Gunsmithing Open Up Chamber?

[gpr]

I bought a Tikka t3x lite in 6.5cm and a couple cases of Federal Non-typical whitetail ammo. It is cheap and shot well in my other guns, however for some reason 50% of teh rounds are either hard to close the bolt or some simply won't close.

I have heard Tikkas have tighter chambers. I sent the ammo back to Federal and I get the standard... ammo is fine and to spec. I'm thinking the chamber is on the tight side and the ammo on the big end.

I'm wondering, do they make a hone or some sort of tool to slightly open up a chamber? I really don't want to pay the $350 it cost to chamber a barrel on a brand new gun.... (I don't know if Tikka would warranty it since I already had the muzzle threaded)

 

[Bradu]

One thing I would recommend trying is clean the throat really well then try some of the ammo that won't chamber to see if it makes a difference. A friend had a 308 that did the same thing so we cleaned it at the range and it worked fine for a while. After the problem kept happening, we cleaned it really good and measured the lands with a modified case. We were 2.9xx which was way past the length of factory ammo loaded with the same bullet. Some reason that barrel would buildup carbon so bad that after about 50 rounds it was almost impossible to close the bolt on the same ammo.

 

[Rimfiremike]

I would find someone with a GO and NO-GO gauge so you can check the headspace and see if it is within spec.
If not within spec, I would hope Tikka would take care of it.

 

[DAVETOOLEY]

I have seen instances where there is an interference fit at the junction of the neck and shoulder. They have a different radius which means there could be a different intersection point, if that makes any sense. I would pin down the cause of the problem before doing any polishing. Look for a shiny ring around the neck.
Did you fire any of this ammo? If so did you try to put fired brass back into the chamber?

 

[gpr]

I can put fired brass back into the chamber, but it is usally pretty tight still. I also can chamber reloaded brass that has been resized. Thus i assume head space is fine. I will get a go/no go gauge and check it.

I will check the fired brass for this ring.

Its odd as some of the Federal ammo chambers fine, some is snug but I can close the bolt with slight resistence. Some i can't even move the bolt handle. Seems like an ammo problem but Federal claims its in spec.....

I was going to call tikka, but figured if i send it off to them that they would simply say warranty is void since I have threaded the barrel for a suppressor.

 

[ShtrRdy]

I would avoid the ammo that doesn't fit and keep the tight chamber as is.

 

[deanq]

Try a few different types of ammo. If they are ok, it just may be that particular bullet/throat combination of that load in your rifle. That would suck since you bought a case. Sometimes, $hit happens. JMHO YMMV.