Reaming out SR primers to LR?

L

Leeroy

Machinest / Gunsmith
G'day all.

I've got about 150 used 6.5x47 Lapua cases with over sized primer pockets that i would like to put back into service. I've done a bit of reading on pocket swageing and have come to the conclusion that it's realy not a viable method.
But i then wondered of i couldn't ream them out to a large rifle pocket? I don't plan on using them back in my comp guns, but move them on to my hunting rig which isn't so accuracy cirtical, nor such high pressures.
Is it safe to ream them out? Does it leave enough meat in the 6.5x47L casehead?
And if so is there a reamer/tool for doing this? I am a machinist and have a lathe at home so i'm sure i could come up with a suitable method/tooling if nothing is avaliable..
Thoughts?

Cheere
Leeroy
 
Leeroy,
You could use a collet and single point bore them. Seems the simple solution to me, just to see how it will work.

James
 
A custom piloted cutter could be ordered... perfect pockets centered on the flash hole...
 
The pilot: a) would need to be so small as to be too fragile and b) wouldn't work well since flash holes very often are off center anyway. I'd think that single point boring to .001" or so under the desired diameter would work, followed by using an RCBS or Dillon primer pocket swager to bring diameter up to spec as well as work- smoothing the surface to allow easy seating. Or order a custom diameter reamer without pilot (depend on rigid lathe setup to guide the tool here), followed by swaging. I think swaging as a final step would work best to control dimension and finish. Interesting but tedious project...
 
Leeroy said:
G'day all.

I've got about 150 used 6.5x47 Lapua cases with over sized primer pockets that i would like to put back into service. I've done a bit of reading on pocket swageing and have come to the conclusion that it's realy not a viable method.
But i then wondered of i couldn't ream them out to a large rifle pocket? I don't plan on using them back in my comp guns, but move them on to my hunting rig which isn't so accuracy cirtical, nor such high pressures.
Is it safe to ream them out? Does it leave enough meat in the 6.5x47L casehead?
And if so is there a reamer/tool for doing this? I am a machinist and have a lathe at home so i'm sure i could come up with a suitable method/tooling if nothing is avaliable..
Thoughts?

Cheere
Leeroy
Click to expand...

Why are they oversized? They're oversized from being hammered with too many hot loads! What else is wrong with the Brass? Web to Body stretching, neck to shoulder thickening, Body to shoulder thinning? who knows? The problem you are having with primer pockets is an indicator of other potential problems. In my opinion, scrap em.

Paul
 
The "G'day" sounds Australian.

Another Australian who posts here, Tony Z, has done this, but for a different reason See the post on the 1,000 yard forum where he reamed out SR pockets for 6.5x47 brass for better ignition. Well, actually, the post only says that he did it, doesn't give instructions on how. Bet if you could contact him, he'd say which method he uses.

Several ways to increase the size of a hole. My first thought would be to use an end mill, after making a collar to serve as a stop. With brass, even a chucking reamer might work just fine. They're cheap enough, and can be ordered off the shelf in the .001 region. Mind you, this is a thought, I've not done it.

Would be hard to convince me to set up on the flash hole -- a lot of work, and it too might be off center. And if it is by a few thousandths, so what?

If you want to go this far, better, I'd think, to get Michael Turner to post his tooling for swaging flash holes uniformly. I'd bet getting a constant diameter of the hole is a lot more important than dialing it in to the last .0001.
 
IMO setting up on the flashhole would be an exercise in futility. First of all, EVERY flashhole will be offcenter except for those which by blind luck blew out to chamber size with the hole serendipitously centered, certainly nothing you could possibly plan for. Secondly, as mentioned, it's a perty small pilot....hardly enough to guide even a handheld cutter off of so you'd have to index every case and singlepoint it. Whewww!!

as far as being hammered.... so what?

Brass doesn't "flow" from pressure so if you've been sizing right it's gonna' be fine. Nothing wrong with the brass. All of the problems mentioned are SIZING problems, not pressure problems, so unless you're mistreating your brass with your maintenance schedule I say carry on. The only problem I can see (have seen, many times! ;) ) is that some of the eccentric cases will be swolled out and bases moved over far enough that they'll try to hang up on the boltface recess.

Good seasoned brass, thoroughly fitted..... AND your big primer.... what could be better?!! You've just made yerself some 250 Savage cases!

LOL

al
 
From Tony Z, who has done it:

As i only intended to do a small number for a trial i simply set a sizing die in the four jaw chuck of my lathe and just lightly tapped in each case. The friction there was more than enough to hold each case. To do the reaming, all i did was grind up a sort of "D" reamer and set it up like a small boring bar in the tool holder. The front was just flat and had a small clearance rake. It had a stop collar on it for depth control. Snuck up on a case until the primer seating felt right. Then just did about twenty cases. As for a chamfer for a lead in for the primer, i just used my old RCBS case mouth chamfer tool. The cartidge brass can be a bit of a pain to ream especially if the tool is not clearing properly. I recall running a speed of about 260 RPM and just feeding the tool in slowly. When finnished i just levered the case out by the rim, or if it was a little sticky i tapped it out using a rod through the die. Lastly i just drilled out the flash hole using a pin vise
If i was to do a number of cases and often, i would make up a collet to hold each case and then grind up a form tool that did the hole as well as the chamfer.

Tony Z.
Click to expand...
 
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