Rifle Problem

[Tom W]

I have a 270 Weatherby Magnum that I bought in '74 or '75. I stripped the barrel and had it reblued. I put the barrel back in the stock and remounted the scope to sight it in yesterday. The bolt works fine without a cartridge in the chamber. But when I put a cartridge in the bolt won't close all the way and of course will not lock. The barrel is clear of any obstructions and there is nothing obvious I can see that prevents the bolt from locking. I tried cartridges from two different lot numbers, different weights also, and neither works.

I haven't checked the serial number to certify the barrel is actually the one I sent out, it will probably take at least an hour to find the original paperwork. But I am as sure as I can be that barrel is mine without doing that because when I ordered it I had the factory install Lyman iron sights on it so if I was hunting and the scope yuked-up I could continue to hunt. Not many rifles barrels like this have them.

I plan to bring it to the gunsmith tomorrow. In the meantime can anyone think of what I might have done wrong in reassembling the rifle or where to look to determine what might be wrong?

Thanks,
Tom

[ToUtahNow]

Just for fun double check the stamping on the barrel and make sure it says .270 Weatherby.

Mark

[G3sprinklers]

Did you pull the barrel off of the reciever?, It should not matter if it was the same barrel going back in, but if the barrels were swapped then the head space would need to be checked.

Might try cleaning the throat of the breach end of the barrel, some thin layer of crude from the stripping and blueing process may still be lingering, that would be my guess. Yes I know that the barrel was susposed to be plugged on both ends before hand,but we all have seen stranger things.

G3

[Vince the Plumber]

are there any marks/dents/scratchs on the bullets you tried to load?

on the bullet slug itself or the cartridge?

Vince

[saysflushable]

1st check the caliber on the barrel.

2nd carbon up a round and see were it hits. maybe even a marker would work.

3rd make sure it's the right ammo.

[Tom W]

Thank you for all the speedy replies.

I checked the barrel and it says 270 Weatherby Magnum.

I didn't take the barrel off the receiver, the gunshop said the gunsmith would handle that.

No marks on the cartridges which came from a box I had shot some out of before.

I don't know what you mean by 'carbon up a round.' I will try it if you can explain how.

I am going to wait to bring the gun back to the shop. Tomorrow I will clean the breach end. I should have known better than to shoot it before cleaning it anyway. I hope build up of gunk is the problem.

Tom

[ToUtahNow]

By the way it is always good to own a dummy round so you can check to make sure it is not a problem with your ammo.

Mark

[Tom W]

Holy Cow! Thanks for the advice on the dummy round. I have been using live rounds and because I have a short temper I found myself cussing and ramming and jamming the bolt to try to close it. At one point I even considered a hammer to close the bold, but I didn't want to mar the bolt. I never considered that the shell might explode. How stupid of me to not think of that. What I am going to do after I post this is to try a spent shell in there and see what that does.


Tom

[Gene Bickford]

EXTRA! EXTRA! READ ALL ABOUT IT!

Heavy Equipment Operator shoots self in foot during fit of rage.


Take a deep breath Tom, Rage and firearms don't mix well.:eek:

You must have a bit O' the Irish in ya. You should have seen me the other day when I couldn't get my chain saw started:rolleyes:

[Frankiarmz]

This Forum is fantastic! Like having a bunch of friends who are knowledgeable in every field right there to help you or make fun of you.

[saysflushable]

I just mean to cover it in smoke or somthing that rubs off easy. I know it sound dangerous to smoke up a round so maybe the marker would work better. I would use the candle on an empty round.


Please don't force the round in. Man oh boy howdy you could play heck getting it out. Did you pull the bolt and look in the breech to see if it's clear? also is the round sliding into the extractor claw. possibly the wheatherby has to be fed from the magazine. it can't be set in the chamber but pushed down into the magazine and stipped in from the there. All rifles should be fed that way anyhow... I hope I make sence I'm kind of confused reading what I wrote.:scratchhead: just an aside I always wanted a 460 Wheatherby.

[saysflushable]

Let me know if the round is sliding into the bolt face all the way. just not into the chamber so the round is sort of sitting at an angle. How far can you close the bolt. I'm starting to think the head space is screwed up

[Tom W]

The first thing I did was check to see if there was a plug left in or an obstruction in the barrel. Everything is clear.

The shell goes into the extractor all the way. At least I suspect it does because the extractor pulls the shell out and with the shell in the bolt it looks as though the shell is seated thghtly in the bolt face.

I tried an empty shell and same thing. The bolt doesn't go forward as far as it should.

I have fed one round at a time before with no problem.

