Rifle Chamber and Brass?

[Sean]

I finally fired a few rounds (factory 200 gr) through my new 350 Rem Mag Encore Custom Shop Barrel. There are a few things that bother me about the fired brass and I wanted to get some opinions on whether there is a problem and if I should send the barrel back.
First, in front of the belt at the Pressure Ring the case is pretty shiny. It also measures an expansion of .008". When I was in Gunsmithing school I think our instructor used a figure of .006" as max. expansion. If it was over that we had to cut and start over. I may be wrong on that figure but I am pretty sure it is right (what we went by in school anyway).
Second, the brass stretched .012" (by measuring a loaded factory round) and a fired brass. Also, by an eyeball measurement it looks to me like .010" of that stretch occurred from the belt to the shoulder. Like I said these were eyeball measurements using my dial caliper as a depth mike but I measure in .0001" for 8 hours a day so I feel pretty confident that these numbers are real close to accurate.
Third, there is almost no way I can come close to the lands even with a 225 Nosler B-Tip and have what I feel to be reasonable case neck grip (say one caliber in the neck). I took a brand new case that I had FL sized and put a B-Tip in and snapped the gun closed and the overall length was 3.310". That seems way to long to me even for T/C (my Custom Shop .250 Savage barrel allows an OAL .050" longer than the Nosler manual with a 100 gr B-Tip and you might as well forget touching the lands on my regular production 22-250 barrel. But, I have found loads that shoot extremely well through them). I did the same as above with a 250 gr Speer in the case with the point of the bullet in the case, and the length from the base of the case to the flat base of the bullet was only 2.475".
So, I guess my questions come down to: Should I send the barrel back and ask T/C to replace it? Could this become dangerous (case head seperation) even if I am very careful not to set the shoulder back? Is there anyway to "fireform" the brass to reduce this body stretch? Like maybe seating some inverted bullets into the lands and firing with a moderate to low end load? (Maybe a dumb idea).
Thank you for any and all advice and suggestions on this. Sean

[gunnut69]

The situation you describe is unfortunately not all that uncommon.  The Headspace on your barrel is probably just fine.  It headspaces on the belt.  The shoulder to casehead dimension is not uniformly enforced so any replacement barrel is likely to be the same.  If you utilize a partial sizing technique, sizing only enough to allow closing the action, your brass will stop growing and should last quite well.  If you persist in full length sizing at each reloading, you can expect case seperations at 2-3 reloadings, at best.  This problem is found in almost all the belted cases..  but is easily rectified.  The thoat length issue is something else.  I have had the same issue with some Ruger No.1's.  Some worked well while others I could never get to perform to my expectations.  I would try the barrel's accuracy and if poor, I would send it back to TC.

[Sean]

I called the Custom Shop today and they asked that I send it back. So it is on its way. Sean

[gunnut69]

I would be very interested in he outcome..  Let us know how it works out, and good luck..from the gunnut69