buckstix,
After you were so adamant about chamber casts, I was disappointed you didn't show the ones for the 30 Couger. I usually had no trouble with "tip up" guns, but bolt action rifles always gave me trouble, especially with the cerrosafe running into recess for the locking lugs and hampering removal, as well as measuring the part of the case length between the bolt face ant the end of the barrel. I had to remove the barrel and measure the action, as if I were fitting a new barrel. I was interested in seeing how you do it quickly.
Mike
Hello Mike,
I generally clean the chamber and bore with original Hoppies #9 - then I plug the bore with a tight fitting cleaning patch about 1" into the rifling. I use 140 degree cerrosafe and use a small tapered dish with a spout to pour the melt into the chamber being very careful to not overfill the chamber. It takes me only 5 minutes. However, in this case I used a method that I developed over the years. Since I saw that the chamber had a recess for a belted case, I inserted a 300 Win Mag case and tried to close the bolt. I measured how far the bolt was from closing and cut that amount from the case mouth. Then I annealed the shortened case 4 times with a propane torch, each time heating to bright cherry red, and instantly quenching the hot case in cold water. (This makes the case so soft you could pinch it closed with your fingers) I take the softened case and thoroughly lube it with Corbin bullet swaging lube and insert it into the chamber. I then use a 10" long - 5/8" diameter hardwood dowel and hammer the soft case it into the chamber until the case's belt contacts the belt recess in the chamber. The softened case forms itself into the chamber and you now have an EXACT FIT example of the cartridge. This method only takes about 3 minutes and you have a better indication of the unknown cartridge. I used that "chamber cartridge" to setup the shortened resizing die and formed 20 pieces of brass.
