How many chambers can be cut with a reamer, assuming proper care and technique is exercised?

How many for a short cut chamber?

How many for an unchambered barrel, where the roughing work is done with a drill first?

Thanks, I've always wondered about this.

I'd never rough a chamber with a drill.....maybe some do it but I won't.....they make rougher and finish reamers for a reason and if one used a rougher and a finisher the finisher could produce several hundred chambers without a resharpening.....if one uses a finisher only as I do and cut the entire chamber with it, you might get 50 chamberings with one.....bear in mind that the RPMs used here are extremely small....usually around 100 and I use the very finest cutting oil.

So far I've never chambered one chamber so often that I've ever had to resharpen a reamer.

Every one of the hundreds of barrels I have installed have been roughed with a twist drill except when I was experimenting with various alternate techniques (this is something I still do. I try to keep an open mind.) If the barrel was indicated to run with zero runout, the drilled hole does the same.
I have never had to have a reamer reground yet except to change dimensions. I'm sure one would get close to a hudred chambers out of a reamer with care. Regards, Bill.

Since going to carbide, I am getting about 150-200 chambers out of a reamer. I have a carbide rougher that probably has 3-400 on it and is still going strong. The reamers will still be cutting fine, but it only takes a few tenths wear on the throat to effect the OAL. OK for a hunting caliber, but on match guns people want to be able to buy two barrels from you a year apart and be able to shoot the same ammo in both. With HSS I'd resharpen after 75-100 chambers. 99% of the chambers I cut are .223 so I go through a lot of .223 reamers.

John