The bolt will go almost home. I think I can feel the lugs start to slide past one another but maybe it is just my imagination. If I measured the distance between the stock and the bolt handle with the bolt handle in the home position without a shell in the chamber, and then measured the same distance with a shell in the chamber would knowing the difference in distance be helpful? I can probably measure it with a micrometer.

OK I can probably use a candle on an empty shell or a marker on a loaded one. But then what would I do aside from the obvious of putting the shell in the chamber? What would I look for? What information would be derived from the process?

Boy a 460. I don't know if I would dare to shoot it. That is a lot of fire power, way more than I need for whitetails and coyotes. But if I had one maybe I could convince myself that I needed to use the rifle and would head to Alaska or Africa.

Thanks,
Tom

[drtyhands]

460
Buffalo

[Josh]

Its a pain in the butt but take it back to the gunsmith. Even if you were to get it to close I would never shoot the thing. Headspacing isnt something you can mess around with... unless your willing to blow your face off.

Had a similar problem with an old 300 win mag. I could get it to close though. Thought about it for a while and decided to have the gunsmith take care of it. I may have been fine but could have really regretted not having it looked at.

Josh

[Tom W]

Oh Yes, I have every intention in the world of taking it back to the gunsmith before shooting it. But I would have felt like a real goof if I had gone in there and I had overlooked something obvious. That is why I asked for help. But it is getting way more complex than I am comfortable with. Headspacing? I agree that is the province of gunsmiths.

Thanks,
Tom

[VASandy]

It sounds like somehow the barrel isn't in the right place in relation to the chamber. Don't know how that could happen though.

With a clean chamber and a blacked bullet, you look for the marks the bullet leaves to tell you where it's hitting. That could tell you where the problem is. Regardless, this sounds like a job for a gunsmith. Headspacing is definitely not something to mess with! Even if it does turn out to be something simple (I don't think it will), don't be embarrassed. A gun is something that has to be in good working condition, or it's worse than useless. The damage a malfunction in a gun does is pretty awful.

[Tom W]

Brought the rifle to the gun store. There is a piece of caseing inside the barrel at the breech end. I obviously missed it but the guy in the gun store picked it right out. They made a couple halfhearted attempts to get it out but decided it was best to send it to a gunsmith.

Thank you to all for your contributions as we attempted to solve this problem.

Tom

[saysflushable]

Thanks for the answer . It's stange a piece of casing would be left by a factory round. i could see it with one of my reloads:eek: but not a factory round. Anyway I'm glad you have it resolved with no damage to you or the gun.

[Tom W]

Thanks for the answer . It's stange a piece of casing would be left by a factory round. i could see it with one of my reloads:eek: but not a factory round. Anyway I'm glad you have it resolved with no damage to you or the gun.

That is exactly what they said at the gun store. Then one guy said he had seen it in the past with a .45. But I have only shot factory loads.

But it is still a puzzle to me how I missed an ejected shell missing a piece of brass. I am sure I was the last one to fire it.

Anyway all will be well when the gun is returned.

Thanks again for all your help.


Tom

[G3sprinklers]

How do you know you were the last to fire the weapon?? I would say the smithy that put it all back together proof fired it before returning it to you.

Glad to here it all worked out.

G3

[Tom W]

How do you know you were the last to fire the weapon?? I would say the smithy that put it all back together proof fired it before returning it to you.

Glad to here it all worked out.

G3

Would they typically fire it? I didn't know that. When I sent it to have it reblued all I sent was the receiver and barrel. No stock. But it is puzzing to me how he plugged the barrel and didn't see the casing piece stuck in there especially if he separated the barrel from the receiver. If he did test fire it that would solve a mystery.

Tom

[G3sprinklers]

They plug both ends of the barrel with a cloth patch and then drive a short wooden dowel in, or at least thats how I was taught.

As far as proof firing the re-barreled action, only the smith can answer that question. But a head spacing guage looks sort of like a cartridge and he would of had to inserted it and closed the bolt. The guages are "go", "no go", and "field" type and are measuring the distance between the face of the breech and the base of the cartridge when the action is closed.

G3

[gear junkie]

Its a pain in the butt but take it back to the gunsmith. Even if you were to get it to close I would never shoot the thing. Headspacing isnt something you can mess around with... unless your willing to blow your face off.

Had a similar problem with an old 300 win mag. I could get it to close though. Thought about it for a while and decided to have the gunsmith take care of it. I may have been fine but could have really regretted not having it looked at.

JoshI second the headspace danger. a guy next to me on the range shot the barrel out of a .50 cal M2HB because he didn't check the headspace when he screwed the barrel in. My back was about 2 feet away from that weapon when the barrel shot out.