doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Chamber length (again)

I have been puzzling over the chamber length of my fancy new german hammer gun. So, just for grins, I got out about 6 16 bores. LC Smith, Lefever, Stevens, Husqvarna, CZ and the Cherman guy. I took a Magtech brass load, and tried it in all chambers, all guns. It dropped in almost all of them with a satisfying clunk, the Lefever required a gentle push, it WOULD NOT chamber in the German gun, without maybe using a ball pean hammer. I have been shooting Mrs. Rooneys pigeons with that gun, using RST shorties with no problem...No big deal, Scott Carlson is going to lengthen the chambers for me, but never seen the like before....Any comments?

My comment would be to measure the chambers. Dropping loaded shells into the chamber doesn't tell you much about the actual chamber length(to the beginning of the forcing cone). Shells are at least 1/4" shorter when loaded and crimped, than they will be when fired. You can buy chamber length gauges or make them for about no cost. I've made mine out of stainless steel rulers. Narrow them to the chamber ID and you have the advantage of inch markings already on the ruler material. Example, a loaded 2-3/4" shell will easily drop into a 2-1/2" chamber, proving nothing much.
16 ga. chamber should be about .732" at the muzzle end.

Buy a Brownell's chamber measuring tool. If you have over a half dozen 16s, you needed it a long time ago.


Best,
Ted

Chuck, leave the damned chambers alone! Lefever didn't make a mistake. Sounds to me as though the chambers are just a tad tight, not "short".

My first 16ga was a Baker and it had 2&9/16" chambers. I made a gauge(on the Baker demensions) to check other guns I came across for their length and the first I found was a 16ga Fulton. My gauge showed it even had a shorter chamber than the Baker, but it was actually the chamber diameter and the taper not the length. The Fulton was 2&3/4".

As Ben-t said, the taper on some brands can vary a slight amount. I have lengthened the chambers on several Lefever guns and my modern chamber reamer usually enlarges the forward part of the chamber slightly, as well as lenghtening the original chamber to 2-3/4".

I'm with Joe on this. First you properly measure the chamber and then you buy or reload suitable ammo for the gun. Opening the chambers on an antique gun to shoot current over the counter ammo isn't likely to be good for the firearm. Once you know what the gun needs suitable ammo is already available for it in most cases. RST and others make low pressure, 2 1/2" shells which actually turn out to perform better than most of the shells available over the counter anyway. Or if you are already a reloader the load information is available.

I suspect that the German gun has very sharp chamber cones. I think they were made especially for the roll crimped 2 1/2" cartridges that were the norm when that gun was possibly made. The case would open and the wads would be straight in line with the bore as the case end came up to the chamber's stepped cone. Just a possibility but I have come across this before. Lagopus.....

Last Dollar,
Drop everything that you are doing
Drive to Amarillo
Bring your guns and lots of ammo
I have a chamber gauge and will measure your guns for FREE
and then we will go to the skeet range and shoot till your ammo is gone :>)
Then we will shoot my ammo till we get tired :>O
Enjoy the day
Mike

I do not know what tolerances CBC (Brazillian maker of Mag-Tech) applies to their brass. I randomally picked up on from a 16ga box & measured it with dial calipers. Length checked at 2.472", .090" shorter than 2 9/16". Dia at mouth was .725" & just ahead of rim was .740". Modern day SAAMI specs call for a minimum chamber dia of .732" at cone juncture & .005" per inch taper. By todays standards then a 2 9/16" chamber would have a minimum dia of .732" at forward end & .745 just ahead of rim seat. This shell dropped freely in both chambers of my 16ga Lefever.

When Lefevers were being built there were no SAAMI specs & chambers varied somewhat. Imagine if you will you have a chamber whose forward end ois only .730" in dia & with normal taper. Then check it with a gauge built to SAAMI "Minimum". With chamber having .005" per inch taper & being .002" smaller in dia than gauge it ill stop short by .002/.005 or .400" short. That would show the chamber being more than 3/8" short when it is actually only slightly under in dia.

Measure twice & measure everything before you "Cut" anything. My Lefever6 actually has 3" chambers by measurement. Are they original, I don't really know. I can however think of no time in its life it would have more likely to have received them than when it was built.

It is a post 1907 gun as has the '07 patent date. At that point in time chambers were still available cut to order in most any length desried in 1/8" increments from 2½" to 3" & to 3¼" in 12ga, with the 2 9/16" being thrown in for 14 & 16 ga's. Larger than 12ga still longer was available.