match chamber or not?

[Idaho Hunter]

I am having a 300 RUM built by my gunsmith and he asked me if I wanted a match chamber or a standard chamber cut into my rifle. The rifle is going to be a dedicated hunting rifle, But I'm not sure what one do go with. I have never had a rifle built before and have only shot stock or semistock rifles.

Any info would be appreciated

Thanks
Chris

[Franklin]

I'm not sure exactly what he means by that. Usually smiths ask if you want a standard chamber or one with a tight neck. With a tight neck the smith will let you know what he cut it too and then you have to turn the necks on your brass to chamber them. If your going to use a bushing style die to form your cases then this is a good thing as you need all your brass necks to be the same thickness to use this die to it's full extent. In a hunting gun it's not necessary and you can have a great shooting rifle, but a tight neck can give a little more accuracy at the expense of more brass prep.

[BountyHunter]

Could be one of two things

1. Chamber that is just min SAAMI specs that will still fit factory ammo

2. Could be min SAAMI with tight neck. Chances are you do not want this for a pure hunting gun. Factory ammo will not fit.

You need him to clarify what he is talking about.

BH

[trueblue]

I think it would be #`1 on BH's list, but you better make sure or you will be turning necks. A match chamber that gives you .004 over loaded diameter of neck is fine for a precision hunting rifle.

[Idaho Hunter]

Thanks for all the info, It helped. I'll talk to my gunsmith today and see what he has to say.

[Michael Eichele]

I have 2 'match' chambers. Neither of them require any neck turning. They are very snug. This allows for the brass to expand VERY LITTLE. This will do 2 things.

1: It will allow your brass MUCH longer life.

2: Pressure will be higher. This will cause you to have to use reduced handloads to get safe pressures. This doesnt meen that you cant run max velocity potential, just that it will take less powder to get there.

That said, you may not be able to use factory ammo in a 'match' chamber with a short throat even though they will fit as the pressures can be too high. If you want to run factory ammo, you will need a full SAMMI spec chamber AND a decent amount of freebore. If you only want to hand load, the tighter chamber and short throat may be the best option. However, I would also have you follow the other posts advice and double check with your smith about just exactly what he meens. Unless you are building a bech gun, you do not need a tight neck chamber. When it comes to accuracy, tight necks are HIGHLY over-rated in the first place.

[BountyHunter]

Originally Posted by Michael Eichele

I

2: Pressure will be higher. This will cause you to have to use reduced handloads to get safe pressures. This doesnt meen that you cant run max velocity potential, just that it will take less powder to get there.

That said, you may not be able to use factory ammo in a 'match' chamber with a short throat even though they will fit as the pressures can be too high. If you want to run factory ammo, you will need a full SAMMI spec chamber AND a decent amount of freebore. If you only want to hand load, the tighter chamber and short throat may be the best option. However, I would also have you follow the other posts advice and double check with your smith about just exactly what he meens. Unless you are building a bech gun, you do not need a tight neck chamber. When it comes to accuracy, tight necks are HIGHLY over-rated in the first place.

Michael

1. First I ever heard of having to reduce powder due to min SAAMI chamber and I have or had 15-20+ of them, reamers to go with most. Most will go over what is listed as max powder to and safely. That is what most "match" chambers are unless they are also tight neck, which has nothing to do with the body dimensions and length of throat.

Plus I have never seen anything ever written about that. Where did you find that at?

2. If any chamber has a short throat, it may not load some factory brass and that means you are jamming way into the lands and have hard closing. that is a given problem with any chamber. However, if you have a chamber like that it is poorly designed period and has nothing to do with min SAAMI.

Reamer mftrs will make any reamer you want, but they all are very capable of putting out "standard" minimum SAAMI chambers that will fit any normal factory round and not cause high pressures. When you call and talk to them, that is the type they will normally recommend unless you are an experienced wildcatter and want something out of the ordinary. They will do that too.

They will also discuss the type and weight of bullet you want to match the freebore. A reamer built specifically for a 30 cal 125 Btip touching the lands will not even chamber a 210 VLD.

Sounds like someone gave you slightly short throated chambers if you are running into that issue and that is another problem on its own.

BH