Hand reaming chamber.

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10vpossible

New member
John Hinnant talks about hand finishing the final part of the chamber in the lathe in his book "Precision Rifle Barrrel Fitting", in my edition no mention is made about how far from finished depth you should do this. Have any of the Forum done this, how far from finished depth did they hand ream and did they find it was worth it?
 
We made an extension w/T-handle while I was in gunsmithing school. In 25 yrs. I think I've used it only a couple of times on hunting rifles, never on a comp rifle.
 
I've never understood why anyone would want to do that. I have seen some chambers that someone tried to finish by hand that had the worsed chatter marks I've ever saw in a chamber. It looked like the reamer was pushing rearward every time the reamer quills made contact with the lands and then dropped back down when the quills were between the lands. Really ugly looking chatter marks.
Maybe a little more hand pressure would have prevented it. I wondered if it was due to the 6 groove barrel and 6 flute reamer made everything line up just right to cause the problem on that particular barrel. It was a short chambered prefit for a Mauser.
I recommend you finish it in the lathe.
 
10vpossible said:
John Hinnant talks about hand finishing the final part of the chamber in the lathe in his book "Precision Rifle Barrrel Fitting", in my edition no mention is made about how far from finished depth you should do this. Have any of the Forum done this, how far from finished depth did they hand ream and did they find it was worth it?
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That book hits on several methods of chambering barrels and does a good job of educating the readers on methods used in gunsmithing but it doesn't necessarily mean that it's the way it has to be done.
I read the book before I owned machinery just to have a better understanding of what gunsmiths were doing for me at the time.
I've looked back on it several times since then.
 
Actually i remember reading jackie s talking about finishing a chamber by hand.
Its the operator, not the tool.
 
And some have even tried to ream a barrel with the reamer chucked in a hand held electric drill.

Disastrous was the ones I've seen.


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CMaier said:
Actually i remember reading jackie s talking about finishing a chamber by hand.
Its the operator, not the tool.
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Was Jackie turning the reamer by hand or was the barrel still chucked in the lathe with Jackie turning the chuck by hand while pushing the reamer with the tail stock?
 
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JerrySharrett said:
And some have even tried to ream a barrel with the reamer chucked in a hand held electric drill.

Disastrous was the ones I've seen.


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Ya', everybody's a gunsmith, even if all they have is an electric drill. The couple I've used a reamer on, turning by hand, have been CM and I only needed to go a thou or two. Looked OK through the bore scope, shot good, fired brass was good. A couple of thou is all I'd ever attempt. Much would depend on how the steel is cutting and how sharp the reamer is. I've seen some chambers cut with pull-through reamers that looked like they'd been fluted, the chatter was so bad. Completing the chamber on the lathe is the preferred method. Shouldn't be problem for one who calls themselves a "gunsmith".
 
Long ago, i completed a short chambered 308 by hand.
The clue is to keep the pressure in the center, and
the way to do it is to use two 3/8"S universal joints
set 90 degrees apart. ANY off center pressure and
the universal flops. A long slow process for just a
0.050 cut. The gun has a nice chamber and shoots well.
(it was a mil surplus, not a br gun)
 
Ive done several by hand. They were Mauser actions with short chambered barrels. I used a T handle rig that was made out of a socket wrench extension that used the female to slip over the square end of the reamer. Both rifles were nothing special and the new barrels weren't either, still they shot around and inch at 200 yds. I heard a guy talk about using a drill chuck used to turn the reamer with the barrel and action held in the vertical position with the chuck turned by hand and the weight of the chuck making it cut. It certainly can be done but I don't think a good gunsmith with a lathe and the knowledge to use it is going to lose a lot of business. The Florida state long range champion ship was won a few years ago by a guy that put together his own rifle and RIFFELED HIS OWN BARREL.
 
