Longevity of chamber reamers?

[RockAndSage]

Anyone have enough experience with chambering barrels to give some insight into how many barrels you can get out of one reamer, before it needs to be sharpened?

Also, how many barrels can you expect out of a reamer before it's too worn to be considered within tolerable specs?

 

[bpctcb]

Reamers can go 100 barrels but..
It depends on the quality of the reamer, the barrel steel, lubrication and most importantly the person running the lathe.
In a bad setup; a man can break or ruin a reamer in short order.
There are too many variables to give you a better answer than that.

BP

 

[Wrench]

I've broken 1 in the first push. The rest are still uber sharp after many cuts. I take .050" cuts and clean in diesel followed by a dunk in lps tri or high sulfur.

100 chambers pre drilled should be easy to hit.

 

[RockAndSage]

This is great info, thank you.

When you're saying a reamer should get you to 100 barrels, provided a competent operator with a decent setup - is this 100 before the reamer needs to be sharpened, or should you expect a reamer to be out of spec beyond usability at that point, and ready for the trash?

 

[BBob]

The throat will be the first to go. There’s always plenty of length to grind them back.

 

[B23]

Are you asking about a carbide or HSS reamer because I think there's a fairly significant difference in how long one will last versus the other and obviously there's a big difference in cost too.

 

[RockAndSage]

Are you asking about a carbide or HSS reamer because I think there's a fairly significant difference in how long one will last versus the other and obviously there's a big difference in cost too.

I actually don't know the difference, and would appreciate your thoughts on the two.

 

[B23]

I actually don't know the difference, and would appreciate your thoughts on the two.

I'm not a gunsmith but I've bought plenty of reamers if the smith I used didn't have what I was looking for and always went with HSS instead of Carbide because there was a significant difference in price. I think the carbide reamers are more often used by smiths that plan on chambering a lot more barrels then just a few. I remember reading Eric Cortina saying HSS reamers used properly should last for dozens of chamber jobs. Cortina didn't say this but I've heard others say a carbide reamer will last nearly indefinitely if used properly. Whether you go HSS or carbide probably mostly has to do with how many barrels you think you'll chamber, if you know you'll be doing a lot of that particular chamber then a carbide reamer would likely be more cost affective and if not then a HSS reamer would probably be the way to go.

Again, I'm not a smith so I don't know how much if any this comes in to play but I'd imagine a carbide reamer will go longer without actually wearing which would hold the specs of the reamer longer versus a non carbide reamer may wear over time which would possibly change the chamber specs. How much if any that happens, I have no idea but I could see it being a possibility, maybe.

 

[gbflyer]

HSS for mortals. Factory uses carbide, high speed high production environment. I was told by Manson that a reamer can be sharpened 3 times.

 

[RockAndSage]

I'm not a gunsmith but I've bought plenty of reamers if the smith I used didn't have what I was looking for and always went with HSS instead of Carbide because there was a significant difference in price. I think the carbide reamers are more often used by smiths that plan on chambering a lot more barrels then just a few. I remember reading Eric Cortina saying HSS reamers used properly should last for dozens of chamber jobs. Cortina didn't say this but I've heard others say a carbide reamer will last nearly indefinitely if used properly. Whether you go HSS or carbide probably mostly has to do with how many barrels you think you'll chamber, if you know you'll be doing a lot of that particular chamber then a carbide reamer would likely be more cost affective and if not then a HSS reamer would probably be the way to go.

Again, I'm not a smith so I don't know how much if any this comes in to play but I'd imagine a carbide reamer will go longer without actually wearing which would hold the specs of the reamer longer versus a non carbide reamer may wear over time which would possibly change the chamber specs. How much if any that happens, I have no idea but I could see it being a possibility, maybe.

Great info, thank you.

 

[Article 4]

OTC Chambers might run reamers 60-70 times which is why there is so much variance. can theoretically last to 100 I would not recommend it.

They can be sharpened and with all the factors involved, we inspect our reamers after every use and generally do not run a reamer past 20 barrels as a rule for a precision rifle, especially when using high quality 416 SS barrel steel. If you run a rougher and finisher, it could last longer. We generally drill and then use a finisher in a very slow and repeated process. Better for the reamer and the barrel

 

[RockAndSage]

OTC Chambers might run reamers 60-70 times which is why there is so much variance. can theoretically last to 100 I would not recommend it.

