Update on braked rifle, bullets keyholing

[sambo3006]

For those of you who read my previous thread about bullets keyholing from a newly acquired rifle, here is an update as I'd rather not bring the old thread back up to the first page.
The rifle was supposedly a 300 Ultramag and turned out to be a 338 barrel blank that was chambered with a 300 Ultramag reamer. After much stress and grief, I finally got in touch with the gunsmith who originally did the work (actually done by a person no longer employed by that gunsmith). He has ordered a 30 cal select match SS blank from Shilen as was originally intended for the rifle. He is going to rebarrel the rifle correctly and gave me assurances that he is personally going to do all the work. At this point, we are just waiting on the blank from Shilen. I'm certainly happy that there is a resolution in sight but I'll still be holding my breath until I actually get the rifle back in my posession and put a couple of hopefully tiny groups down range.
I'll update after I receive the rifle, should be 7 or 8 weeks on the blank according to Shilen.
Thanks for all the input on the previous thread.

Sam

 

[geargrinder]

Good, glad to hear things have worked out.

 

[Chas1]

I remember your original post. Just a reminder...make sure the smith actually test fires it this time before he ships it to you. Hope all works out well for you.

 

[J E Custom]

For those of you who read my previous thread about bullets keyholing from a newly acquired rifle, here is an update as I'd rather not bring the old thread back up to the first page.
The rifle was supposedly a 300 Ultramag and turned out to be a 338 barrel blank that was chambered with a 300 Ultramag reamer. After much stress and grief, I finally got in touch with the gunsmith who originally did the work (actually done by a person no longer employed by that gunsmith). He has ordered a 30 cal select match SS blank from Shilen as was originally intended for the rifle. He is going to rebarrel the rifle correctly and gave me assurances that he is personally going to do all the work. At this point, we are just waiting on the blank from Shilen. I'm certainly happy that there is a resolution in sight but I'll still be holding my breath until I actually get the rifle back in my posession and put a couple of hopefully tiny groups down range.
I'll update after I receive the rifle, should be 7 or 8 weeks on the blank according to Shilen.
Thanks for all the input on the previous thread.

Sam

Sam that is a scary scenario and I would have thought it could not have happen.

I'm glad it was a larger bore instead of a smaller one.

You probably have not hurt the barrel( I have heard of people shooting smaller bullets
in larger bores to fire form them and they said it did not hurt the barrel ) I would never do it
to find out.

Good luck

J E CUSTOM

 

[royinidaho]

Hmmmm, so you were shooting 300 RUM loads in a 338 Edge?

If that ain't a heck of a deal!

Its a wonder that a bullet didn't touch the brake! Brake must be 338 bored?

I've shot several "flash tubes" down the bore with full loads with no negative affects on the barrel or brake. Just good luck following a bad idea, I guess

Glad you have it sorted out.

 

[Eaglet]

Good, glad to hear things have worked out.

GrindingGear, would you not be able to see right away when reaming that something is wrong? Would you not have to be drunk to do that without noticing? Just asking because I've never done it and don't know any better.

 

[Fitch]

For those of you who read my previous thread about bullets keyholing from a newly acquired rifle, here is an update as I'd rather not bring the old thread back up to the first page.
The rifle was supposedly a 300 Ultramag and turned out to be a 338 barrel blank that was chambered with a 300 Ultramag reamer.

Wow. How could that happen? It takes so many errors in a row. One would be "certain" to find out it was the wrong reamer as soon as a) one picked a .300 slug to slug the bore before chambering (mandatory quality check IMO) and it fell through the bore untouched, or b) picked a range rod or deltronic pin or Grizzly rod or <whatever> (and selected the bushing to be a good fit in the bore) to align the bore in the headstock, or c) checked the reamer pilot bushing for fit in the bore, or d) saw the slop0 when starting the reamer into the bore, or e) the rifle was test fired as a (mandatory IMO) quality check.

Five times one is certain to see the mistake and it was missed? Were they all drunk?

