I have a 257 Roberts built on my 1st center fire action, it is my first love and always shot in the 6's but i stuck an oversize stainless cleaning rod in it and not realizing my error tried to force it through..Now it's a 2-3" rifle. Is there anything i can do short of re barreling??

Stuck the over size rod into which end? If it were the muzzle end I would try to re-crown it before I did anything else. I think Cabelas sells a small tool that you put into a cordless drill and use to recrown a rifle.

If it stuck in the breech end, how far into the leade? You may be able to shorten the shank and rechamber. Depending on the amount removed, it may not even be noticable. Worst case you have a slight gap in the barrel inletting.

quote:

Originally posted by crowrifle:
I think Cabelas sells a small tool that you put into a cordless drill and use to recrown a rifle.

I think that's what Remington uses. Considering the crown needs to be perfect in order to release the bullet perfect, I would recommend a more precise method of re-crowning a barrel.

stupid me it was the jig end and it caught almost in the middle (12" in) of the barrel..I was hoping some 1 would say lead lapping might save the barrel. Then I'd have to ask how to do that. Thanks

Try thinking this way....."I've been needing a new barrel anyway".....

That might help a while.

fire lap it, you have nothing to lose.

I don't know about this one. I've had several occasions where my rod and patch wouldn't go through, and I couldn't back it out. Boy was it tight. I had to pound on a rubber mallet to get it through the bore. Unfortunately I've done this on several occasions, but it's never affected my accuracy. I figure barrel steel is a lot harder than a bristle brush. Are you sure it's not something else? Best wishes.

Cal - Montreal

quote:

Originally posted by tom ga hunter:
I have a 257 Roberts built on my 1st center fire action, it is my first love and always shot in the 6's but i stuck an oversize stainless cleaning rod in it and not realizing my error tried to force it through..Now it's a 2-3" rifle. Is there anything i can do short of re barreling??

YES!!! You have completely destroyed your barrel. Your best bet is to immediately remove it and send it to me.

Sorry but I'm a little slow tonight, so I'd like some clarification here please.

You put a SS cleaning rod in the barrel from the breech end, it went in 12" and got stuck. Did you then pound the rod to go through or have to pull it back out through the breech? Was the rod too big or just the jag?

What was the jag made of- aluminum, brass, or SS?

Now, how does your jag and cleaning rod look, is it scored anywhere? How did the patch look, torn to shreds?

If you look through the barrel at a strong light source, can you see anything?

And lastly, if by chance the jag was the too-big part and it was brass, have you tried using a strong copper removing formula on it just for grins?

Thats all I can think of for now.

Mark

Maybe you could find someone with a borescope and have it closely checked for damage?

This is definitely an Oh, s---!!! I discovered a new accurizing technique similar to this while attempting to clean my .25-06. I just grabbed the rod with jag attached and tried to run a wet patch thru (key word is tried). As sometimes happens, when the patch hits the first part of the bore where it has begun to get a bit like gator-hide, it stopped. I took my usual corrective action and bumped the handle of the rod with my hand 2-3 times and it wouldn't go any farther. Then I tried to pull it out, no come. Then I got the rubber mallet (dumb, dumb, dumb) and only made matters worse. Couldn't unscrew the cleaning rod, etc. Felt a little foolish when I carried the rifle into the gunshop with the cleaning rod sticking out of the action, and the owner and gunsmith both had a great laugh (as did the one customer). After the 'smith and I tried the usual, we finally cut the cleaning rod and removed the action from the stock, and removed the barrel from the action. All the time, I'm thinking "I've always wanted a Shilen barrel" and the 'smith went to work. I had to leave at this point, but got a call about 3 hours later--all fixed now. I grabbed a box of ammo and my shooting box and headed for the range, dreading what I might see in terms of "groups" but still thinking "Shilen" in the back of my mind. Well, "Voila" the first 3 were under .5" and the average of 3 3-shot groups was .43" which was better than it had shot before. Best of all, didn't cost me anything but embarrassment and the lessons learned: 1. Check first 2. Recheck 3. A .27 cal jag won't go thru a .25 cal bore. 4. Zeroing rifles for the gunsmith does have a payback.

And, the mangled jag now sits on my workbench as a reminder of my stupidity.