Expert opinions wanted on chamber problem

Interesting read, thanks for posting. To give you guys an update on this situation I still have not heard back from them after I let them know I wasn't satisfied with their repair.

The rifle is a Cooper 56 with a tan cerakote finish. I have heard that Cooper took care of their customers but it does not appear to be the case with me. The customer service rep was Shirley. I might try sending my complaint to another rep to see if they react differently. Maybe Shirley has been out of the office, and the gunsmith assigned to my rifle is just a dipstick, so I'll give them another chance. For now they are just blowing this off like its no big deal. The rifle does shoot okay despite the crappy chamber but the resale value of this gun is probably shot to heck if they won't replace the barrel.

Contact your State Attorney General or Your State Consumer Protection Agency. If you file a complaint with them, Send a copy of the pictures you posted here on the forum with your complaint, Or what ever they request to start your complaint.

Did you pay a deposit or pay for the gun with a credit card? Some credit cards have a warranty or guarantee on items purchased with the card. Be worth checking if you used a credit card in this transaction.

Good Luck in getting this problem to your satisfaction.

Tell them it's being discussed on the internet but never tell them where . It may just convince them to rebarrel it . Make sure you get the same quality barrel as you paid for originally . Never use them ever again .

I doubt a dull reamer would do that much, and a dull reamer often leaves a better finish.
Like JE stated, it looks like the wrong spindle speed, and an idiot cutting the chamber.
The dead give away here is that there is not just a couple of lines on the surface, but just about one for every flute. This tells me two things right away. Lack of lube on the cutting area of the reamer and the flutes probably quit cutting because they were so loaded up with shavings. Probably used the wrong cutting fluid as well.

What I would do; is to send it back and ask for a complete refund. Of course they'll say no! Your best bet is to do a .38" barrel setback, and recut the chamber by hand using a rough cut reamer and then removing the last .005" by hand. Keep the reamer clean, and keep your cutting fluid as clean as possible. Dirty cutting fluid leaves marks as well.
gary

Pics of that chamber reminds me of a rifle I had years ago, an H&K model 91. It had flutes in the chamber that made extraction easier, but it ruined the cases, making resizing virtually impossible. Great for a battle rifle when you want flawless performance, but not so desirable in a rifle that will be used for hunting, and reloading the brass is a necessity.
I was able to resize the cases, but it took a little extra time. I had to unscrew the sizing die about half-way, then insert the lubed case into it by raising the ram. I then lowered the ram removing the case from the die. I then screwed the die down about two turns, then raised the ram again with the shell case being sized a little more. I did this until the case was completely resized, but it took about 60 seconds to resize each case. A major PITA. I quit reloading for it.

I hope you can get some satisfaction in your situation. You can always reload your brass using the time consuming method I mentioned above, but with a $3000 rifle, you demand and deserve perfection. Should be no other way.

Good luck

It is impossible to equate the total cost of a rifle built by a manufacturer in terms of quality to one built by the typical accuracy smith.

For example:

Say a well know semi custom rifle builder "Company X" builds tactical style 50BMG rifles for $12,000. The semi custom built by "Company X" will look very good but when you disassemble and examine by gauges and micrometers you will find a few compromises. What you get out of the box from "Company X" is a rifle built by team of hourly employees watching the clock because production is at least as important as ultimate quality. They have a pretty wide range of what is "good enough". The bigger the company the worse this becomes as a problem. On this assembly line as soon as the parts go down the line that is the end of the control on what happens farther down the line. When you call you will very likely not be able to find out who worked on the part in question. A bigger company has much higher overhead, taxes, support employees, and all sorts of overhead driving the price of this rifle including a specific amount of profit.

The typical accuracy smith can build that exact same rifle including the exact same if not better parts for around $5000. For $5000 you get a rifle with the exact same parts. Built by one guy to painstaking close tolerances on every machining procedure right down to the bedding and coating. There should be no room for improvement inside and out. If there is any questions you should be able to talk directly to the guy that built or assembled every aspect of your rifle. His overhead and production costs are a fraction of the manufacturer. The cost disparity is actually much greater because the bigger this company is the cheaper they can obtain the parts. Further driving the difference in quality for your dollar. If there is a flaw found it get's taken care of or risks just one review going far and wide destroying his reputation.

correct a sharp sharp reamer will sometimes chatter bad, we run into this all the time at the machining centers where I work, the guys just make an offset run the reamer in a little deeper and dull it slightly, chatter disappears

I'm sorry to hear that. I had a new 700 about two years ago and it had some unidentifiable issue with the barrel that caused a loss of 300 fps. I sent it back, they did about the same thing as what you got. Didn't fix it so I sent it back again with a properly worded letter stating the issues and I wanted a refund. They sent the gun back with a new barreled receiver and it shoots just fine now. If Copper can't do that but Remington can, it's a sad day. Just a thought, the manufacture probably only cares about it shooting, not if you can reload it or not.

Seconds on trying different case lubes. It would be a cheep fix if you found one to work better than another.

Any new information of the outcome of this problem?

LoneTraveler said:

Any new information of the outcome of this problem?

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I haven't been on the forums much lately but I did finally get this issue resolved. When I got no replies by email I decided to call Cooper directly. The receptionist said she would transfer me to customer service, but I said no way. I wanted to talk to somebody higher up the food chain. After my conversation with the manager he sent me a UPS label and I shipped the gun out. It took a while, but a few months later I received the gun back with a brand new barrel and fresh cerakote on everything. It shoots and extracts fine, and the chamber is nice and smooth. I haven't had time to do a full load workup yet but its showing promise.

I think Cooper was hesitant to rebarrel this gun because of the cerakote. They did eventually make it right though. Thanks again to all those who offered advice.

Great News !!!!!

J E CUSTOM

morning, listen JE Custom. do not repair, alter or do any
repairs to ur rifle. if the builder will not repair the damage.
which is very noticeable. u have picture of the unfinished
chamber. question what state r u in? contact
[email protected]. this is Pete Phiefer,
Hempstead, TX. talk to him. he is very good. or
have JECustom remind a very good smithy. then
let the info on the builder out of the bag on every
gun site u know. do not get mad get even.
I am old and grumpier.
justme gbot tum

J E Custom said:

Great News !!!!!

J E CUSTOM

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Agree ... and resolved in a civil manner as you noted.