Possible head space issues

[ACLakey]

Last year I had a barrel put on my Savage 12 action chambered in .223AI and it has never shot all that well. With extensive load development, bedding and a recrowning job the best I can get it to do is a 1" average at 100 yards. I picked up a neck sizing die and ran some brass through it and found that they would not chamber(could not close the bolt). That got me thinking that possibly there is a head space issue. If I FL resize the brass the rifle chambers just fine. Any thoughts? Possible solutions?

 

[CAhunter]

If its a savage why not just order yourself a set of GO/NO GO gauges and set the headspace yourself.. Thats is what I would do.

 

[rick smith]

Does your neck die have an expander ball? If so remove the ball, size a piece of brass and try it in your chamber. Another thing to check is how far down the neck the die is sizing. Some neck dies will hit the shoulder and can cause a slight buldge at the junction of the body/shoulder. Smoke the neck and shoulder, candle works well, of a piece of fired brass and neck size. You should be able to tell how far down the neck is sized.Rick.

 

[ACLakey]

Will do, thanks.

 

[ACLakey]

Ok, I blackened the neck and taper as shown below then neck sized the case as recommended.

It appears as if I have the die set properly as it is sizing the neck with out effecting the shoulder.

I also marked up a neck sized case and put numbers in each quadrant. I started with the number 1 faced up and tried to chamber the brass, then went to the line between 1 and 2 then number 2 up ect.

The results of this little test are as follows

1 - chambered fine
1/2 - bolt pushes home, tough closing bolt
2 - will not allow bolt to push home
2/3 - will not allow bolt to push home
3 - will not allow bolt to push home
3/4 - bolt pushes home, tough to close bolt
4 - bolt pushes home, tough to close bolt
4/1 - chambers fine

It would appear the chamber is either out of round or not square with the bore...any thoughts or suggestions?

 

[ACLakey]

I just called the gunsmith that put the barrel on and he said the threads on the barrel looked as if they were cut a little off center. I asked what he ment and he stated that one the threads on one side of the barrel were deeper than the other......that would have been nice to know. He is retired now for medical reasons and sold the business but is a family friend that always did good work for me in the past. I think that little bit of information explanes a lot of the issues I am seeing. I am going to fire form a bunch of brass with this turd and get a quality barrel for it soon. Thanks all for the help thus far.

 

[rick smith]

Appears you have found the problem. If you use that barrel to fireform, all the brass it will produce off center brass that may/may not fit properly in a new barrel.Rick.