Desert Dan
Lil-Rokslider
Not too long ago I posted a question about what I originally suspected was a headspace issue in my CA Ridgeline. Long story short, after a few months off from shooting the rifle I went to measure the base to ogive for some hand loads and the measurements came up way short. Tried loading a factory round and it was so tight it got stuck extracting. Clearly something was very off.
Thanks to forum members CaHunter805 and KD32 as well as a few others it became clear the problem was a carbon ring, something I had never had before. Based on a few recommendations I got some JB Bore Paste and Kroil and an oversized brush along with some Bore Tech C4 to use from here on out. I tried two of the more popular methods to work on the carbon ring - the first an oversize bronze brush covered in bore paste inserted into the chamber and spun 30-40 times using a non-spinning Dewey short rod, then cleaned and repeated. No noticeable difference. Still couldn't load a sized casing without way too much force. Went back to work with an undersized brush wrapped in a patch and covered in bore paste, short stroking at first, then cleaned out and went on to spinning for a bit before cleaning it out again.
After cleaning it out again I started to notice a difference but I still had plenty of work to do so I decided to apply a generous coat of C4 and leave it overnight. In the morning I went back to it with an undersized brush and patch and when I ran a soaked patch down the barrel after the tip had a thick black ring on which was encouraging. After that I was able to chamber a fired casing, a sized casing, and a dummy round seated to factory length.
I made a lot of progress but I'm not convinced the problem is totally solved. The Ridgeline has a tight chamber but I still feel like I'm getting too much resistance when closing the bolt. I double checked my sizing die and backed off .002 from the fired case. Still tight but workable. Tried an unfired case and even bumped a case below that and they all felt about the same so I set my die back to .0025 from specs and left it. Basically the round will chamber until it is just shy of being forward enough to close the bolt when it hangs up. Moderate pressure the last bit - not a lot - and it closes. I can feel what I assume is the ejector compressing for the last push. I remember the rifle chambering snug but not quite that snug so I plan to work a little more and see if that carbon ring is still hanging around.
Anyway thanks for everyone for helping me figure this out. Didn't mean for this post to get this long. Hopefully if anyone else encounters this problem for the first time they'll have a heads up on fixing it.
dan
Thanks to forum members CaHunter805 and KD32 as well as a few others it became clear the problem was a carbon ring, something I had never had before. Based on a few recommendations I got some JB Bore Paste and Kroil and an oversized brush along with some Bore Tech C4 to use from here on out. I tried two of the more popular methods to work on the carbon ring - the first an oversize bronze brush covered in bore paste inserted into the chamber and spun 30-40 times using a non-spinning Dewey short rod, then cleaned and repeated. No noticeable difference. Still couldn't load a sized casing without way too much force. Went back to work with an undersized brush wrapped in a patch and covered in bore paste, short stroking at first, then cleaned out and went on to spinning for a bit before cleaning it out again.
After cleaning it out again I started to notice a difference but I still had plenty of work to do so I decided to apply a generous coat of C4 and leave it overnight. In the morning I went back to it with an undersized brush and patch and when I ran a soaked patch down the barrel after the tip had a thick black ring on which was encouraging. After that I was able to chamber a fired casing, a sized casing, and a dummy round seated to factory length.
I made a lot of progress but I'm not convinced the problem is totally solved. The Ridgeline has a tight chamber but I still feel like I'm getting too much resistance when closing the bolt. I double checked my sizing die and backed off .002 from the fired case. Still tight but workable. Tried an unfired case and even bumped a case below that and they all felt about the same so I set my die back to .0025 from specs and left it. Basically the round will chamber until it is just shy of being forward enough to close the bolt when it hangs up. Moderate pressure the last bit - not a lot - and it closes. I can feel what I assume is the ejector compressing for the last push. I remember the rifle chambering snug but not quite that snug so I plan to work a little more and see if that carbon ring is still hanging around.
Anyway thanks for everyone for helping me figure this out. Didn't mean for this post to get this long. Hopefully if anyone else encounters this problem for the first time they'll have a heads up on fixing it.
dan
