Reworking Savage Barrel and Chamber

I've got a 243 Savage barrel with a gouge in the chamber.

I was able to polish the burs out of it. However the gouge is deep enough it hinders extraction considerably.

The barrel has a target block mounted for a target scope, which I use.

I think my next move is to deepen the chamber. To reuse the target block, I'll need to be able to turn the barrel exactly one or two turns. Threads are 20 per inch.

How hard will that be to deepen with a finish reamer?

How hard will that be to deepen with a finish reamer?

A finish reamer is the appropriate tool. But I would try to determine the depth of the gouge in your chamber before doing any reaming so you will have some idea how deep you will need to move the chamber.

The body taper of the .243 Win is .012" per inch overall, so it's half that for one side. Which means you would need to deepen the chamber by 1/6" (.1667") to increase the radius by .001".

Pull the barrel, center with an indicator in a four jaw chuck, and sweep the gouge with the indicator to measure its depth. If it is very much, you're going to need a new barrel because you will have to deepen the chamber too much.

Sleeve the chamber and ream it ......no need for any setback.....Ive done heaps of sleeve jobs on DP military rifles with cross drilled chambers......After a few shots ,the join is invisible if the job is done accurately.

Haven't taken the barrel to measure, but the brass has about a .001" hump. That's right around .20 I'd have to sink it to get the barrel turns correct.

I was thinking about buying one of the Shaw barrel kits since I don't have a wrench or go gauges. If I booger the original barrel, I'll have a back up. The wrenches and gauges are going to set me back $100 or so alone. I can rent or find a used reamer, maybe.

Do you have a .243 Savage barrel or a Savage chambered in .243 Winchester?
And what model?

I've done work like this on 6.5 Swede Mausers.

Kurt Learning said:

Do you have a .243 Savage barrel or a Savage chambered in .243 Winchester?
And what model?

I've done work like this on 6.5 Swede Mausers.

Click to expand...

I've got a 112v chambered in .243 Winchester.

The job is simple.

Set back the barrel and re-cut the chamber.
If you have the tools, it won't cost anything more than your labor and a few drops of cutting oil.
If you need to purchase tools, you will need the Savage collar wrench set, a lathe, finishing reamer, headspace gauges and a few precision measuring tools.

If you don't wish to purchase all of the above, just take it to a competent gunsmith.
He will likely charge you about half of what the firearm is worth.
You may not consider this good news, but your best friend is one that will tell you the truth.

There are other options, but this is your starting point.

If the damage is only .001/.002....then all thats needed is to lap it out ....make a lap from a fired case split into three or four ,install a drive rod in the primer pocked ,and apply some 400 gr paste......keep the lap wet with kerosine while working ,dont use too much abrasive,and the chamber will be restored in few minutes.

john.k said:

If the damage is only .001/.002....then all thats needed is to lap it out ....make a lap from a fired case split into three or four ,install a drive rod in the primer pocked ,and apply some 400 gr paste......keep the lap wet with kerosine while working ,dont use too much abrasive,and the chamber will be restored in few minutes.

Click to expand...

That won't open the chamber up too much?

In theory, it will increase the diameter by twice the depth of your damage. Without knowing what the current diameter is, we can't determine if it is "too much." But since chamber reamers wear smaller, it is likely your chamber is smaller than maximum. SAAMI does not specify tolerances on cartridges/chamber diameters so I can't help you there.

And you probably don't need to remove the whole groove to eliminate the problem. Measure success by function, not by absence of any trace of the damage.

When I bought this, the burr at the gouge was so bad, I couldn't chamber a round. I got that out with a piece of emery cloth on a stick.

I can get a Shaw kit for $229. It comes with the wrench and Go/No go which I need.
Wrench is $25+
No/no go are $25+ each.
I'll probably buy the kit.
Rent or find a reamer on the cheap.
Attempt to fix the barrel I have.
If it works, I'll sell the Shaw barrel or lay it back incase this one gets shot out.
If it doesn't, I'll install the Shaw Barrel and drill it for a scope block.

