Having to bump shoulders back on new Lapua to chamber??

[tsu45]

Would this concern you about the chamber being too short? I’m having to bump the shoulder back on virgin 6.5creed Lapua brass .004-.005 to get no resistance on bolt close. Getting the resistance on factory ammo as well.

Just though I’d ask before resizing 400 pieces since I haven’t encountered this before. Safe to just bump the shoulder and continue with load development? Should I not fire the factory ammo?

 

[SporterII]

Would this concern you about the chamber being too short? I’m having to bump the shoulder back on virgin 6.5creed Lapua brass .004-.005 to get no resistance on bolt close. Getting the resistance on factory ammo as well.

Just though I’d ask before resizing 400 pieces since I haven’t encountered this before. Safe to just bump the shoulder and continue with load development? Should I not fire the factory ammo?

It does not sound like a very good start.
Sure it's not a neck problem?

 

[Threadcutter308]

Would this concern you about the chamber being too short? I’m having to bump the shoulder back on virgin 6.5creed Lapua brass .004-.005 to get no resistance on bolt close. Getting the resistance on factory ammo as well.

Just though I’d ask before resizing 400 pieces since I haven’t encountered this before. Safe to just bump the shoulder and continue with load development? Should I not fire the factory ammo?

Who chambered the barrel ? Sounds like the chamber is short.

 

[whatsupdoc]

Headspace gauge will give you a hint.

 

[tsu45]

Who chambered the barrel ? Sounds like the chamber is short.

It’s definitely slightly short. I’m just concerned on whether it is safe for handloading and/or factory loads. I can live without the factory loads, was just going to use ~15 I have laying around for barrel break in.

The shop that did this barrel does a bunch of TL3 and Nucleus prefits. I bought this second hand as unfired, so I doubt the smith wants to deal with me on it.

 

[tsu45]

Headspace gauge will give you a hint.

Don’t have one but I’m pretty sure I know what the GO result would be if I’m tight on factory loads. Main concern is safety with handloads.

 

[tsu45]

It does not sound like a very good start.
Sure it's not a neck problem?

I bumped the shoulder back with a Redding body die and it chambers with no resistance, so I’m thinking the necks are fine.

 

[Threadcutter308]

It’s definitely slightly short. I’m just concerned on whether it is safe for handloading and/or factory loads. I can live without the factory loads, was just going to use ~15 I have laying around for barrel break in.

The shop that did this barrel does a bunch of TL3 and Nucleus prefits. I bought this second hand as unfired, so I doubt the smith wants to deal with me on it.

It really ought to be opened up with the same reamer that it was originally chambered with, bolt closure between the Go and No Go gauges. That, for your sanity, if nothing else. If it isn't opened up, there probably won't be any harm as your brass capacity will be ever so slightly short of a standard chambering. But, it doesn't sound like you are able to chamber factory ammo, which even if you could force it, will just grow (the factory brass) in length over time. So, it sounds like you'd have to at least shoulder bump, if not aggressively full length resize your brass, just to get it to chamber.

My biggest question is what the hell is the seller ('smith ?) doing selling a used barrel that is short chambered anyway ? Did he tell you that up front ? The time that it would take to open this up is in the setup to make the barrel's chamber concentric to the lathe. It would probably take 5 or 10 minutes on the outside to open it up. But, the setup time could be 30-45 minutes. All in all, it could be done in an hour or so. Not a lot of time. If he told you about it being short before you bought it, then it's on you. If he didn't, then he ought to make it right. He could chase the chamber with the reamer outside of the lathe, but that's not real conducive to accuracy. How much are you into this barrel for ? If it's not a lot, I'd suggest buying a new blank and finding a 'smith that will do the job right the first time. BTW, did you send him any fireformed brass for him to chamber to ? If so, was that brass short ? If yes, then you may own this one....

Oh, and there ain't no way in hell I'd entertain the idea of bumping/resizing 400 rounds of virgin Lapua 6.5 CM brass, just to compensate for the short chamber. Hell, the brass is worth more than a new barrel blank.......right up until you start "fixing/resizing" the brass. Then, the brass isn't worth nearly as much....

 

[tsu45]

It really ought to be opened up with the same reamer that it was originally chambered with, bolt closure between the Go and No Go gauges. That, for your sanity, if nothing else. If it isn't opened up, there probably won't be any harm as your brass capacity will be ever so slightly short of a standard chambering. But, it doesn't sound like you are able to chamber factory ammo, which even if you could force it, will just grow (the factory brass) in length over time. So, it sounds like you'd have to at least shoulder bump, if not aggressively full length resize your brass, just to get it to chamber.