They can be sharpened and with all the factors involved, we inspect our reamers after every use and generally do not run a reamer past 20 barrels as a rule for a precision rifle, especially when using high quality 416 SS barrel steel. If you run a rougher and finisher, it could last longer. We generally drill and then use a finisher in a very slow and repeated process. Better for the reamer and the barrel

I really appreciate that detail, thank you. Do you have a link for your website? When I googled OTC Chambers I couldn't find anything that seemed related.

 

[TaperPin]

Using a rougher, or drilling most of the metal out helps them last a lot longer.

When many of us say “drilling”, it is drilling a hole, but then much of the remaining excess metal is single-point machined away to get alignment with the bore as close as humanly possible before running the reamer in. There are only a couple of specialty test indicators that are good at measuring this, and not every gunsmith has them or is interested in single pointing the rough chamber, even though that seems to be the difference between the most accurate chambers.

If the reamer was originally made to minimal dimensions, there’s not much left to sharpen when it gets a little dull. If it was made to fairly large dimensions, there may be a few thousandths that can be honed off to extend it’s life.

It’s my understanding a reamer can very easily be ruined on the first chamber with too much speed and not enough lubrication, and there are national records being broken on reamers with 40 chambers.

 

[Article 4]

I really appreciate that detail, thank you. Do you have a link for your website? When I googled OTC Chambers I couldn't find anything that seemed related.

My work is to a very small audience and many of them are asking me to get a site up. Not sure I am going to Yet.
Happy to answer any questions though. You can DM me

 

[RockAndSage]

Using a rougher, or drilling most of the metal out helps them last a lot longer.

When many of us say “drilling”, it is drilling a hole, but then much of the remaining excess metal is single-point machined away to get alignment with the bore as close as humanly possible before running the reamer in. There are only a couple of specialty test indicators that are good at measuring this, and not every gunsmith has them or is interested in single pointing the rough chamber, even though that seems to be the difference between the most accurate chambers.

If the reamer was originally made to minimal dimensions, there’s not much left to sharpen when it gets a little dull. If it was made to fairly large dimensions, there may be a few thousandths that can be honed off to extend it’s life.

It’s my understanding a reamer can very easily be ruined on the first chamber with too much speed and not enough lubrication, and there are national records being broken on reamers with 40 chambers.

This is extremely interesting, and so far out of my knowledge base that it led to quite a rabbit hole this afternoon. Thank you.

 

[Wrench]

I like to single point as close as I can then i just push with the tailstock. When starting without pre boring I sweat like a bank robber as it's not much work to snap a reamer when it's not in the body area.

 

[TaperPin]

This is extremely interesting, and so far out of my knowledge base that it led to quite a rabbit hole this afternoon. Thank you.

Glad to help - it is quite interesting, and helps sort out what different gunsmiths are talking about. Most professional gunsmiths are very tight lipped about hand honing a reamer - it’s simply not talked about, but evidence of the practice pops up regularly. The top guys buy a lot of reamers and can supply the client with a dimensioned print of the reamer and tolerances as provided by the company that originally ground it. Some of their used reamers end up for sale online, or they get completely refreshed by the company that originally made them.

The other idea that seems bizarre at first, but then helps explain some things, is a bore is not perfectly straight, but rather it’s shaped like a lazy corkscrew - it’s a common artifact of drilling deep holes. When a barrel is held so the hole on each end is in alignment and then chambered straight in, that is not likely to be pointing in the same direction as the corkscrew. If the chamber is aligned with the corkscrew, then the muzzle will point slightly off to one side of center - ideally that is indexed and machined so when it’s screwed on it points up. A chambering method that takes this into account takes more time.

 

[Wrench]

You can touch a ream up by working the flute side....not the grind side.

If want a headache, ask what indication method people use. I've been through a bunch of them.

 

[Article 4]

You can touch a ream up by working the flute side....not the grind side.

If want a headache, ask what indication method people use. I've been through a bunch of them.

Wouldn’t share how I indicate a barrel. That’s like asking a guy for his favorite elk spot lol

 

[Wrench]

Wouldn’t share how I indicate a barrel. That’s like asking a guy for his favorite elk spot lol

That's hilarious. 10 years ago there was a bunch of us on snipershide who shared our successes and failures with bore indication tools and techniques. There are some big names in that thread, guys who are idolized here.

I think it lacks confidence to not tell anyone you work for how you qualify their barrels and actions.

Mine is easy, I bulk with a rod and finish with a long reach interapid. Last step is to prove that on a B&S 50 millionth. The discussions we had on the hide led to some serious time saving techniques.

I don't keep any secrets. I understand not sharing a tool path code....but how we do work isn't a secret. There's no end to work to do and guys won't typically let just anyone hack on their rig.