I've started into this, and would like some suggestions on how to proceed. I bought a barrel kit and a used finish reamer. My plan is to try to salvage the original barrel by cutting the breech back and re-chambering.

Finally got my barrel off. It was tight. Fashioned some oak jaws and clamped the barrel in a Hydraulic press at 7000 lbs. Then, I was able to get my wrench on and was able to grunt under a 1/2" breaker bar, smack the wrench with a hammer, and finally beat the nut loose. It didn't give all at once either. I had to drive it a couple of revolutions before it gave up. I had soaked Kroil thru it for a few weeks. When it came off, the treads were clean. It was just on tight.

Put the barrel in a collet and clamped it in a lathe headstock and was able to cut the length down .200" (actually 0.195". I'll probably cut another couple .001" off after test fitting the barrel) which should allow me to sink the chamber enough to wash out the gouges that have been giving me an extraction problem.

Here's where I'd appreciate some advice. I've got a 243 reamer, in seemingly good shape. I've already figured out dropping .200" is probably a bridge too far by hand.

What's my best option for deepening the chamber without spending money on a floating reamer holder?

If I throw my barrel back in the headstock, check it's centered, will the existing boring be sufficient to guide the reamer with it chucked up in the tailstock?

Do I need to rig up some type of pusher?

If it goes too far south, I've got a new barrel in the wings.

I would not chuck the reamer in the tailstock. You are relying on perfect alignment if you do so. Since you already have a complete chamber, it will be difficult to misalign the reamer relative to the existing chamber.

Make yourself a flat faced pusher and hold that in the tailstock chuck. Case harden the face so the reamer will not catch on it. Hold the reamer with a small handheld wrench to prevent rotation; the handholding will let the reamer rotate if it gets stuck without breaking the reamer so don't use a long wrench.

Thanks. I'll scratch out a pusher and see what happens.

I think I've finished this project.

The gouge was deeper than anticipated. I had judged depth by the fired cases. So, instead of .200, we ended up taking .400 off. Pushed the reamer with a dead center in the tailstock (blasphemy to some, I'm guessing) in .010 increments. I reamed first .200, then cut the second .200 off the breech and finished it up with the reamer.

Putting it back together took 3 tries before I was able to get the barrel blocks aligned to suit, but the headspace was good all the same.

I've got it back in the 10-ring so I can start working on reloads.

Not benchrest quality, I'm sure, but I think I've got a serviceable minute of prairie dog rifle.

Pushed the reamer with a dead center in the tailstock (blasphemy to some,...

It's OK if things are properly aligned.

Balvar24 said:

Pushed the reamer with a dead center in the tailstock (blasphemy to some, I'm guessing)

Not benchrest quality, I'm sure, but I think I've got a serviceable minute of prairie dog rifle.

Click to expand...

Floating reamer holders are a fairly "recent" development- along with chambering through the headstock. 20-30 years ago, that IS how it was done. I tried every type of pusher imaginable- flat, floating/riding on a ball bearing, yada yada. Always too much chatter, didn't care for them and now they're all sitting in the Kennedy drawer and I've used a Manson floater for years.

Without a floating holder (or pusher)of some sort, I believe it is better to chamber in the steady if bed length allows. Whatever misalignment there might be, spread over the length of the barrel minimizes runout. It's best to turn the muzzle end OD true to the bore first (using a collar if needed), hold it in a collet or set-tru and stick the chamber in a dead center. Set the steady on the threads. I'd stick a DTI in the chamber and check for runout- assuming it was chambered correctly to begin with, shouldn't be more than a couple thou runout at most. If that's the case, I'd drive the reamer with the tailstock without concerns.

If runout is more than that, I'd leave it in the setup and deepen the chamber by hand with a T-handle. Reamers are form cutters- it'll follow the existing chamber as long as you're careful not to "influence" it by hand. This is why most of us pre-bore chambers, aside from saving on reamer wear- making a light pass or two with a boring bar after pre-drilling assures a perfectly concentric hole with which to get the reamer started, and it will follow it.

Just my $.02