Bought braked rifle, bullets keyholing!

[J E Custom]

Originally Posted by sambo3006

I picked up a rifle on gunbroker. Seller said in auction that he would provide the name of gunsmith to winning bidder, he never did. Long story short, I bore sighted and couldn't get on paper at all. Came back the next day with more ammo and finally got on a great big piece of cardboard at 50 yards. Only problem is that the bullet went through sideways. This was a 30 cal 200 gr AB out of a 1 in 10" twist barrel. I figured that the muzzle brake might have been installed incorrectly and the bullet was kissing it on the way out so I took it off and proceeded to keyhole another bullet!
I called the guy and he gave me the runaround but that is another story. He has been given an "F" feedback by the way. I figured it just needed to be recrowned but when I threaded the brake back on I could see that it was wobbling around. Looks like The threads and all need to be chopped off and the barrel recrowned. It didn't kick too bad without the brake so I probably won't spend the money to have it rethreaded.
Does that sound like the next step or are there any other possible causes of the horrible keyholing? I'm sending it to a gunsmith who does barrel and brake work and he is going to check everything out. Looking to take the lemon I got and make it into lemonade!

Thanks!

Sam

With only .020 thousandths clearance through the brake if it wobbles when screwed on
my guess would be that the break is the problem.

I had The same thing on a rifle that I bought for a don,er . when I unscrewed the break
it was badly out of alignment and upon closer inspection the barrel had been threaded with
a die nut instead of on a lathe. the guy had done it himself and screwed it up so he sold
it to me for next to nothing.

While looking at it I noticed the copper fouling in the break and knew there was a problem
but did not need the barrel or the break and ended up with a very good action and stock.

One other possibility is that the "smith" screwed up and installed the wrong barrel. I know
it sounds impossible but I was ask to check out a friends rifle that he bough from a gun shop
and found it had a bore dia. of .312 instead of .308. and after he confronted the gun shop
owner he said it had a like new military barrel but he though it was a 30 cal.

With a 1 in 10 it should work with the break off. so it will be interesting what the problem
really is so please let us know.

J E CUSTOM

[sambo3006]

It keyholed with the brake off also. It is a 1 in 10" twist but I haven't checked the bore diameter although I had thought about it. It is over at my FFL's house right now waiting to go to a gunsmith but I might have him check the bore if he is able.

[sambo3006]

Originally Posted by J E Custom

One other possibility is that the "smith" screwed up and installed the wrong barrel. I know
it sounds impossible but I was ask to check out a friends rifle that he bough from a gun shop
and found it had a bore dia. of .312 instead of .308. J E CUSTOM

We have a winner!
The stinking bore diameter is .338! The necks of the fired cases measure around .350 OD, right between the OD's of fired .308 and .338 cases and if you look close you can see the faint impression of rifling on the outside of the neck. What we have is a .338 blank that was reamed with a .300 RUM reamer, so there is no throat.
I managed to track down the gunsmith no thanks to the seller. He was very appologetic and offered to make it right. It is packed up to ship off right now. The brake which was put on later has a 30 cal orifice. I'm going to get it opened up to .338 and assuming the barrel is okay it will be set back and rechambered to 338 RUM.
Unbelievable. I guess sooner or later you will see it all. I'm just glad it was figured out and no chunks of brake came off! From now on I am going to verify chamber and bore diameter on any used custom I purchase. I'll update with how it shoots when I get it back.

[JUDD]

Now thats quality control....I gotta say I wouldn't have the warm and fuzzy bout sending it back to the same smith to get it fixed...I would try to get the money and send it elswhere

Thank god you figured out the problem before anything bad happened..Good luck

[bigngreen]

Originally Posted by JUDD

Now thats quality control....I gotta say I wouldn't have the warm and fuzzy bout sending it back to the same smith to get it fixed...I would try to get the money and send it elswhere

Thank god you figured out the problem before anything bad happened..Good luck

+1
How can you screw up that bad, I would think that the smith would have to check the bore diameter at some point, like say choosing a pilot for the reamer or when boring out the brake. WOW good luck!
I was sent the wrong barrel for a 40-65 rolling block and I noticed it while I was inspecting the barrel with a micrometer, just to check it out before doing any work to it and making it nonreturnable.

[Chas1]

Wow you are lucky very lucky it could have turned ugly. I'm curious did you bother to ask the smith why he didn't test fire and if he did how come he didn't see there was a problem...In all likelihood it probably wasn't test fired. if your quite sure the seller new this or new something was seriously wrong with the rifle then I'll go back to what I said in an earlier post...Care to mention a name so the rest of us have a heads up/buyer beware on the seller? Also, if you are going to send back to the original smith then I'd make sure he knows you want him to test fire and provide you with the results.

[jmden]

Wow. Sambo, I'm glad you're OK and that you got if figured out. That is hard to believe. Keep us updated.