Flex-hone for cleaning and polishing barrel chambers

[Burt Gummer]

Have an issue with two different rifles after extensive shooting - over 40 rounds or so - that the shell sticks firmly in the chamber and the rifle jams up because the ejector cannot pull the shell back out.

I thought when rifle #2 started doing this it was good news because the ammo must be faulty instead of the rifle. But I believe that the ammo might be just a contributing factor (brass, not steel).

After searching around on the web I learned that this is a fairly common issue even with bolt rifles and seems to happen a lot with .308 rifles, or 30-cal rifles generally.

A solution is to polish the chamber with a power drill and a flex-home polishing rod. There are a few videos on Youtube regarding it.

I am going to try the 800 grit unit and take it easy with the polishing and then give it a trial run. Anyone else use a flex-hone to solve this issue?

These Flex-hones are used on revolvers, shotguns, etc. The key is to do just enough to polish the metal, but not get too crazy and change the dimensions of the chamber.

http://www.brushresearch.com/brush-types.php?c1=4

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[Straight Shooter]

800 grit is way too fine for chambers. The proper way to polish a chamber is with a split wooden dowel with 320 wet dry paper wrapped around it to just fit into the chamber. Being this barrel is on the rifle spin the dowel in your drill while drenching it in WD40. Motor in and out looking for a uniform crosshatch pattern. It doesn't take much to polish it up.

If dirty ammo is an issue try to clean it up. A little steel wool will clean it right up.

 

[joken]

Factory ammo or handloads?

 

[Burt Gummer]

Factory Ammo - 7.62x51mm 150 grain American Tactical The brass isn't all shiny, but certainly not dirty or rough.

Since I am getting more into accuracy, moving toward Federal Match 168 grain .308 that everyone seems to rage about.

Same exact issue with a DPMS and a Kel-Tec RFB. When that last round sticks it takes a very hard pull on the DPMS to pull it out, and disassembly of the Kel-tec.

A Cetme 308 HK-91 clone eats everything however, the cheapest crap steel cased rounds inc.

Wait, - it is probably the ammo -

Reviews at Cheaper Than Dirt -

 

[netcarrier]

Hi Bert Gummer,
Could be that the Chamber is just dirty along with the Extractor. So clean all of it. Most of the time a Good cleaning will clean it up.
Is the Extractor Hook Positive? If not make it so.
Hope this helps,
Tony Portland, Oregon Area

 

[KalamaMark]

FWIW... I've polished problematic 7.62x39 chambers with a drill, a cleaning rod, a shotgun cleaning swab coated with valve grinding compound, then final polished with rubbing compound. Came out mirror shiny, didn't change dimensions, and extraction problems went away.

 

[deadshot2]

You'd be amazed at how much carbon can make it's way into the chamber.

I've made it a practice to use a 50 cal bore brush to clean my .308 chambers. After a good brushing, some bore solvent on a 410 shotgun bore mop and give it a good finish clean. I do this about every 200 hundred rounds or so. Also need to pay attention to the small carbon ring that builds up between where the case ends and the free-bore begins. This can grow considerably if your loads don't make a good seal (low pressures) in the chamber. This too can cause sticky cases.

It's amazing how well a totally clean rifle will perform