7.62X54r Chamber issue

[Blanco]

Need some help or advice on this one, and I figured someone on here will have an answer.
I purchased a very abused Mosin Nagant sportster conversion several years ago. It was one of the saddest rifles I have ever laid eyes on. I also happen to like just that type of gun project. Lets just say it had the ugliest paint job (camo ) I have ever seen.
I purchased this as a cheap fun to shoot rifle and after a bit of work it is a bit more respectable. I have been shooting the surplus steel cased ammo thru it just because it is cheap.
The last time I had it out to shoot one of the rounds got stuck after firing. I used a brass rod to knock the stuck case loose from the muzzle end. I gave it a good scrubbing afterwards and all appeared good. The problem now is that there is mark appearing on the shoulder of fired ammo. This is a small dent. I loaded a brass cased dummy round and eased the bolt closed. the mark is appearing at the 3-O'clock position. I tried it several times and even a live steel case. Always the same result of a small ding at the 3:00 position
So I have gone back and scrubbed the chamber numerous times and used solvents and cleaners with chamber brushes....and its still there.
At this point I am considering purchasing a chamber reamer to clean this up. As I said this was a cheap rifle. I have a grand total of $125 invested in the rifle which is about what the reamer costs. Any ideas or suggestions?
152764

[1johnlb]

Have you tried shining a light in the chamber and looking for The culprit. Its probably a piece of trash stuck, that you could possibly dislodge with a long flat tip screwdriver.

[nagantguy]

Reamer is an option, as Johnlb said, could well be a piece of crud in there, had one once with a very small piece of sperated case in the chamber, so tight so small that you could chamber a round, needed a rubber mallet to open it once fired. Believe it or not I'm I'm the market for just such a rifle, or a action for some more experimentation. Hate cutting up and chopping nice original examples luckily the "bubba" that seems to have a relative in everytown, has kept me with less that pristine examples to plan mad scientist with.

[Ballistics in Scotland]

That or rust. You could plug the throat carefully and try naval jelly or dilute hydrochloric acid to see if they would remove it. Or file a piece of that brass rod to a chisel tip, just a bit longer than the length from rear of the action to shoulder, and see if you can chisel the object loose. Or shorten and bell-mouth a case with a sharp edge, so that the chamber shoulder swages it back to its regular shape as it is forced home either by closing the bolt or by hammering. I don't believe even a steel military case will do any harm as long as it is smoothly sharpened and of a length that will press firmly against the shoulder alone.

There is no telling what sort of scrap might have been used to make wartime Mosin-Nagant barrels with the enemy at the gate. It could be that there is a chip of possibly unannealable tool steel embedded in the barrel steel from the time it was forged. About all I can see working with this is to solder a metal rod into a case and use it as a rotary lap with fine grinding paste, keeping the stuff to the shoulder as much as possible. This would be a desperate measure with a really valuable barrel, but worth trying with a £125 one.

[leebuilder]

Plus one on all above. I would not put a reamer up there. Like BOS said could be any thing. Get a good look and assess and ask us. Two case come to mind, my buddy handed me a 12ga sinlge shot said it would not exract, culprit stove paint he used to paint the barrel, a small bead had seeped into the chamber and stayed there for years easy fix scraped it out with my swiss army knife and he was good to go. Second a common problem here, spruce needles in the chamber of a Browning BLR, it did not mark the casings but made cycling the action rough and extracton hard after fireing, soaked some eds red for an evening and used an old surplace M1 chamber brush to scub it clean.
i can only assume it will be an easy fix, could you split a casing sideways and lift out the obstruction just a thought. Or scrub out with wire gause as they did back in the day.
be safe

[Hardcast416taylor]

You could try putting a plug in the muzzle and filling the barrel and chamber with a bore cleaner wile the rifle is standing upright. Leave this for several days then clean with wire brushes.

I bought a `Bubbaed` 98 Mauser at a pawn shop for $106 a few years back. The dolt who did the camo paint job used some sort of enamel paint that didn`t seem to ever cure dry, it is still tacky wet several years later. He also painted the inletting then screwed the barreled action in it. I needed a 3# dead blow hammer to get them apart! The action had been drilled and tapped professionly as well as having William`s open sights installed. In doing the paint removal from the outside of the action I discovered that this was/had been a Brno Mauser before it was butchered. I finished sportering it and now have a `nail driver` of a rifle.Robert

[Blanco]

I have plugged the barrel and soaked in Ed's overnight. I scrubbed it well with a large nylon brush afterwards. It did not help any...
I am going to assume that it is a sliver off one of the steel cases that got in there. it will slightly mark steel cases, so it is fairly hard.
I do have some copper chore boy I could wrap on a brush and run in there? If that does not work is there anyone that would like to share the expense of a finish reamer? I think I might need to use it 1 time .....

[LAGS]

Have you done a chamber casting ?
I had one once, that had something stuck on the shoulder.
I took an Unfired, Unprimed case and soldered it to a brass rod, and used it as a Chamber Lap with Semi chrome polish.
I dont know what was in the chamber, but it polished out.

[Ballistics in Scotland]

If it marks the case it is likely to mark the chamber cast enough to obscure what it is. You might get a better idea of what's there by lightly oiling the chamber and pressing to the spot some car body filler on a wooden spatula, which will just lift out when it is hardened.

[Mk42gunner]

I don't think you need a chamber reamer since it really sounds to me like something got stuck to the side of the chamber. I would try using a case fired in your chamber as a lap, coated with jeweler's rouge to see if it doesn't clean up.