My biggest question is what the hell is the seller ('smith ?) doing selling a used barrel that is short chambered anyway ? Did he tell you that up front ? The time that it would take to open this up is in the setup to make the barrel's chamber concentric to the lathe. It would probably take 5 or 10 minutes on the outside to open it up. But, the setup time could be 30-45 minutes. All in all, it could be done in an hour or so. Not a lot of time. If he told you about it being short before you bought it, then it's on you. If he didn't, then he ought to make it right. He could chase the chamber with the reamer outside of the lathe, but that's not real conducive to accuracy. How much are you into this barrel for ? If it's not a lot, I'd suggest buying a new blank and finding a 'smith that will do the job right the first time. BTW, did you send him any fireformed bras for him to chamber to ? If so, was that brass short ? If yes, then you may own this one....

Oh, and there ain't no way in hell I'd entertain the idea of bumping/resizing 400 rounds of virgin Lapua 6.5 CM brass, just to compensate for the short chamber. Hell, the brass is worth more than a new barrel blank.......right up until you start "fixing/resizing" the brass.

I purchased it from a private seller, not the smith. If it really is new (it doesn’t look fired) then I doubt he would have known. I’ll call the shop and see if they want to take a look at it.

 

[dttheliman]

I had a 260 Rem with the same issue, I only noticed when I was trying to find the lans with the Weaver method , so factory ammo chambered with little effor t on the bolt- a brand new lapua case by its self on a stripped bolt and the bolt would not drop - short chambered by less than .001 on the shoulder - borrowed a reamer and go-gage (would not close on go-gage either) and 30seconds + a lot of cutting oil later - everything was good - morale of the story is that shit happens - was an easy enough fix aand only had 20 factory rounds through it. YMMV

 

[Robby0931]

The barrel was purchased from Patriot Valley Arms during their Nucleus special offer in 01/18 as a shouldered barrel, no barloc, etc. It arrived to me, the original owner, sometime over the late summer. Between that time I also received another barrel in 6.5 PRC from a different smith which has been on my action first and ever since. I never installed the PVA Creedmoor barrel, as I moved on to loading for the PRC.

I will be contacting PVA about this issue and tagging them in this thread @bohem @jonesturf . While I've never heard of an issue like this from PVA it would be nice to get some light on whatever trouble @tsu45 is having.

 

[tsu45]

The barrel was purchased from Patriot Valley Arms during their Nucleus special offer in 01/18 as a shouldered barrel, no barloc, etc. It arrived to me, the original owner, sometime over the late summer. Between that time I also received another barrel in 6.5 PRC from a different smith which has been on my action first and ever since. I never installed the PVA Creedmoor barrel, as I moved on to loading for the PRC.

I will be contacting PVA about this issue and tagging them in this thread @bohem @jonesturf . While I've never heard of an issue like this from PVA it would be nice to get some light on whatever trouble @tsu45 is having.

Thanks for the help. My intention wasn’t to call you or PVA to the floor on it, hence why I purposefully didn’t mention anyone specifically. Not upset, stuff happens, just want to figure what I need to do (if anything).

 

[McCrazy]

There is some good advice in here already and props to the original owner for chiming in instead of hiding.

Bumping your shoulders back a few thou isn't a big deal. The bigger deal is not being able to use factory match ammo in a pinch.

If it were me, I would see about getting it chambered a little bit deeper so it can take the factory ammo.

 

[jonesturf]

@Robby0931 Thanks for the bump.

The buyer, @tsu45, contacted me the other day regarding this. Got him a return label sent over this morning since he wasn't in our system.

A lot of good advice in this thread but it's hard to ascertain exactly what the problem is without seeing everything in person. We fully support our products, even if it wasn't purchased directly from us, so we're going to take a look at the barrel and his action and get him fixed up.

Happy Holidays!

 

[Arkansas Bob]

@Robby0931 Thanks for the bump.

The buyer, @tsu45, contacted me the other day regarding this. Got him a return label sent over this morning since he wasn't in our system.

A lot of good advice in this thread but it's hard to ascertain exactly what the problem is without seeing everything in person. We fully support our products, even if it wasn't purchased directly from us, so we're going to take a look at the barrel and his action and get him fixed up.

Thanks for the help. My intention wasn’t to call you or PVA to the floor on it, hence why I purposefully didn’t mention anyone specifically. Not upset, stuff happens, just want to figure what I need to do (if anything).