Gunsmithing Problems w/ custom rifle

Also, there wasn't a plug. The guy who did the work had no idea that he drilled through the hole which is even worse...That guy couldn't have passed kindergarten of smithing.
 
Thanks! So there was a void that caused the blowout. At least the guy is stand up about this.

edt: Sry for the redundant question. Just saw your other reply.
 
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That is a good point. I will talk with the guys here and see what can be done.

He does owe you a barrel but depending on taper and current length it wouldn't be that far of a set back to get that hole out of the chamber and tighten that chamber back up. That could be done in a day rather than wait 16 weeks for a barrel.
 
They had stripped out the front screw, that is why they had to D&T the receiver. The guy that owns the shop is first class he just had a goon working for him, which has sense been fired. He is buying me a new barrel and making it right. Nothing but good things to say about the owner which will remain nameless because he is making it right.

This brings up a really good point, where I think its stand up that the smith is making this right as he should with any good conscience. I bring this point up, were you not paying this smith the premium price a smith charges to build a rifle and yet he had a non smith building your rifle apparently unsupervised? I mean if I hire a smith to build my rifle I expect that smith to build my rifle, not some guy they hire off the street. Guess QC is non existent also...lol.
 
I think your making a huge mistake letting this guy "Make it right" The only way to make it right is a new unmolested barrel and your original money back so you can get a reputable smith to do the work.
 
He does owe you a barrel but depending on taper and current length it wouldn't be that far of a set back to get that hole out of the chamber and tighten that chamber back up. That could be done in a day rather than wait 16 weeks for a barrel.

That is if he wants a barrel that is 3/4 to a 1" shorter.

The fact of the matter is the smith should have come clean and admitted he screwed up in the begging.
 
I think your making a huge mistake letting this guy "Make it right" The only way to make it right is a new unmolested barrel and your original money back so you can get a reputable smith to do the work.

I've had guys working for me before fuck something up so bad that I had to let em go and fix the problem so I can sorta relate to what the smith is dealing with. I wouldn't begrudge him for that kind of mistake. At some point you gotta trust the folks working for you until something like this happens then you correct, do damage control and move on. lol, if anything you know he'll be paying special attention this time around to make it right so I'd trust him to do the work. Even though that was a pretty bad mistake. But he didn't drill that hole so he didn't know what had happened. I just couldn't imagine any decent smith doing that themselves which is why I originally said I didn't think he realized there was an issue w/o even knowing who he is.

L
 
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Exactly why every rifle that leaves my shop is at least test fired and brass measured and inspected, usually always proofed for accuracy as well if possible. Granted, Im the only person that touches anything, so I know something this ridiculous isnt going to happen, but its still good insurance.
 
Also, there wasn't a plug. The guy who did the work had no idea that he drilled through the hole which is even worse...That guy couldn't have passed kindergarten of smithing.

You guys are going to make me be a prick again;-) ag, check the 50 cases you fired before the blowout. If there is no sign of the hole, it had to be filled with something, a screw, loctite or something. I'll kiss all of you bitches ass if you can show me a piece of brass that can withstand enough pressure to push a bullet and not fail unsupported. ;-)

If you don't believe me, grab a stake out of the junk pile and drill the hole and try it! Better yet, I'll do it next time I have some time to kill.
 
You guys are going to make me be a prick again;-) ag, check the 50 cases you fired before the blowout. If there is no sign of the hole, it had to be filled with something, a screw, loctite or something. I'll kiss all of you bitches ass if you can show me a piece of brass that can withstand enough pressure to push a bullet and not fail unsupported. ;-)

If you don't believe me, grab a stake out of the junk pile and drill the hole and try it! Better yet, I'll do it next time I have some time to kill.

Now that I've eaten crow, I agree that it was plugged/filled and the inside of the chamber polished. That second taper in the chamber body pretty much seals the deal for me. I also agree that it wasn't going to fire 50 rounds without a blowout if there was a hole in the chamber.

I still can not understand why someone would not spend a minute to pull a barrel and work on a through hole instead of a blind hole. There is no way to drill and tap the front scope base hole fully without getting into the tenon threads. I bet the barrel cam off after the mistake was realized to fill the hole and polish the chamber out. My hunch is the mistake absolutely was known and it was covered up.
 
If there was a plug, where did that material go? It would of have to of flowed around the threads and that I would imagine would have the effect of welding that barrel to that action. Only other place it could of gone would be out between the base and receiver but there should have been some external sign if it had. If there is no evidence of either then I have to go with their stated findings.

L
 
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If there was a plug, where did that material go? It would of have to of flowed around the threads and that I would imagine would have the effect of welding that barrel to that action. Only other place it could of gone would be out between the base and receiver but there should have been some external sign if it had. If there is no evidence of either then I have to go with their stated findings.

L

My guess would be that it was filled with devcon or similar and the shock of several rounds going off loosened its bond and it just fell out into the chamber during normal cycling (assuming the hole was smooth and not threaded).
 
Maybe it was not drilled all the way through the tenon, but rather most of the way, leaving a thin chamber wall the size of the hole...and therefore a weak spot. You would never know it was there unless the barrel removed. Maybe took 50 rds to blow out.
 
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This whole thing is silly. ag won't cough up all of the details. (IE 50 fired before the blowout) I contend that some indication would have shown up before the blowout. Obviously the case would have blown out on the 1st shot if it was a straight thru hole.

300sniper caught it. The taper polished in the back of the chamber shows the intent to cover the mistake.

