Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing Question re chamber Rem. 722

Today I was in a local gun shop that just opened. The owner is a nice gentleman with a love of guns but who, like myself, does not profess to be even a shade-tree gunsmith.
He had a beautiful Remington 722 chambered in 257 Roberts. The gun was in excellent condition and was topped with a vintage 2x7 Redfield widefield. I checked the bore it was clean. Lands/grooves all distinct and the muzzle showed no wear or erosion as we usually see in the South from guns riding muzzle down in the floorboard Now for the problem which he pointed out to me: you can insert a cartridge into the chamber or cycle one in from the mag, BUT the bolt will not close on it. When you take the cartridge out, the brass show a crimp mark on the neck of the case....the case is actually deformed if you exert too much pressure on it. Without the cartridge, everything locks up, cocks and fires.

This gun was obviously someone's pet. There is a well-fitted, wide trigger shoe installed and the wood is either not original or is a higher grade....too much grain when compared my other 722 which I know to be all factory. He is asking $400 for the gun as is. I would value your input on suggesting what the problem may be and how complicated (translate how much money) to remedy it. My 722 in 300 Savage is one the the best shooting rifles I own, and i would love to add this one to the mix.

Thanks for your time in reading and responding.

I would probably start with a go gauge. See if it will close on it. If it does then there is a neck problem could be a neck separated and is still in there

Thanks for the response. I am trying to figure out whether to risk $400 on it in hopes that it is nothing major. Thanks again.

I would look hard to see if a partial case neck is lodged in the chamber. They make stuck case removers for military calibers, .308 and .224 but don't know about .257 cals?

are you inserting factory ammo or hand loads?
Ed

I'd buy it for $400. The scope would probably sell on eBay for $100. I can't imagine why factory ammo wouldn't cycle, but it is hard to diagnose a problem like this without seeing it.

This, if the case neck and not the shoulder is actually being deformed it is likely that there is an obstruction, possibly a part or all of a case neck stuck.

To answer 260Remguy's question, a factory round could fail to chamber for many reasons, besides a stuck case, partial or whole, the most common reason is that the chamber wasn't reamed deep enough. I had more than a few rifles come through the shop with chambers cut too short, enough so that the bolts would not close on a go gage. However, that would not cause a deformed neck, it would however set the shoulder back if the bolt was forced closed. So, it is likely that there may be a partial case stuck, but it could be something else, hard to say without a thorough hands on inspection.

I would make him an offer given that it needs repairs. Recently a 722 in .257 sold in my LGS for the same and it had no issues chambering cartridges.

i had the same gun a few years ago and had the barrel set back a little and rechambered to 250-3000.. maybe its the same gun? be nice if it turned up someplace.

It seems to me that since 722s in 257 Roberts have a barrel boss for the rear sight dovetail, the change in the barrel channel inletting would be pretty obvious if the barrel had been set back.

We're talking about a rifle that is well over 50 years old, Remington stopped chambering the 722 in 257 Roberts in 1959 and only filled orders after 1959 out of existing inventory. I can't imagine that anyone would own a rifle that won't chamber a cartridge for any length of time without taking the rifle to a gunsmith to get the problem diagnosed and resolved.

Who said anything about setting the barrel back? You've got me confused.

My point was that I've had several Factory original rifles come through that were older than the 722 with chambers too short to allow the bolt to close on a go gage.

One was Husqvarna 9,3x62 whose chamber was too short for a go gage. Factory ammo could be chambered but not without some serious effort. That apparently did not dissuade the previous owner who, judging by the kill tacks in the stock, managed to bag an impressive number of Moose. I imagine they were all one shot kills as I cannot imagine follow up shots were quick given the amount of effort required to close the bolt on a cartridge. Even in that rifle, the case shoulder was set back but the case necks were not deformed. So, apparently that owner never took it to a gunsmith to get the problem resolved. Diagnosed? Maybe and maybe the cost to correct was prohibitive for him. Who knows. But what you can imagine and what some gun owners do are completely different.

I have had a couple situations where a chamber cast attached itself to the obstruction and pulled it out cleanly...

Extremely cheap, very fast, and worm-proof.

Someone had suggested that a possible cause might be that the barrel had been set back. My reply was directed toward you or your post specifically, just in general.

I have never encountered a factory specs rifle with a short chamber, but I'm lucky that way.

I PM'd the OP and told him that if he didn't want the rifle for $400, I'd be interested in buying it even with an unresolved failure to chamber problem.

Makes sense. If I was looking for a 722 in 257, I'd do the same. The LGS recently had one, very good shape except that a receiver sight had been fitted at one point and the stock inlet accordingly. the sight had since been removed living the inletting visible. They were still asking $400 for it and it wasn't as nice as this one sounds.

The most recent short chamber I came across was a Charles Daly 98 in .308. Oddly the chamber was oversized, in diameter, but too short. Wouldn't close on a go gage. It was a tackdriver despite the generous chamber diameter because the cartridge was being held firmly in line with the bore due to the slight crush fit. Firing it caused the cases to swell to the point that the owner wanted it rebarrelled.

I wouldn't doubt that a Charles Daly 98 would have quality control issues, as the quality of most of the Zastava built rifles that I've seen since Remington stopped selling them as their models 798 and 799 runs from poor to down right awful.