Tight chamber

[Mr.wiggle]

I have a custom Savage model 16 rifle built with a switch barrel (300 WSM and 243 WSSM) system. I got tired of switching the barrels to shoot so I purchased another action too mount the 243 wssm barrel. My problems is, now that I have the 243 wssm barrel mounted on a Savage model 11 action and with the same load that I shot in the other action, I have a tight chamber after the shot with no flatened primer (these are new cases). Any ideas what the problem would be? When chambering a fresh round it is not tight. My bullet is not touching the lands. Remember this load shot in this barrel with no problems before the action change. I used a full length sized case (not loaded) as a go gauge and slowly tightened or threaded the barrel on the action until I felt contact on the case being careful not to crush the case. I then secured the barrel and action and tightened the barrel nut. Would a different action cause an effect on powder charge, do you know what I mean?


Shoot Straight,
Steve

[scope eye]

Put a strip of scotch tape on the same piece of brass and cycle it, then put two pieces one on top of each other and cycle it, or continue stacking them until you can't close the bolt, with out force, and get back with your results.

Tanks Dean

[scope eye]

That's an inherent problem with all WSM and WSSM cases, That's what I was getting at with the tape, I have a feeling he won't be able to put many layers.

Dean

[243LPR]

243 WSSM is a problematic chambering. Had one,got rid of it. Nobody chambers it any more except the odd one you see for AR's.

[mnbogboy2]

As usual all good answers above..I have a few observations & comments..

We have to assume that the loads that were OK in the old configuration were 'exactly' the same...A new brand of brass or even a new lot of the same manufacturer may change the equation totally...When you headspaced off a FL case we have to assume that it was a once fired case from that barrel...A new case that has not been fired cannot be considered FL sized even if has been run through a die because it was most likely undersized to begin with....

That being said all things being equal...Then even though the action and barrel were secured at the nut tightening any amount of slippage in the barrel vise could have allowed the barrel to turn in slightly (about .009 of barrel circumference(at the major thread OD) = about .001 of headspace)....My suggestion would be to redo the headspace with one of your once fired cases, but mark the barrel & nut before dis-assembly you may see a difference after re-assembly....Use the scotch tape method for a no go when you are done....Best suggestion would be to aquire and use both gauges..Also make sure to FL all your old brass after you make any headspace adjustments...
My .02 and Good Luck,
Randy

[sharpshooter]

The problem has nothing to do with headspace, it has to do with pressure and case head expansion. The WSSM's cases handle pressure way different than a standard case. You will find that the case head measures .555" on a new case. Fired factory loads commonly measure .557+. This causes sticky extraction, and in most cases will not resize at the case head once it has expanded that far. Typically the primer will never show excessive pressure, giving you a false impression that the pressure is not that high.

[Mr.wiggle]

Gosh, you guy are posting faster than I can respond, and you all make so much since. It sounds like the best and safest thing for me to do is get a go and not go gauge to fix my problem (I have not tried the scotch tape trick yet, but I will). Does anyone know where I can rent some for a few days not scotch tape, but go no go gauges in the 243 wssm? I want to install this barrel for good! I really love the 243 WSSM and had no previous problems with it. It always chambered and extracted with not trouble until I intalled this barrel on a new action

[Mr.wiggle]

It's quite possible That the headspacing has changes, because I have not changed the load at all. If I install the barrel again with go and no go guage, and I still have this problem it will likely be a could be an extration issue with the new action.

[SFLEFTY]

OK, Mr. Furious, just how insulting does bigedp51 have to be to be over the line?

[GaryB]

Gosh, you guy are posting faster than I can respond, and you all make so much since. It sounds like the best and safest thing for me to do is get a go and not go gauge to fix my problem (I have not tried the scotch tape trick yet, but I will). Does anyone know where I can rent some for a few days not scotch tape, but go no go gauges in the 243 wssm? I want to install this barrel for good! I really love the 243 WSSM and had no previous problems with it. It always chambered and extracted with not trouble until I intalled this barrel on a new action

Try here...
http://4-dproducts.com/display.php?group=Rifle

Good luck
Gary

[BillPa]

Does anyone know where I can rent some for a few days not scotch tape, but go no go gauges in the 243 wssm? I want to install this barrel for good!

If I can sneak in betwix all the "headspace" going on here, you can rent gauges from 4D.
http://www.4-dproducts.com/displayitem.php?rowid=63&tname=rental

Bill

[sharpshooter]

Getting back to the OP... is this by any chance on a standard shank barrel?

[J.Baker]

There, not that all the nonsense has been eliminated and maybe this thread can get back on track.

[Mr.wiggle]

No It is a large shank!

[sharpshooter]

Well, it happens on large shank barrels also, to a lessor extent. What happens is the barrel expands with the case, when it contracts the barrel contracts back to original size, but the brass doesn't. It just the nature of the beast so to speak with the WSSM's. I would guess that the threads in your receiver are just slightly larger than the original action that you had the barrels on before. Like I said before, if you mic the case heads, the factory brass should be .555". I'll bet that fired cases are running closer to .557". This is just sheer pressure expanding the case head, although it shows no signs of pressure on the primer.
I know this first hand from R&D when the super shorts first came out. I have lots of data dealing with pressure vs. barrel length. I had some really high hopes for these shorties, but ended up very disappointed.