Custom build snafu

[Tigg]

Anyone ever receive a build from their smith, do barrel break in and have the barrel come loose?
Have had six previous builds by a different builder so Im not new to custom builds. Just wondering what kind of faith I can put in this guy now.

 

[Castle Rock]

That is pretty sad, what about the rest of it
Does it look well finished, feed properly etc
How did you know it was loose?
More details would help
I can certainly understand your frustration

 

[Boarmaster]

Not what you’re paying for in a custom.

 

[Tigg]

That is pretty sad, what about the rest of it
Does it look well finished, feed properly etc
How did you know it was loose?
More details would help
I can certainly understand your frustration

Finish looks good and and it feeds properly.
I was finishing up fire forming brass when it started hitting three inches low.
When I checked to make sure the muzzle brake had not gotten loose I found that the barrel was loose.

 

[kthomas]

Torque it up and shoot it. Easy fix.

If it keeps coming loose, even after being torqued to ~100 ft-lbs, then you have a problem.

 

[waspocrew]

Which action is it? Did you contact the gunsmith? If local, just go to the shop and I'm sure they'll torque it back on. If not, get an action wrench and do it yourself.

 

[Tigg]

Which action is it? Did you contact the gunsmith? If local, just go to the shop and I'm sure they'll torque it back on. If not, get an action wrench and do it yourself.

Trued Remington action. The builder is not local so I shipped it back to him.
Should have it back this week as he said he couldn't find anything wrong and was going to torque it and ship it back.
I'm just leary of his (I can't find anything wrong and have no idea how it happened) response to the issue.

 

[Wrench]

Was the barrel timed?.....flats on a brake, straight flutes....etc? You can expect a barrel to torque up and sometimes hitting the timing takes a nominal torque that is kind of arbitrary......but hand tight isn't good. You will see your fired brass is probably .003" or so longer than the stuff from the beginning.

 

[Tigg]

Was the barrel timed?.....flats on a brake, straight flutes....etc? You can expect a barrel to torque up and sometimes hitting the timing takes a nominal torque that is kind of arbitrary......but hand tight isn't good. You will see your fired brass is probably .003" or so longer than the stuff from the beginning.

My thinking is that it was hand tight,and the last three rounds that were fired before I saw that the barrel was loose were.002 longer than the ones from the start .
It is a proof carbon with a mbm.
My thing is I don't trust the guy now. Shipping a gun out like that doesn't inspire confidence.

 

[BBob]

I am my own gunsmith and I forgot to tighten my barrel once

 

[Lawnboi]

I’d have rather had that than the gunsmith torque it down with no grease.

Of the things that could have happened, that’s pretty small considering you found it early. Torque it on and keep shooting.

 

[B23]

Tigg, the smith that built/assembled this rifle for you is he also the same person that trued the action, and, cut the threads on the barrel or was the action trued by one person and the barrel chambered/threaded by another? You mentioned this is a Proof CF barrel, was it a prefit or prechambered Proof barrel by chance?

Depending on the method of how your action had the threads trued and if the barrel threads were cut by a different person I could see were it would be possible to have one be slightly oversized compared to the other and it could come loose over time. I'm not a gunsmith and this is only speculation but I can see how that could happen.

 

[Nhenry]

I wouldn't lose faith in the guy if all he did was leave the barrel untorqued. He probably had a lot of other projects and just forgot that one thing. It could be that there's absolutely nothing wrong with the gun other than that. Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater.

 

[TheTone]

I had a buddy that launched a muzzle brake off a new barrel on the first shot. If I remember right he never found it

 

[Megalodon]

mountain/molehill

 

[bradb]

I had one come loose on a hunt once. Pulled it out of the scabbard and it was loose. Hand tight for a shot and worked fine!

 

[Tigg]

Tigg, the smith that built/assembled this rifle for you is he also the same person that trued the action, and, cut the threads on the barrel or was the action trued by one person and the barrel chambered/threaded by another? You mentioned this is a Proof CF barrel, was it a prefit or prechambered Proof barrel by chance?

Depending on the method of how your action had the threads trued and if the barrel threads were cut by a different person I could see were it would be possible to have one be slightly oversized compared to the other and it could come loose over time. I'm not a gunsmith and this is only speculation but I can see how that could happen.

B23. The action was trued and barrel chambered and threaded by the builder.

 

[B23]

B23. The action was trued and barrel chambered and threaded by the builder.

Ok, then that should eliminate any concern I was proposing about the potential for the threads possibly being a loose fit.

 

[Castle Rock]

I wouldn't lose faith in the guy if all he did was leave the barrel untorqued. He probably had a lot of other projects and just forgot that one thing. It could be that there's absolutely nothing wrong with the gun other than that. Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater.

I would, a lot of responses here say it isn’t but it really is a big fuckup

 

[Nhenry]

I would, a lot of responses here say it isn’t but it really is a big fuckup

I can think of a lot more things that would make me lose faith in a builder and an untorqued barrel doesn’t even come into the top 10. I’ve forgotten to torque down my own when switching barrels. All I did was tighten it down using my vise and everything went swimmingly.

Things I consider much more fuckup-y:
Feeding failures
Rough chambers
Crap accuracy
Horrible thread jobs (see attached picture)
Bad crown
Dings in metal or stock
Etc