# Polishing a chamber?



## leoparddog (Apr 28, 2010)

I recently bought an old Savage 99. I've re-blued it and got a new buttstock for it and replaced the extractor which I am having to hand fit.   While trying out the feeding of the rounds I have noticed my pristine brass comming out of the chamber scratched up.  I've sprayed out the chamber and pulled a bore snake through it, but the chamber still puts scratches on the brass.

I was thinking about using some Flitz on a bore mop of the right size and try to polish the chamber a little bit. Emphasis on a little bit.  Would Flitz be too aggressive? Would some other polish be better?

Recomendations on course of action would be appreciated.


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## georgiaboy (Apr 28, 2010)

Aggressive is relative, lol.  A 'smith buddy showed me how to polish an FAL chamber years ago. 

Cut a slot in a wooden dowel sized close to your chamber.  The slit in the end is used to insert a short length of sandpaper  which is then rolled around the dowel.

Chuck the dowel in a drill and start polishing on low RPM setting.  Go to progressively smoother paper to really polish it up.  

Obviously the deeper the scratches/tool marks the heavier grit.  I'm no expert on where to start but we were careful not to go so crazy as to resize the chamber to the next caliber, lol.

No idea how Flitz would work, but you could try chucking a cleaning rod and mop in a drill and using the same method first?  I doubt you would hurt it.


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## Twenty five ought six (Apr 28, 2010)

Here's what I'm thinking.

On a Savage 99, you aren't going to be able to polish from the chamber end (_I don't think_).  

IMO opinion trying to polish from the muzzle end presents too much possibility of damage to the bore, which could be disastrous. 

Unless you are just trashing the brass so that it is unusable, I'd live with the scratches.  Apparently they aren't interfering with ejection.


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## SmokyMtnSmoke (Apr 28, 2010)

If you can easily get to the chamber, maybe with a flex cable from an Otis cleaning kit, then this is the procedure I used on another rifle...



> The chamber showed some significant pitting. I used a 45cal brush in one section of the cleaning rod mounted in my electric drill. I wrapped a small amount of 0000 steel wool and used a polishing rouge for hard steel I got a Lowes as I felt the Flitz wasn't aggressive enough for this particular task. I spent a good hour of polish for a few minutes (enough that it made the barrel very warm in my hand) the a cleaning and inspection, then more polishing until it was shinny smooth. There were still some imperfections left behind but the important thing is that the chamber walls are very smooth with no roughness.



Also read here...
http://books.google.com/books?id=7A...7cmMCg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=7


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## leoparddog (Apr 28, 2010)

Thanks guys,
I've already figured out that if I disassemble the gun and use a cheap flexible cleaning rod, I can get the mop in the chamber.  I do have some polishing rouge somewhere (black I think) that I use on my bench grinder with a polishing wheel.  

The reason I'm even going  here is because of stuck cases in the chamber, I am hoping the new extractor will grab the cases better and I won't need to polish.
I'll go shoot it again with the new extractor and maybe I can live with scratched cases if they will extract.


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## SmokyMtnSmoke (Apr 28, 2010)

I found your run of the mill bore mops to be to soft to be effective, that's why I opted for a brass brush. I was polishing a .30-06 chamber and found the .45cal brush, wrapped a few turns in the 0000 steel wool to be a firm, snug fit as well as the steel wool held the polishing rouge pretty well. YMMV

Good luck and let us know how it works out. I gotta get me one of those Savage 99 some day. I wish they would bring them back into production.


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## ironhead7544 (Apr 28, 2010)

I would take some fired cases and the rifle to a gunsmith.  You may have to take the barrel off to polish the chamber  properly.


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## hawgrider1200 (Apr 29, 2010)

Valve lapping compound on a mop would b my choice for a polishing compound for that application.


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