First though, I would try soaking the chamber with your favorite snake oil for a week or so, then use a chamber brush to scrub it good.

I've got an M44 that seems to have a shortish chamber, sometimes a round will chamber effortlessly, sometimes it won't. No marks on the cases, and the chamber looks clean. Of course the numbers don't match so who knows?

I gave less than $100 for the gun, so I can't really see putting much money into it.

Robert

[Blanco]

I got an AR chamber brush and wrapped it in copper chore boy. Used a drill and ran it slow for about 5 minutes. I plugged it and filled it with ED's Red again. I will have a look at it again in the morning

[Blanco]

IF .. I were to get a chamber reamer would I be able to run the reamer through the action? Or would the barrel have to come off??

[Tedly]

I would recommend polishing the chamber with a wooden split rod made from hardware dowel stock , and some fine Scotch Brite. Use alittle WD 40....The idea is to polish the shoulder and rear ward. DO NOT polish so long or hard that you change the shape of the chamber...this should do it...Use an electric drill and keep the rpm's under control...if this doesn't do it , replace the Scotch Brite with some #400 or #600 Wet-o-Dry 3M paper and some WD 40 ...TAKE IT EASY , polish alittle , check for mark with fresh case...keep this polishing rod/abrasive out of the neck and rifling...HTH...or take it to a gunsmith

[Ballistics in Scotland]

If this had been an expensive rifle, a gunsmith is the way to go, and let him decide whether to risk damaging his chamber. If he doesn't already have one (and chambering for the 7.62x54 is uncommon) you will find yourself paying for quite a bit of its cost, damaged or not. He may well, though, have a borescope, which will give a good view of just what is wrong. But with a $125 rifle the economics change quite a bit.

A piece of metal or rust would take a fairly vigorous abrasive to remove. Jeweller's rouge is designed to polish soft metals without blurring sharp edges and engraving, and besides being very fine indeed it actually is rust, which won't cut it to speak of.

[LAGS]

Blanco.
I bought a chamber reamer years ago and an extension T handle and it will fit thru the back of the action to trim out the chamber.
No need to Pull the barrel just to clean up a chamber, but dont over do it and increase the headspace.
Suggestion, Buy at least a No-Go or Field headspace gage just to do your own checking.
I have used the reamer to clean out Carbon , Fouling and Cosmoline that was cooked on in the chambers.
I bought it for use on one rifle somewhere back in the '80's, I still have it, and have used it as recently as a month ago.
MN's are or where addictive when they use to be cheap.
So I am sure you will get good use out of the Reamer.
There are lots of guys with, hard bolt opening issues that a reamer could clear up for them in short order, and the reamer could pay for itself in nothing flat.

[Blanco]

I got an AR chamber brush and a bit of copper chore boy, just enough to wrap the big end. I connected the cleaning rod to a drill and ran it slowly for several minutes. Then flushed with some Ed's
Here is the interesting part... I marked a steel case on the shoulder with a marker and chambered it. No mark on the case this time !
So ... thinking I might have fixed the issue I made up a new brass dummy case. Tried it again and no cigar...
I am still getting a dent I the brass. The reamer is looking better all the time.

[Tedly]

Reamer may or may not work....maybe something hard enough to chip/not ream out...try polsihing per my instructions using 320 to 400 grit wet-o-dry paper...HTH

[KLR]

I'm not suggesting a method to solve your problem, but I just noticed that Midway has a sale on this reamer:
http://www.midwayusa.com/product/278188/ptg-solid-pilot-chamber-finish-reamer-762x54mm-rimmed-russian-762x53mm-rimmed#ReviewHeader

[LAGS]

If I were you, I would Cast the chamber and see what is actually making the dent.
I would hate to see it had a Heat Crack in the front of the chamber.
With the effort you have put into cleaning the rifle, it has to be a chip sticking up that has been there since the rifle was new.
Only a reamer will take that out, but do it VERY SLOWLY and only turn the reamer in a Clockwise direction with Very Light Pressure, or you will chip the reamer.
I would think that you would not see a dent on a chambered case, but would see one on a fired case .
Also, I take it you are cambering the round directly into the Chamber and not feeding it out of the magazine.
The Feed ears on the front of the magazine, if the magazine sits too deep into the receiver can cause one or two dents on the shoulder when feeding from the magazine.

BTW, what about Renting a Reamer?
There are places that do that by mail.
I am sure others can point you in the right direction for those.

[Ballistics in Scotland]

I would want to know there was nothing but normal barrel steel in there before renting a reamer, or joining together with someone else to buy one.

[nicholst55]

If you decide to try a reamer, by all means RENT one!

[webfoot10]

Sounds like burned on lacquer from the steel cased ammo. I had a 91/30 that did the same thing. Locked a steel case
in the chamber. I was able to knock the case out after soaking the action in solvent overnight. It would not chamber a
new round because of the burned on lacquer that formed on the shoulder of the chamber. I had to soak the chamber in
acetone to get it to come out, I used a 32 cal. stainless steel torpedo brush to get the lacquer out and it still took a weeks
worth of brushing and soaking to get it clean. Like I said I think it might be baked on lacquer causing the trouble . The
pieces I scraped out were hard as steel. Hope you get it clean.
webfoot10

[CHeatermk3]

Blanco, your OP said "the last time I had it out...", right? So your Mosin developed this issue after it had not been deforming priorly?

If so, then +1 on the Lacquer theory. I'ts what I thought when I read your 1st post.