Regardless, if the hole didn't go thru as indicated in prev. posts, when I do my test, I was thinking of drilling to the point that the drill point was .010" from breaching the chamber wall. Don't want it to blow out the 1st shot so is .010 enough? or should I start thicker ? FYI, I'm not worried about blowing up.
 
This whole thing is silly. ag won't cough up all of the details. (IE 50 fired before the blowout) I contend that some indication would have shown up before the blowout. Obviously the case would have blown out on the 1st shot if it was a straight thru hole.

300sniper caught it. The taper polished in the back of the chamber shows the intent to cover the mistake.

Regardless, if the hole didn't go thru as indicated in prev. posts, when I do my test, I was thinking of drilling to the point that the drill point was .010" from breaching the chamber wall. Don't want it to blow out the 1st shot so is .010 enough? or should I start thicker ? FYI, I'm not worried about blowing up.



They drilled through the front base screw so there was a screw in that hole while shooting. The reason that it didn't show up in the first 50 rounds is because they hadn't drilled through the hole yet. While they were cerakoting the rifle they stripped out the hole in the action and had to drill it out to 8-40 to try and fix that problem.
 
They drilled through the front base screw so there was a screw in that hole while shooting. The reason that it didn't show up in the first 50 rounds is because they hadn't drilled through the hole yet. While they were cerakoting the rifle they stripped out the hole in the action and had to drill it out to 8-40 to try and fix that problem.

So the blowout occurred after the ceracoat? first shot?
 
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The OP made it sound like it had 50 trouble free shots then all the sudden the blowout.

I'm still a bit suspicious of the second taper in the chamber body...

Yep, me too! Has all of the indications of polishing a plug.

Another query; we have the bbl fitter, ceracoater and the local smith that discovered the hole in the chamber. Are they all the same guy?

Seems we really don't have all of the facts ;-)
 
All y'all know a lot more about this than I do but I have an opinion. This is FUBARed. Seems to me that we need to see this genius' name. I do not want to send any work to this guy. You need to yank that barrel off and get that receiver inspected; if he boogered up the action, he needs to buy a new one. You need to buy a new barrel. Get it correctly chambered by someone competent. And the genius needs to pay for it. Being stupid is supposed to have a price and he needs to pay it.

Just in case that isn't clear, I wouldn't let this guy hang a picture in my house for fear that he would punch a hole in the wall and fall into it let alone do any gun butchering for me.
 
Drama over gents.

New stick hung this afternoon. It heads back out in the morning.

Yes, there was a hole where a hole shouldn't be. No visible damage to receiver. Original barrel was KO'd due to the short cylinder and light contour. We put a new 10T 30 on it in M. Palma. Added one of our brakes as his brake was too small for the new slightly larger barrel contour.

I've got pics but it doesn't really show anymore than what you all have already seen here.

Basically, someone goofed and drilled too deep. The client speaks well and understands firearms. So all this cross examination regarding the cause/effect is mute far as I'm concerned. I spoke with the gunshop that sponsored the original work and they were very helpful and responsive.

Bummer deal, but life goes on.

Wish they were all this easy.

C.
 
I have seen this at least twice before. The first time the gunsmith caught it and replaced the barrel. The second time nobody noticed it when the holes were drilled and tapped for #8 screws. The first time the customer fired the rifle he said his scope went all fuzzy and there was a bit of extra noise. When he looked at his new Leopold scope there was a perfectly round hole thru the front of the scope tube, bottom to top. The first shot blew the front base screw out and since the scope ring was set behind it the screw blew all the way thru the tube of his pricy new scope. Big mess over this one.
 
I got a 700 ADL once in .270 and a front base screw broke off and it was drilled out and retapped by 'an expert gunsmith'.
Afterwhich it found it's way to me, with a beautiful hole throught the scope the EXACT diameter of the screw head.... looked like it had been plunge milled.
Lucky enough to find an unfired take off barrel and do a swap with little effort, slightly less upsetting than doing it to say....a new Bartlein.
 
Headed out today. I went chootin Saturday and missed the PO.

On its way back!

Least you could do is tell us if the chamber showed signs of polishing the screw or if it was a deep hole that blew out. Talked to a guy today who just went thru Trinidad that said they taught it was acceptable to fit a screw to the chamber if they drilled thru?????????????????? as long as you use Loctite;-)
 
Least you could do is tell us if the chamber showed signs of polishing the screw or if it was a deep hole that blew out. Talked to a guy today who just went thru Trinidad that said they taught it was acceptable to fit a screw to the chamber if they drilled thru?????????????????? as long as you use Loctite;-)


Time is money. Client wasn't paying me to do a forensic analysis of what happened. We know what happened; somebody went BlackWater with a drill and garfooned a barrel. Dickering around making fun of the guy that did it just eats my clock away.

I was paid to resolve the problem so that's what we did.

C.
 
Time is money. Client wasn't paying me to do a forensic analysis of what happened. We know what happened; somebody went BlackWater with a drill and garfooned a barrel. Dickering around making fun of the guy that did it just eats my clock away.

I was paid to resolve the problem so that's what we did.

C.

Well by God! I'm sorry I wasted your valuable time. I was just hoping to get an assessment from a qualified examiner. So much for that:-(
 
not even close. What type of barrel? What type of testing?

Says it in the quote... Pressure testing, you know like they do when the factory develops ammo and when powder companies supply you with the pressure of a reload? You have obviously never seen the little circular scribe mark left when pressure testing is conducted.

Take a look at this and then tell me it is "not even close."

http://www.snipershide.com/shooting...7-strange-mark-once-fired-brass-i-bought.html