E. A. Brown Accuracy Barrel

[Deleted member 8840]

They must have a match reamer that has a smaller specs than normal and yes they needed to polish the chamber. You can use JB bore paste. After doing that you may have to turn the necks down.

 

[SMK1000plus]

You might have missed my post just above yours. Jump up one from your post...

I did. You beat me to the punch. You posted your message as I was in the process of composing and posting mine.

 

[kmilner65]

This is my cut/paste of my review I just submitted.

Why bring it here? Because they will never publish it on their Web site.


"The barrel was very accurate, but I was having trouble spent cases out of the chamber. These cases were fired up to 8 times in my previous barrel. That barrel had some home gunsmithing done on it, that was why I replaced it.

Once I was home from the range I removed the barrel and tried it in another acton with once fired Lapua brass from a Gunwerks rifle. It too hung in the chamber, so I removed the barrel to test the brass in just the chamber. It hung as well.

Returned the barrel to EA Brown. The owner Mr E Brown emailed me that I must use Virgin brass, that loaded Virgin ammo and empty brass worked fine. When they called to arrange to send the barrel back to me, I ask to speak to him again.

During that conversation he got externally angry after I mentioned using once fired brass in many different rifles. I was so angry that I could no longer understand what he was saying. Then he hung up on me! I had to call back to arrange to have my barrel returned.

I told the very sweet young lady on the phone that I will never buy anything from them again and that I will openly advertise how I was treated"

I told a buddy of mine when I spike to him about returning my barrel that he was very cocky and reminded me of an archery shop owner that we had delt with in the past. I did business with that man for over 40 years. He and I were good friends, so I know how to deal with this type personality .

After I mentioned using once fired range brass in more than a dozen rifles and knew many others who did as well....some of the last words I could understand before his phone started breaking up was..."so your call me a lier?" There was 20 seconds of unrecognizable jiberish before me screaming and cussing at him (I have a short fuse when pushed) to get him to stop.

I told him "no, I'm not calling you a lier, im just stating a fact that I use once fired brass in many rifles!"

CLICK!

So what is your opinion on using once fired brass?

Will I have issues with a custom rifle if I tried to use once fired brass?

I have sold quite a lot here and have a bunch now that I need to get out of my reloading area...so far not one complaint!

I have been a gunsmith for 35 years now, built many custom rifles, and ironically fixed several of the above mentioned chambers. When using once fired brass I always suggest you full length size the first time in the chamber. After that the brass fire forms to that chamber and you should only need to trim and neck size for the most part. Once fired brass is great, inspect it, make sure it is safe, keep it clean, band use it often, it is a huge savings.

 

[SMK1000plus]

They must have a match reamer that has a smaller specs than normal and yes they needed to polish the chamber. You can use JB bore paste. After doing that you may have to turn the necks down.

Not necessarily smaller than normal but, worn/dull and with chips in the flutes. The rings on the spent case are typically caused by gouging from an uneven or chipped flute(s). That along will cause brass to get stuck in the chamber after firing. Trying to polish out rings that bad may well cause on over-diameter chamber. It may affect accuracy or require fire-forming cases for good accuracy.

CaptnC: I would really push EA Brown to replace the barrel. Don't be bashful about letting him know you have an active thread on the matter, posted on a major forum!

IF that fails, then I would probably just rechamber the barrel to an Ackley Improved. That should eliminate the chamber issue and give you a little extra case capacity while still allowing for factory ammunition use. Just a suggestion...

 

[Deleted member 8840]

I agree!

 

[bigngreen]

A 6.5x284 can be extremely tight, most chamber specs out there come out of a time when tight specs were the norm, of many of the chamberings out there this is one that I would not run brass fired from another chamber, hard to comment on the chamber finish without a picture especially since its not virgin brass. A 6.5x284 is one chambering their is no way I'd run once fired brass from another gun!! Most resize reamers out there for this chambering will not size down far enough to get brass from a generous chamber size to function in a match spec chamber, been down this road!!

