Ruger leaves gash in brass

A

Ammo Junky

New member
I traded for a ruger bolt gun at a local store. The gun looks new and I am not sure if it has ever been fired before. When I fired it, the extracted case has a 3/4" long gash running length wise in the middle of the body. It is about 1\3 to 1\2 the thickness of the brass. It is a gash (in) not a bulge (out) . I wonder if the chamber could be polished to fix the problem.
Any ideas?
 
Pull the bolt and look into the chamber with a flashlight and mirror. You should be able to see any defect in the chamber.

My guess is there is a burr on the feed lip of the magazine box. When you load a cartridge from the magazine, the burr scratches the brass. A few strokes of a jeweler's file will take care of the burr.
 
My guess is there is a burr on the feed lip of the magazine box.

A very reasonable quess Dn, but The rnds were loaded directly into the chamber. I have looked in the chamber with a light. If I look up threw the mag well I can see the line / defect on the top of the chamber. Since the defect is a protrusion not a gash / scratch, I have no idea what it is. :confused:
 
sounds like a defect in the chamber

It may well be trash in the chamber and only needs a good cleaning, but most likely it is a defect in the chamber. You need to have a smith polish it out for you. It needs to be in a lathe and polished while it is turning though to be done correctly. You may get lucky and it will clean up for you, but you may need to have the barrel set back and a new chamber cut for you as well. Good luck with it.
 
Ammo,
I would call Ruger and tell them the problem. Most likely they will want the rifle sent to them for repair. They will probably fix it under warranty even though you did buy it used. Ruger has a very good customer service policy.
It will probably be cheaper than getting a 'smith to work on it.
 
Gash in brass in Ruger

Dear Shooter:
I've had the same thing happen with Ruger 77s'
In the action, inside where the locking lugs mesh, just behind that on the right there is a sharp edge that on extraction will cut a line in the brass. Get a polishing wheel (cratex) and you can feel eith your finger where to polish - this will not effect the rifle in any way!
Harry B.
 
Ammo Junkie,

I think Harry has it right. The gash is occuring on extraction, and not on insertion into the the chamber or you would feel resistance pushing the round into the chamber with your thumb. I am assuming that is how you loaded it? If not, try it to see what you feel?

You did say in your first post that this was a gash in the brass and NOT a protrusion. In your second post you seemed to reverse that, refering to a protrusion? If Harry's got it, then the mark is INTO the brass. If the mark STANDS OUT on the brass, then you have a groove in your chamber that the brass is expanding into on firing. In the latter case the factory is the perfect place for repair, since they will put a whole new barrel on and likely won't charge you for it. Their liability concerns have them geared toward keeping the guns safe, even if it means having to give away parts every now and then.

As a test, you can cover the sides of a cartridge's case with magic marker and push it into the chamber with your thumb, then pull it back out with your thumbnail and look for a marks. I'm guessing you won't see any. Now put it back in and mark the rim at twelve o'clock. Close the bolt and fire and extract the case normally. Look at the location of the gouge with respect to the 12:00 mark. By lining the 12:00 mark up with the chamber, the gouge will show you where to look for the problem. A dental mirror may help.

Nick
 
UN, the brass has a gash, concave mark. The flaw / debris I see in the chamber is a protrusion / convex.

Since the defect (in the chamber) is a protrusion not a gash / scratch, I have no idea what it is.
 
AJ,

It just occurred to me (duh!), is the protrusion adjacent to where the firing pin strikes? It could be a dry firing indentation. Brownells sells a tool for ironing those back out. Even if caused by something else, the tool may still correct it.

Nick
 
Ruger called and said they could not polish out the defect in the chamber and that they would have to replace the bbl. They stated no price so I hope that means at no charge. If so, you can't beat that for service. Ill let you know how it shoots when I get it back. :D
 
ruger

Dear Sir:
I have a question that is bothering me; Is this Ruger rifle a centerfire? What caliber?
If it is a centerfire it is impossible for the firing pin to have dimpled the chamber edge!

It seems to me, if it is a centerfire, that Ruger had nothing to do with it but the previous owner dinged that chamber somehow!
If it's convenient let us know. Thanks.
Harry B.
 
Harry, It is a .243. I don't exactly understand your post, but .243 is the answer. As I already stated I bougth the rifle used and I don't know if it was ever fired before or if it was a factory defect or damaged post inital sale. Either way I needed it fixed. If it is a factory defect or not, I am sure Ruger is better qualified to determine that than me. If they are going to fix it free, I am a happy customer either way. :D
 
AJ,

Somewhere around my second post I somehow got the idea this was a rimfire. In a centerfire, a convex chamber edge flaw is odd. For it to happen at the factory, they would have likely dropped the barrel on something before installing it. Some headspace gauge contours might slip past it if it is shallow enough.

If the last owner did it, they will have had to have forced the bolt closed on a small ball bearing or some other hard foreign object to make this happen. Neither scenario seems to have great likelihood, though I have had a factory dropped Krieger barrel for an M1A - dented the feed ramp.

Let us know what the factory says about it in the end, and how they handle it? Replacing the barrel is their only option from a liability standpoint. They can't risk that the steel near the chamber hasn't been fatigued in some potentially hazardous way, so they won't just run a reamer back in to clean it up.

Nick
 
Well you cant beat that!

Got the rifle back from Ruger today. They re baraled it for free, No questions asked. Never even asked if I bought it new. I work with a LOT of coustomers and offten in very stressfull circumstances. I see good service and I see bad ,offten very bad. I have to give ruger ***** 5 stars for the service I got this time. I have always liked the desgine of rugers and win rifles. I love my win 3006, but it honestly is not as accurat as my 700adl. I have heard mixed reviews of rugers accuracy. Possiblly becaus of the heavy factory trigger. If this gun shoots well, Ruger will have a new loyal coustomer. :D
 
Wow, service like that is great!
A guy I work with sent his Browning in for repair in April & still doesn't have it back. He got a card saying they received it tho.
 
Ruger has one of the best customer service policies of any company. That's why I recommended you call them. Glad they took care of you.
 
I have never had to deal with the ruger factory, but hearing a story like yours increases my opinion of a company.

Glad to hear that they treated you well.
 
Yeah. Ruger is good. I once sent them a Redhawk with a poor accuracy complaint, and they reamed and refinished the cylinder. It came back shooting great. No charge. Other makers would have wanted to put a custom shop charge on that work. Mind you, I didn't tell them what to do. I just told them it wouldn't hold 6" at 25 yards off bags. I think they respond to people who care about accuracy.

Nick
 
I maybe beating a dead horse with this thread, but here is an update. I got to shoot the rifle today. Not under very good conditons. I forgot my rests and was stuck using some 2x4 and old sand bags. I picked a favorite load with very little developmet in this gun. The tasco scope I got with the gun was crap. I can see the reticle twist in the scope when I change the power. :eek: The factory trigger is blody awfull. :barf: Poor conditions for sure, but It gave me an idea if the gun had any potential. I was shooting 75gr vmax over thrown charges of 40.0gr varget. At .005" jump it was shooting 2.5". At .015" and .025" it was putting 5 into 1.25".:) I concider this C grade accuracy from a factory sporter, but I think it can do much better given a chance. :)
 
You could make it better

You could make it better. The trigger job on this rifle is very easy to make into a really good trigger pull. I would consider bedding the rifle as well. Most like a fully floated rifle barrel, but I would let it tell you what it wants and then just tune the loads to make them do better. If you want me to, I can show you what to do on the trigger to make it smooth up and be where you want it to be. The rest will be up to you.
 
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