the bbl, should I have him take the bbl off for a full inspection?

quote:

Originally posted by Grizzly1:
Westpac, I contacted a gunsmith today and he said he probably wouldn't take off the bbl, should I have him take the bbl off for a full inspection?

You should ask him what he intends to do. Is he going to lengthen the chamber, remove material from the bolt face, remove material from the bolt lugs?

If he pulls the barrel, he can check the receiver to see if the lugs are locking in uniformly and he can check the bolt face etc. It is possible that by addressing either of these items, he could correct the headspace issue, if that IS an issue, without using a reamer. But you have to pull the barrel to know. If it turns out that everything looks good, then he is in a better position to run the reamer.

Westpac, He said he would lengthen the chamber and that he shouldn't have to remove the bbl.

Thank You for your informative posts on the subject!

Why don't you have it checked with headspace gauges first? I have a 6.5X55 FW from the same time period. It also has tight headspace. However it checks ok with Forster gauges - that is it easily accepts the "go" gauge. I just have to make sure the brass is sized to the minimum so it will chamber.

quote:

Originally posted by ireload2:
Why don't you have it checked with headspace gauges first? I have a 6.5X55 FW from the same time period. It also has tight headspace. However it checks ok with Forster gauges - that is it easily accepts the "go" gauge. I just have to make sure the brass is sized to the minimum so it will chamber.

yup.....first time ever for me to hear of a factory barrel with too little headspace....