Trouble chambering a round

[carbineman]

A neighbor contacted me with a problem with his early 90's 270 Handi. I looked the rifle over and cleaned it up well and commenced to firing it. He had both Remington and Winchester factory rounds. Most of the cases wouldn't eject, but like always could be forced out. The real problem though was in chambering a round, the last bit was tough to get the case up to the ejector, and really tough to close the action. He had the rifle sitting all this time because of this.

I polished the chamber and the cases ejected almost at 100%, but loading a new round was/is tough. With some light steel wool I polished the factory rounds(they had been sitting awhile) but nothing seemed to help. The chamber seems clean and shiny. I have a lot of ideas but wanted to post here before I did anything. I'll also recheck the FAQs

[Dee]

Try an old cleaning brush wrapped with 0000 steel wool soaked in gun oil in a medium speed hand drill for A FEW "SECONDS". Push into the shoulder of the chamber but not to hard or long. IF its a dirty chamber, this will cure the problem.

[quickdtoo]

Are you sure they're factory and not handloads since they're old? They may be loaded too long, or with too much runout so the bullet isn't straight, use a marker to color the brass and bullet, chamber it, then remove it and see where the marker is rubbed off.

Tim

[Deerhunter#1]

by a new box of factory ammo as that has been sitting for 12 years who knows what happends to it. Or they might be reloads from another gun and may have only been neck sized and wont fit in that gun

[garbhead]

Yes that could be it, I recently bought some 30-30 primed brass resized and ready for my powder and bullets...after I loaded up 20 of them, not a one would chamber in my handi 30-30...pulled & resized  now they fit.....next time I'll run them thru the sizer first..

[carbineman]

Both boxes look like factory to me as he stated that he got them from the store when he purchased the rifle. Still have the tags on them $9.95 each purchased just north of us, in Shawano Wi.

I'll do some more checking with his rifle, as this rifle looks new and has the box and papers. I'm kinda leaning to an out of round chamber or short throat, but will check further. Funny thing is it shoots fairly well accuracy wise.

[gcrank1]

I'll bet that when you FL resize and/or tune the cases to fit the chamber it works like a dream. I would NOT do anything else to the chamber until trying the above first.

[carbineman]

I'll bet that when you FL resize and/or tune the cases to fit the chamber it works like a dream. I would NOT do anything else to the chamber until trying the above first.

It might do that, but this guy doesn't reload and I've quit doing that except for real close friends or immediate family.

If that is the case I'll let him know the address in Ilion or advise him to trade it in. 

[gcrank1]

Maybe have him take it to a gunshop and have them try loading some brand new factory loads in it.

[carbineman]

He showed up today with some Federals that his son-in-law had and they loaded really hard as well. Claims they are factory rounds. I gave him the # in Ilion. I think it is an out of round chamber and I would be hard pressed to jam a reload in there and have things go wrong.

 He is now looking for a CVA Scout after he shot mine, just to give to one of his grandkids. He also wanted to find out more about the 30-30 Toppers I have, (liked the lightweight) but I told him they are nolonger available.

The old Topper style rifle would sell well today IMHO, I sure like the ones I own.

[gcrank1]

If you have a gunsmith close by that has that chamber reamer he might be able to just give it a tweak and fix it too. sounds like it is maybe only a tad short or the throat didnt quite clean up.
It would be all done by hand and take about 5min., if that.

[carbineman]

If you have a gunsmith close by that has that chamber reamer he might be able to just give it a tweak and fix it too. sounds like it is maybe only a tad short or the throat didnt quite clean up.
It would be all done by hand and take about 5min., if that.

Thanks again, I'll pass that onto him. Hopefully after shooting my Toppers and my Handi-06 he won't get the wrong idea about H&R's

If that is the problem, it make one wonder how in the heck did that rifle ever leave the factory like that?

[trotterlg]

I would be wondering if the ejector is hung up and not dropping down to allow the round to load?  It would be real hard to cut a chamber that a factory round would not load into.  Larry

[carbineman]

I would be wondering if the ejector is hung up and not dropping down to allow the round to load?  It would be real hard to cut a chamber that a factory round would not load into.  Larry

I'll take the ejector down and buff the parts for him. I think he likes the concept of the rifle, but it is a shame he ended up with one that didn't operate correctly. I'm not much of a tinkerer, but I'll see what I can do.

[Spanky]

Give it to me. I could always use a good 270.



Spanky

[44 Man]

Yeah, there's lots of fellers here that would take that rifle off his hands for a reasonable fee.  And I'm sure they'd get her shootin' as well.  But he can call Ilion and have them send a call tag so there is no cost to him and they'll get it fixed and back in short order I'm sure.  44 Man

And a lot of us miss the old Topper weight barrels.  They personafied what a single shot is all about!