Hi all,

I had a 260 Rem built for me here in Aus, but hadn't got round to doing anything with it yet.

Today I loaded up a "dummy round" to check whether my reloads would seat before I started to actually make any.

Checked that it fitted in the mag checked COAL against the manuals and popped it almost into the chamber. It won't go in.

Took an empty case and popped it into the chamber - same thing. It goes in leaving 6-10mm of case visible behind the front ring .....

Any ideas what it can be?

The brass is brand new Lapua. I haven't sized it, because I have Redding fancy dies where I have to order the little "rings" to do the necksizing, and Lapua says they're ready to go ....

Gunsmith said that he had cut the chamber to competition dimensions. Could it be that I need to turn down the necks .....

Obviously, even with all your experience over here, you can't diagnose it definitively, but what's the gut feel?

If the rifle was chambered with a "tight neck" reamer, the neck dia. should be marked on the barrel.

Actually "resize" one new shell full-length, then find the lands with a bullet, seat deeply and retry. That failing, trim the one shell back to minimum length and retry. Make sure to fully chamfer. I had some Hornady brass in .300 H&H that wouldn't feed until I did that.

With 6-10 mm of case sticking out, my gut is it is either the aforementioned case neck issue, or your gun may have been chambered in 6.5 x 55 or 57 Mauser. Take a full length sized case and smoke it with an oil lamp or candle. Carefully insert it into the chamber and apply pressure to the case head. Remove and inspect for bright areas that will indicate where the interference is. If it is on the shoulder, then the chamber doesn't match the round. If the neck shows contact then it could be a tight chamber.

Bob Veasey
www.rustblue.com

I would take the rifle and the Lapua brass back to the gunsmith that built the rifle and explain to him what you found.

Smoking the case is a good idea and more durable coating is a black marker pen. As mentioned make sure you insert it gently into the chamber as to not mark it from rough handling. Another thing to do is take a chamber cast with cerosafe. Be warned that cerosafe changes dimensions as it ages so your measurement of it have to be made in a certain time period.

sort of sounds like the thig got short cut and needs to have the reamer run all the way instead of part way

Early lapua 260 brass requires neck turning.

Probably simplest way to check the neck diameter is to ask the gunsmith to mic the reamer he used, or have him tell you where he got the reamer from (if he doesn't own the reamer) and get the dimensions from the manufacturer. Lapua brass is thicker than most. I can't imagine the smith short reamed it. A quick check with a headspace gauge will tell that (.308 Win is the same gauge).

Sounds to me like headspace too. Maybe they used a 250 Savage or 22-250 headspace gage by accident. That would be about the difference you are talking about. If they used a 6.5X55 gage it would go too deep in chamber.

Ask the smith to see the fired factory case that he fired in it after he finshed the work.
Sounds like he didn't test fire the rifle.

quote:

Originally posted by D Humbarger:
Ask the smith to see the fired factory case that he fired in it after he finshed the work.
Sounds like he didn't test fire the rifle.

Indeed Doug. I always include two fired cases with every job I do. Nice observation!

Bob Veasey
www.rustblue.com

How reliable & reputable is the gunsmith?

Even reputed smiths can make a mistake. A few years ago a friend rebarrelled a Sako hunter with a wildcat using a 284 Win case and headspace (by an experienced and reputed smith).

First shot at the range and he had a blown primer with chips from the synthetic stock on his face and a ripped bolt release button.

He drove straight to my place with his wife, his fingerts and face bleeding and we sat and discussed what to do. We tapped open the bolt and saw a case with a ring bulge in front of the head! We took it to the smith and he used the gauges & they was perfect! The problem was he had short run the reamer but threaded the shank to headspace correctly - leaving a 16 thou gap between bolt face and chamber!

Thanks, gents.

There are a lot of pertinent observations here ....

Taking it back to the gunsmith just isn't on - he's at the other end of the country since I moved.

I will take the dummy round and case to a guy here in Canberra, who is (hopefully) competent. and can give me more options. And, hopefully, a solution.

Thanks again for your time.

Why not slip a 243 Win. round in the chamber and close the bolt? That will tell you if the head space is correct if you can't get a set of Go-NoGo gauges. You could also mic. the neck diameter on the .260 case and turn one down till it's a little under spec. and try it.
A gunsmith or a machine shop for that matter should be able to determine your neck diameter with a cerrosafe cast or a set of plug gauges. So what is the diameter of your dummy round at the neck?

quote:

Originally posted by kaboom:
Why not slip a 243 Win. round in the chamber and close the bolt? That will tell you if the head space is correct if you can't get a set of Go-NoGo gauges. You could also mic. the neck diameter on the .260 case and turn one down till it's a little under spec. and try it.
A gunsmith or a machine shop for that matter should be able to determine your neck diameter with a cerrosafe cast or a set of plug gauges.

I'm in Australia is why not .....

They're going to beat the plague of drive-by shootings in Sydney by making it illegal to buy ammo that you aren't licenced for in other parts of the country.

Stopping me from getting a 243 round will certainly stop me from supplying 9mm handgun ammo to drug dealers .....

That said I was thinking about that, but don't know anyone who actually HAS a 243.

Thanks for trying, though.

The .308 Win go-nogo gauges are the same as your .260 if a local 'smith has those.

You could always FLS a case without the expander in place so it is undersized and try chambering it or you could take a 260 case and cut the neck off at the neck shoulder junction and that will be close to a go guage for the purposes of checking if it is indeed chambered for the 260 rather than a 6.5x55. Then it can be determined if the chamber neck is a fitted or tight neck.
If the FLS case without expander installed chambers then try one wrap of selotape around the neck which will add 4 thou to the thickness and try that. Lots of ways to get the needed information.

Thyanks guys, during the week I'll take it and the dummy round to the local GS and see what he says - it may just be very thick brass in the neck, but .....

Just a thought. The 260 Rem is a 51 mm case like the 308 & the diameter is smaller than the 6.5X55. So I doubt that the chamber is for the Swede - as the 260 case would chamber easily.

The idea of FLS without the expander button is a good start.

Ran a pair of cases through the body sizer die today (It's a Redding die sett with a separate neck sizer (that you have to order bushes for) and a body die.

Then I loaded one of the cases with a Sierra 123 gr bullet and took the whole lot to the local Gunsmisth.

He actually jammed both into the chamber and got them out. Seems like the neck is way small, and the headspace is way over.

My original GS friend seems to be more messed up than I thought from his chemo .....

Let's see what the local guy does ....

Thanks again to all.

quote:

Originally posted by Nakihunter:
Just a thought. The 260 Rem is a 51 mm case like the 308 & the diameter is smaller than the 6.5X55. So I doubt that the chamber is for the Swede - as the 260 case would chamber easily.

The idea of FLS without the expander button is a good start.

The case head of the 6.5x55 is larger but it has more taper and the shoulder is narrower than the .260. The .260 shoulder would likely stick.

This excessive headspace issue and undersized neck now has me thinking it could be chambered in .257 Roberts or even a 6mm caliber. I think a chamber cast is in order.

Bob Veasey
www.rustblue.com