Bad Cut chamber 5.56 /223

[Ford SD]

I picked up a used 16 in barrel, I was told it only had 100 rounds through it, A friend of a friend, bought 6 months ago
when I picked it up and looked at it and it looked ok
every one around here wants the short barrel so I did not think it anything was wrong with it

only put it in a upper and fired some rounds through it today.
Is it a bad cut chamber ??119243

Notice the circ lines from the shoulder down app 1/4 inch
-- and horazontal lines farther down the case

its visual and you can feel a faint line with a finger nail (not max loads)

what can I do --
1) leave it alone
2) try to polish it out (sand paper/ wooden dowl
3) try to find some one with a reamer and try to clean it up?
4) try to lap it ou using a flsized case and some bore paste
5) replace barrel

thanks in advance

[rmcc]

Find somebody that has a finish reamer and go/no go gauges. They may be able to "dress" the shoulder area. It looks like the factory reamer left a slight ring, dull or for whatever reason.

[akajun]

shoot it, its fine. Its an ar, not a benchrest gun.

[lefty o]

is the barrel chrome lined? if not, personally id find a 223 wylde reamer and use that to clean up the chamber. if its chrome lined, either live with it tearing up your brass, or trash the barrel. if oyu can feel it with your fingernail, its only a matter of time before it leaves the forward part of the casing in the chamber, which can lead to bad things.

[country gent]

Several things could have caused this issue 1st is a short chamber finish cut with a slightly smaller reamer ( match or tight reamer into a service rifle field rough cut chamber). Second is a chip getting bound up instead of flushed out. Occasionally a chip will gauld to the reamers flutes due to insufficent wrong cutting oil causing a ring from the rubbing of the chip. How does the barrel perform accuracy wise? Function? Is it ejecting extracting feeding? To put your mind at ease take 5 or 10 cases load and fire to failure checking for group size along the way. If accuracy and case life is acceptable here I wouldnt worry about it. What make barrel is it? Do you know what chamber it is? Shoot it some running the same cases and see what it does.

[seagiant]

shoot it, its fine. Its an ar, not a benchrest gun.

Hi,
Just shoot it! You should not reload brass(for auto loaders) more than four times anyway. In that amount of reloading nothing is going to happen!

[tomme boy]

The chamber needs polished. Thats it. If it is a chrome lined chamber, forget it.

[akajun]

Hi,
Just shoot it! You should not reload brass(for auto loaders) more than four times anyway. In that amount of reloading nothing is going to happen!
I get 12-15 reloads out of my lc brass in my ar 15 highpower guns . I generally cull the brass because the primer pockets get too loose. Ar's are pretty gentle on brass.
M1/ m14's on the other hand 4-5 and done.

[M-Tecs]

I get 12-15 reloads out of my lc brass in my ar 15 highpower guns . I generally cull the brass because the primer pockets get too loose. Ar's are pretty gentle on brass.
M1/ m14's on the other hand 4-5 and done.

Same for me.

[seagiant]

I get 12-15 reloads out of my lc brass in my ar 15 highpower guns . I generally cull the brass because the primer pockets get too loose. Ar's are pretty gentle on brass.
M1/ m14's on the other hand 4-5 and done.

Hi,
Well...IMO you guys are flying a little low to the ground, but thats your business! Are you trimming? Are you annealing? Mild/max loads? LC brass/commercial?.... A few variables, I guess!

[bruce drake]

If running a 223 Rem finish reamer doesn't clean that chamber up, than I would recommend running a 223 Rem Ackley Improved Finish Reamer in the chamber. It will still allow you to shoot 223 Rem cartridges while providing you a cleaned chamber. And if you decide to reload, than you can either continue to use the 223 Rem die set or go with the 223 Rem AI die set to provide you with the ability to necksize the cases (although as a carbine, I'm sure you aren't shooting XTC matches out to 600 yards.

Here is some data on the 223 Rem AI if you want to read some more on the chambering.
http://www.6mmbr.com/223rem.html (about halfway down the page he starts taking about the 223RemAI. The whole article is an excellent read.
http://rifleshooter.com/2014/01/chambering-a-rifle-for-an-ackley-improved-cartridge/#prettyPhoto/0/

And here is a place to rent the reamer if you need to point your local gunsmith in the right direction.
http://www.reamerrentals.com/SearchResults.asp?Cat=153
And here is a link to a set of dies.
http://www.brownells.com/reloading/reloading-dies/rifle-dies/lee-rifle-2-die-sets-prod54166.aspx?avs|Cartridge_1=AJL_223 Ackley

And of course the rest is up to you. You could clean up the chamber and be up and running with a .223RemAI for about the same as a new 16" barrel in 223 thst can be found here:
http://www.ak47ar15barrels.com/


Bruce

[akajun]

Hi,
Well...IMO you guys are flying a little low to the ground, but thats your business! Are you trimming? Are you annealing? Mild/max loads? LC brass/commercial?.... A few variables, I guess!

my loads are 24.1 gr of reloader 15 behind a 77gr bthp loaded to mag length for 2-300 yds and 24.1 reloader 15 behind a Berger 82 loaded .015 off the lands for 600. Not wimp loads but not pushing the envelope either. No I dont anneal .223, I do trim every reload and I try to use LC brass, but Have used Federal, but only get 7-8 relaods out of it before the primer pockets go.
Most HP shooters using .223's use the same or similar loads and get the same brass life. ar's and .223 is realy easy on brass.

[akajun]

If running a 223 Rem finish reamer doesn't clean that chamber up, than I would recommend running a 223 Rem Ackley Improved Finish Reamer in the chamber. It will still allow you to shoot 223 Rem cartridges while providing you a cleaned chamber. And if you decide to reload, than you can either continue to use the 223 Rem die set or go with the 223 Rem AI die set to provide you with the ability to necksize the cases (although as a carbine, I'm sure you aren't shooting XTC matches out to 600 yards.

Here is some data on the 223 Rem AI if you want to read some more on the chambering.
http://www.6mmbr.com/223rem.html (about halfway down the page he starts taking about the 223RemAI. The whole article is an excellent read.
http://rifleshooter.com/2014/01/chambering-a-rifle-for-an-ackley-improved-cartridge/#prettyPhoto/0/

And here is a place to rent the reamer if you need to point your local gunsmith in the right direction.
http://www.reamerrentals.com/SearchResults.asp?Cat=153
And here is a link to a set of dies.
http://www.brownells.com/reloading/reloading-dies/rifle-dies/lee-rifle-2-die-sets-prod54166.aspx?avs|Cartridge_1=AJL_223 Ackley

And of course the rest is up to you. You could clean up the chamber and be up and running with a .223RemAI for about the same as a new 16" barrel in 223 thst can be found here:
http://www.ak47ar15barrels.com/


Bruce

I dont know if running an AI case in a auto loader is a good idea for reliability.

[seagiant]

Hi,
Interesting! I admit I have not shot the AR platform rifles as much as the M-14. What has happened to me TWICE is the web part of 45 ACP brass blowing out on firing!

This is an interesting occurance because hot gases shoot down the magwell as it literally blows the magazine out and of course your hand holding the pistol takes a shock. Trust me your brain is SLOW processing information and what exactly is happening!

Probably because of these experiences I err on the side of caution and watch brass VERY carefully! At the end of the day everyone has to find their "comfort zone" and act accordingly!