Black and decker barrel fitting. Co sponsored by rigid pipe threaders to fit the barrel nut. Cant forget about the crown cutters make sure they fit the drill chuck.
 
pipe threaders

Don't forget those barrels threaded for muzzle breaks with a pipe die! It doesn't take any training to be a ''gunsmith" (a very loosely used term, these days), just the desire to 'do it yourself' with whatever tools you might happen to have handy. "Buy special tools!? I dont need NO special tools, I've got these!" Gun plumbing,, so easy a caveman can do it! I've seen too much stuff like this. It just boggles the mind. Common sense just isn't very common, anymore......
 
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Regardless of all the jokes and criticism, "hand reaming" to set final headspace was a fairly common practice some years ago. It probably does not have a place in fitting barrels for Benchrest guns, but it can and is done successfully by many old school smiths. My take on it is that with older style factory actions with less than perfectly straight threads and general sloppiness it can be difficult to gage the final headspace while the barrel is still set up in the lathe as there is a tendency for the barrel to "pull up" slightly when the barrel vise and action wrench are applied. It is not difficult to chase a few thousandths to set or correct final headspace if you have a good T handle adapter for the reamer. It helps to have some skill with hand reaming which is pretty much a lost art these days.

To answer your question, if you are fitting and chambering the barrel in a lathe yourself, there is no reason to leave more than a few thousandths for hand reaming, and it is probably not necessary to leave any.
 
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SGS said:
Regardless of all the jokes and criticism, "hand reaming" to set final headspace was a fairly common practice some years ago. It probably does not have a place in fitting barrels for Benchrest guns, but it can and is done successfully by many old school smiths. My take on it is that with older style factory actions with less than perfectly straight threads and general sloppiness it can be difficult to gage the final headspace while the barrel is still set up in the lathe as there is a tendency for the barrel to "pull up" slightly when the barrel vise and action wrench are applied. It is not difficult to chase a few thousandths to set or correct final headspace if you have a good T handle adapter for the reamer. It helps to have some skill with hand reaming which is pretty much a lost art these days.

To answer your question, if you are fitting and chambering the barrel in a lathe yourself, there is no reason to leave more than a few thousandths for hand reaming, and it is probably not necessary to leave any.
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Scott, there is no doubt that a chamber reamer in experienced hands can easily do a final fit in a chamber. However, I see no need in a hand operation if the lathe is set up properly with a way to monitor the cutting progress. On a lathe like a Southbend Heavy 10 where the tailstock has a graduated dial to not stop short, clean and measure and proceed to remove a final 0,002" or so.


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There is another reason that a friend has run into that justifies putting a reamer in a barrel that is installed on an action. In the case of large long magnum cases, with relatively little body taper, V threads and thin tenon walls combine to cause a very slight reduction in the chamber ID in the area of the action threads when the barrel is tightened on the action. This can cause extraction issues when top pressure loads are used. In order to correct this he has very carefully used a T handle and closely piloted reamer that will remove a slight amount of material from the body of the chamber, after which he removes the barrel and does some slight polishing. He does not change the headspace when doing this. It is for the stated reason, based on actual testing, and has worked to solve a real issue.
 
Boyd Allen said:
There is another reason that a friend has run into that justifies putting a reamer in a barrel that is installed on an action. In the case of large long magnum cases, with relatively little body taper, V threads and thin tenon walls combine to cause a very slight reduction in the chamber ID in the area of the action threads when the barrel is tightened on the action. This can cause extraction issues when top pressure loads are used. In order to correct this he has very carefully used a T handle and closely piloted reamer that will remove a slight amount of material from the body of the chamber, after which he removes the barrel and does some slight polishing. He does not change the headspace when doing this. It is for the stated reason, based on actual testing, and has worked to solve a real issue.
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Boyd, you are absolutely spot on with this, and I suspect that it may be a big part of the reason that the practice is more common with smiths that fit barrels to Ruger #1s and Model 70s with 1" tenons.
 
I'm starting to get the impression that it may be unwise for me to attempt reaming an entire chamber by hand. ;)
F1
 
The final hand reaming, with the barrel in the action, is a good idea on post-64 Model 70's. They have an interrupted thread and when tightened up, the chamber is distorted. Re-thread the action to 1 1/16' and it isn't a problem. Regards, Bill
 
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