M1903: Round Will Not Chamber

[paratrpr]

Lance, no rounds feed at all, if I single feed and push the round into the chamber with my finger, it only goes so far and then gets stuck, have to back it out with a cleaning rod... tried a 30'06 snap-cap (practice round) it gets stuck as well and will not seat entirely... basically round slides into chamber only so far but won't go that extra 1/8th of an inch for the round to seat and bolt to close... one other detail, I did force one round all the way in and closed the bolt, touch extracting and the round came out with a dent just at the point where the case narrows...

[RED]

I'd bet something is lodged in the chamber. Broken shell, a .308 insert... something has happened since it left the arsenal.

[Lancebear]

Hey Para,

Didn't know the full scope of your problem. Guess the advice offered by your friends here about the chamber must be right. That fix is beyond my simple skills. Sounds like you can get a good reasonably priced fix. Good luck.

Death to badguys,

LB

[Kirk]

"Will the reaming compromise the integrity of the barrel?"

If this is indeed the answer to the problem with your rifle, no, it won't compromise the integrity of the barrel. Finish reaming may remove just a couple thousandths of an inch of metal, just enough to let the bolt close on a "GO" headspace gauge. As Jim K mentioned, this is done to every new barrel when it is installed on a receiver. It's part of the normal practice of assembling a new rifle.

[Jim Tarleton]

Jim K and Para, thanks for the info and quick response...Short chambering, roger that, I'll pass that on to the smith tomorrow... still not clear as to why they wouldn't have caught that when the weapon went through re-arsenal in '42. Is it possible the re-arsenal job was not USGI... done years later to make the rifle seem to be a Marine build-up?

So basically the chamber is not deep enough to accommodate the round? Will the reaming compromise the integrity of the barrel?

Para... I was an engineer as well, 27th, airborne battalion in a leg brigade, 18th Abn Corp, now the entire brigade is airborne... company B, only Rough/Austere Terrain jump unit in the army... like smoke jumpers

The "short" chamber is perfectly normal. The smith will remove only a few thousandths of an inch of metal. it will not affect the barrel, except to make it usable.

Jim