I wish you luck in getting a good rifle back ... but if it were me, I'd run a patch thorugh it and check with a borescope to see if it had been fired before I put a round through it. If you know what you are looking at, get a borescope and check the chambering job before shooting it - if not go to a local smith that has a borescope and have him look at it.

Fitch

 

[J E Custom]

GrindingGear, would you not be able to see right away when reaming that something is wrong? Would you not have to be drunk to do that without noticing? Just asking because I've never done it and don't know any better.

Not to answer for GG but the first thing you do before chambering is to check the pilot
fit in the barrel and make adjustments if nessary.

Who ever did it Was "NOT" what I would call a smith. (May have been schooled at the
Sears school of screw ups).

99% of all mistakes are caught buy the smith himself because of check and re check and
then proof firing.

IT should have never happened !!!!!!!!

J E CUSTOM

 

[sambo3006]

Chas1,
It was fired for function. It did not have the brake on it at the time and it apparently went bang just fine. They must not have shot it at a paper target, though.

royinidaho,
It would have been an Edge if it had a throat. The fired casings had a neck diameter that miked right in between a fired 308 cal and a fired 338 cal. If you looked really close you could see faint impressions of the rifling on the case neck. Not really noticeable unless you were looking closely.
The brake has a 30 cal orifice, that is the scary part. The barrel was threaded by the "gunsmith" but the brake was put on later by the orignial purchaser. I can see some copper on the inside of the brake, it is fortunate that the brake held its integrity and didn't send any chunks of bullet or brake back at me.

J E Custom,
I figured the same thing as far as not hurting the bore of the barrel but I am still glad that the owner of the shop is getting a 30 cal blank as I didn't want a 338 Ultra, I thought I was buying a 300 Ultra. He regrets that it got out of his shop even though the mistake was not made by him personally.

This whole ordeal will make for an interesting story down the road but I wish it was someone else's story! lol

 

[geargrinder]

GrindingGear, would you not be able to see right away when reaming that something is wrong? Would you not have to be drunk to do that without noticing? Just asking because I've never done it and don't know any better.

The only series of events that could convince me that it was a simple mistake would be this.

-A solid pilot reamer.
-Small lathe that requires chambering in a steady rest.
-Put the chamber end in the chuck, live center in the muzzle. Turn the muzzle end so that it is concentric with the bore.
-Put the turned muzzle in the chuck, live center in chamber end. Turn enough OD for the Steady rest to ride.
-Now both ends of the barrel are concentric with the bore.
-Swap barrel around. Chamber end in the lathe, muzzle in the steady rest.
-Do all of your crowning and muzzle brake machining
-Swap barrel around. Muzzle end in the lathe, chamber in the steady rest.
-Do all of your chamber side machining and chambering.

The simple mistake that this method wouldn't catch would be checking the bore diameter.

It's a method that would be considered barbaric by any precision minded smith, but would probably be adequate for most average joe hunting rifles.

 

[winmag]

Woah! Glad to see things apear to be addressed and getting corrected!
Are you going to request to be present for the test-fire of your new bbl?
Also what kind of break were you using? You may be one of the luckiest-unlucky guys Ive hered of. Great attitude for the ''funny story down the road'' comment, but WOW.

 

[krlemas]

If the chamber is concentric you could a 338 neck/throating reamer an turn it into a 338/300 Rum. or Edge.

Ken

 

[hammertyme]

Threads like this are in my opinion so incredibly important. For both the new and us old timers that may get into a rut and forget that not all smiths are equal.
1. Bought an old 300H&H Winchester several decades ago. Bought some factory fodder. Pulled the trigger and thought I was going to die. SOmeone had re-chambered to a 300Weatherby and did not mark the barrel.

2. 8 years ago I had a smith friend install a brake on a 338 handgun. First shot, I last saw the brake disappear 100 yards down the range. Someone installed it and forgot to open to over bore I presume. Never found the brake.

Thank you so much for the reminders.

Neal