Long chamber/ short throat?

[45-70guy]

I’m back on another project, this one an old 1903 Springfield higher number chambered in 35 whelen. My favorite!
I found this as an old timer a state away had built this and supposedly used it 5+ years ago but is now selling his collection.
So anyways I grabbed this and started taking measurements etc… to get it ready for some load development.
Now first thing was head space gauges, these gauges I have are new and I have used them to test out my other 6 whelens, 3 custom jobs and 3 factory.
All are within spec which I know doesn’t mean Jack if your sizing your brass correctly but just did it for a reference against all other rifles.
So this rifle closes on a field gauge, it’s a stripped bolt.
2 peices of scotch tape on the field gauge is where it feels resistance.
Next I tried a factory 200g load to check the throat, won’t close the bolt.
I pulled out the OAL gauge and it seems to be average of .100” shallower than any others o allow the bolt to close reliably.

My question is after all this rambling, starting low on charge weight and seating at .030” off the lands to start will this be more of a pain than it’s worth?
Or do I have the throat reamed out slightly to allow for longer seating depths which would be Sammi range and also close up the headspace?
Brass for this rifle will only be used in this rifle.
I’m curious to any and all information pertaining to this as I have not come across “old” 35 whelens that were from the wildcat era which can obviously be different

Also, the original owner seems to believe factory ammo worked in this rifle, which I normally use only for getting a new rifle on paper and function test or components.
Bullets tested for ogive measurements to function:
Barnes 225 TSX
Sierra GK 225
Hornady 250 RN
Northfork 225 SS

 

[45-70guy]

I was able to take measurements with all bullets mentioned along with Speer 250g hot cors. This is what I found across the board compared to 2 other factory chambered rifles and a custom 1903 :

Factory rem700 has a throat 0.260” longer

Factory m77 0.276” longer throat

Custom 1903 0.300” longer

So this basically comes down to this rifle in question has such a short throat as to hinder seating depths, does 0.250” on average seem to be like a lot? It’s definitely enough to not allow factory ammo even in the 200g range to function but also eats up case space for my reloads.

I may be inclined to bring to the shop and have the throat lengthened and the headspace just brought back to be in range with my others if it’s in there.
What do you guys think

 

[KyleR1985]

Stupid question:


Did you clean the bore and chamber back to bare metal to see what you’re working with?

 

[45-70guy]

I did, I ran wet patches of BoreTec until they came out clean, then i saturated a brush and did 20 so passes, followed by wet patches until clean and dry patches from there.
Obviously looks don’t mean much but from the looks of this rifle between the work that had been done ( who knows how long ago ) it doesn’t look to be shot much. Recessed crown looks very fresh, rifling etc… all looks very clean and new.
The issue I’m having is the guy who owned this is older and can not remember much, he stays in touch which is a plus but hard for me to get good history

 

[Wrench]

Cast the chamber and figure out what you have.