 

[Deleted member 8840]

New barrel new brass is a good thing. What was the problem with the old barrel, why the new barrel?

 

[SMK1000plus]

If you do decide to just polish the chamber...

I use a new brass case in the appropriate cartridge. I drill out the primer pocket and tap it with a 10-32 thread. Be sure it is drilled and tapped centered! I cut the case off just as the shoulder starts to roll away from the body, to ensure that I don't open the case neck or throat area, or change the chamber's headspace. Leave just enough shoulder to ease insertion into the chamber. Screw in a 18" 10-32 threaded rod with a locknut and lock the case to the rod. I also use loctite. If the opening in the case mouth is large enough, I install a lock nut inside the case as well. I chuck the rod and case assembly in a low speed portable drill and coat the brass with JB Compound. It is non-embedding and fairly mild. Polish the chamber for about 10 minutes then clean it and visually check your progress. Repeat until the chamber looks smooth. You may need to make a second or even a third polish case to replace the worn one as you go. When the chamber looks good, verify with a range trip. Repeat process as necessary until your spent brass comes out of the chamber smooth and extracts easily...

 

[CaptnC]

New barrel new brass is a good thing. What was the problem with the old barrel, why the new barrel?

It was a Savage factory pull off. So it was only 24" and had a thin profile. It shot great, but I'm not a thin profile kind of guy.

Just so happened that EA Brown sells 26" varmint profile barrels at a good price. They claim they are turned in house, the reviews are good (we shall see if mine gets posted) unless they cherry pick the reviews. I like doing business with small family owned businesses. That's why I alway did business with the family owned archery shop. The owner was arrogant as hell, but I knew that and it was no issue.

My bigest gripe is how he flew off the handle when I told him I use once fired brass in many guns. He was yell so incoherently the phone wouldn't even pick up on what he was yelling!

 

[CaptnC]

A 6.5x284 can be extremely tight, most chamber specs out there come out of a time when tight specs were the norm, of many of the chamberings out there this is one that I would not run brass fired from another chamber, hard to comment on the chamber finish without a picture especially since its not virgin brass. A 6.5x284 is one chambering their is no way I'd run once fired brass from another gun!! Most resize reamers out there for this chambering will not size down far enough to get brass from a generous chamber size to function in a match spec chamber, been down this road!!

You nearly quote some of what he told me....

Do you happen to work or own E A Brown EABCO?

 

[bigngreen]

Freaking out isn't good BUT as a gunsmith the numbers of time guys have issues because of once fired brass is ridiculous, it's especially compounded in a match 6.5x284, I open mine up just a little because of clickers even with brass fired in the new chamber.

 

[Deleted member 8840]

It's to bad they treated you that way. I have purchased several barrel's from them and had no problems. Even the same caliber. I wish I had the barrel and the brass in front of me. It's hard to know what's going on.

 

[CaptnC]

.
CaptnC: I would really push EA Brown to replace the barrel. Don't be bashful about letting him know you have an active thread on the matter, posted on a major forum!

Trust me, this is not the first time I have done something like, on the Internet with a company.

Go to "The Hull Truth" boating forum and look up my handle there. Check both "CaptnC" and "Captn C" both of those are registered to me. I signed documents, so I can't say too much.
In my signature line there is a link to the thread I'm referring to. So you can look it up your self.

 

[CaptnC]

It's to bad they treated you that way. I have purchased several barrel's from them and had no problems. Even the same caliber. I wish I had the barrel and the brass in front of me. It's hard to know what's going on.

They blued the chamber, so it is easy to see all the little ridges. If I knew I was going to have an issue I would have take a picture of it. I paid extra to get the barrel back as quick as I could. So when it arrives I will be posting photos of the chamber....I hope they return the brass I sent. The broke off jag is still in the case I had the most trouble getting out. This case was pushed by hand and was not even a loaded round, just full length sized.

Also...this is a Savage prefix barrel...somebody ask...