Gouges in a chamber - can they be filled?

[ted_dent]

A couple of inquiries first:
1. Are the "grooves" really as bad as they appear? By their very nature borescopes tend to make imperfections in the bore appear worse than they are.
2. Are the "grooves" lengthwise in the chamber (it sounds like they are).

By themselves the grooves should not greatly impede the extraction of the cases if they are lengthwise in the chamber, especially if the grooves are at the case head end of the chamber rather than at the projectile end. Remember that some rifles (e.g. certain HKs) actually have flutes (which technically are just deep grooves) machined into their chambers and they have no issue with extraction.

The "piles" of metal you mention are what could cause problems as they could create irregular spots that the fired cases might hang up on. However, if they can be removed either by polishing or, if extreme, reaming so that they are not creating a dimensional variation in the chamber I think the gun will be shootable and extraction will be reliable.

If this was a centrefire rifle and you wanted to reload the cases the grooves that will probably result from the expanding cases filling the chamber scratches might make them unsuitable for reloading but that problem is a non-starter in a rimfire rifle. I have resized once fired .223 cases out of an HK and they worked fine as there was only one set of flute grooves and the rounds were refired in a non-fluted chamber gun.

 

[Potashminer]

Thank you for suggestions - especially the last several posts. I have a new-to-me Savage 93R17 that has a feeding issue to be resolved - once some "dummy cartridges" that I ordered show up, I am sure that I can make that work properly. Once my own rifle is acting properly, I will revisit the one with the issues described above. Various comments above are correct - it is an assumption that I am making that the scratches / grooves will be a problem, once the scraped up piles of metal are removed to allow a case to chamber. Although, as mentioned, a bit of "song and dance" for my buddy to understand that an unsuccessful result, will NOT be my fault - I DID NOT put those scratches there, if they turn out to be a problem - hence my original question whether filling such scratches was even possible to do... And for sure, this is NOT a "paying job" - I have been retired since 2014 and have no intention of ever "working for a living" again!! Not the sort of thing that I would normally play with, except on my own stuff - but I do find this to be a challenge to get correct, and it does pass the time ...

 

[trevj]

You are assuming that once the proud areas of metal are removed/swaged, that the remaining gouges will hamper extraction. Given the relatively low pressure of a 22, this may not be the case. Explain the situation to your buddy, and if he agrees, deal with the high spots and check for functionality.

It's a 17 HMR, so, while not as low pressure as a regular .22, it's not super high, in any case...

So far, I like the ideas thrown out here. Worth working through them from the least invasive, to the most.

 

[Potashminer]

An update to this issue - yesterday I managed to turn a home made "thing" on my lathe - from a 4" long 5/16" bolt - and then made a slice into the end of it and used a "safe edge" file to create relief - sort of a home made "D" reamer as in the picture below. Today I cranked that into that 17 HMR chamber - did not feel it cutting, but it felt plenty snug in there. I just took it up a local back road and fired off 4 cartridges into the ditch - seems to feed, fire and eject fine, now - I think I have that guy's rifle "back in action", now. That rifle is an older Savage 93R17 - owner might want to invest in some carbon dissolving crap and occasionally clean out his chamber - but, as of now - it seems to function just fine - will be up to him to keep it that way - not interested to see it here again ... And the bore scope still does show gouges in that chamber, except the ridges around those gouges are pretty much squeezed down to be smooth - so new cartridges chamber, fire and extract. Was no "new parts needed" - just cleaning and understanding what a reamer might look like - and to actually make one to dimension.

 

[marshall]

I have small polishing diamond and ceramic burs that would smooth this out. and fine needle files
But at what cost, I presume this is someone that wants a freebee.
Tell him you got the crap out and need to smooth it out and it may or may not not work.
If he says " I want it working" hand it back and walk away.

A slim screw driver, with the tip heated and dent to 90 degree, hardened and ground to a small round shape would make a scraper to pull the burrs back or scrape them down, would be safer than a power burr.

PS as is usual, I posted before I read all the posts it looks like , Good fix on that.

 

[Al Bear]

Wow, Potash! Seems to me that, rather than solicit advice from us, YOU should be our higher oracle. Well done, eh.