TargetTalk

I have just purchased a new Anschutz 54.30, but I can't seat long rifle bullets by hand. Most brands of ammo leaves 2-3mm of the case out of the chamber, I, nor my gunsmith are game to seat the round with bolt incase the projectile get stuck in the lands. I have taken the rifle to my local gunsmith who is certain the the rifle is short chambered. This brings into question how the included test target was created.
Being a new model nobody locally has any knowledge of the rifles, so I'm looking for some guidance on this issue before the rifle is return to the supplier. If anyone has one of these units I'd be interested in any info you could proved.

How far out?
What ammo mfgr(s)?

It's possible that your rifle was not chambered properly, and the chamber is too short. However of every Anschutz match rifle I've shot, none allowed a cartridge to drop in, or to be fully chambered under finger pressure, this only happened as the bolt was closed. You are aware that .22 Match rifles are deliberately made with a shorter and tighter chamber than sporting rifles? The exact dimensions vary slightly between factories/ gunsmiths, but typically the chamber has no freebore, the bullet is actually seated into the rifling; the idea is that the bullet is fully supported as soon as it leaves the case mouth, and cannot yaw, reducing a cause of inaccuracy. If you chamber and eject a live cartridge, you'll see marks from the rifling grooves on the parallel section of the bullet.

Obviously the dimensions of the ammo affect how snug the fit is in a match chamber. Some ammo is snug because the manufacturer's standard specs are on the large side, or because that batch came out a bit larger. CCI Standard has been mentioned onbthis forum as being on the large side for European match chambers. My rifles have after-market barrels fitted by specialist gunsmiths, and have chambers noticeably tighter than factory barrels; ammo that was too snug in my barrels chambered easily in factory barrels, headspace being nearly identical (0.0425 vs 0.043). Yet a different batch of the same brand chambers easily.

I have to ask, how much experience of match rifles does your gunsmith have? I would be wary of letting them do anything to correct this apparent issue, as they may muck up a perfectly good rifle. If you are worried that there is a fault, address it through the warranty process first, and don't do anything to enlarge the chamber!

I have to agree with Tim, match chambers are tight. They are designed to engage or engrave the bullet into the rifling right up to the 2nd driving band of the bullet. So you shouldn't be able to push the round the last 3mm with your fingers because of the resistance of the bullet entering the rifling.
Martin

Hi Tim and Martin,

Thank you for you comments. Didn't want to force a round home without some experienced advice, will let you know it it goes. You have probably saved me two lots of transport costs and some embarrassment. Not sure if the range is open today as its not one of my usual days

Regards

Ken

Hi Ken
If you are still worried, insert a round and close the bolt (usual safety rules apply). Then open the bolt and extract the round without firing it. Inspect the round to see how far the bullet is engraved by the rifling.
Cheers
Martin

Hi Martin

Yep did that and all is good, tried 4 or 5 different types of ammunition. The rifling marks do show up to the second driving band. Didn't get to the range but I'm totally confident it will be fine. I guess I was over cautious with it, but didn't get much guidance from the the manual, suppliers, local shop owner, ? gunsmith and the collective club.
Glad we have the net and forums, thank you all for your help. My next post will to let you know how it shoots.

Regards

Ken

Hi Ken,

leading on from the comments about the chamber, when you come to shoot the rifle, you may find some ammo needs a little more force on the bolt handle to close. This is not unusual, and is typically due to small variation in ammo dimension (including the amount of lubricating grease), and/or the build up of fouling in the throat. I find, that ammo aside, regular barrel cleaning helps reduce loading effort. Lubricating the bolt, with a smear of grease on the RH lockibgblug (the root of the handle), the LH lug recess, and the cocking cam (the V-shaped notch in the bolt handle collar) is also important.

Hi All
The Anschutz 54.30 is working just fine and picked up a bronze medal in a BR 30 comp today, thank you for all your advice.
I don't think there is much more to add here so will sign off.
Regards
Ken