So, how did folks ream chambers before the advent of the modern lathe? Was it a similar design, just w/o electricity? Is it possible to cut chambers with hand tools?
What about finishing a short-chambered barrel?

Maybe an old time reamer came with a pilot?

Lathes were around long before cartridge guns. They ran off line shafts driven by water or steam power.

Yep, lathes been here a long time.

Maudslay, an Englishman, built a small screw cutting metal lathe in 1797. Earlier lathes were know in Europe in 1740.

I at one time had a 10 inch x 37 inch line shaft driven lathe made around 1860, in a foolish time I sold it to a collector. I actually had it running and did some barrel turning on it. It was capable of chambering, but I never chambered a barrel with it. It had a bucket of loose gears for thread cutting. Had babbitt bearings in the headstock, which I repoured and machined.

So, yes, when cartridge guns appeared, the gun builders had lathes. Some were pedal powered, you sat on an attached seat and pedaled. And some were turned by a huge flywheel with a hand crank, guess what the apprentice was used for? Most were overhead line shaft driven, with a water wheel for a prime mover. So, when the gunsmith needed a break, it was used for catching bream in the mill pond. Common in the small towns was a grain grinding mill, or a sawmill, sharing the water wheel with a gunsmith. Just run another line shaft and hang some leather belts.

At Auburn Universty, in Alabama, there is a huge lathe that was used by the Rebs in the Civil War to make cannon.

[ 05-23-2003, 19:58: Message edited by: John Ricks ]

The thought of cutting a chamber with hand tools sends a shiver down my spine.

Even the old skelp welded iron barreled muzzle loaders had their bores drilled and rifled on machines in the 1700's. I'm not sure what they used to cut the threads on the breach plug.

Actually, a lot of chambers were cut by hand in earlier times, even well into the 20th century. Many smiths in the 20's through 40's had only small or sometimes no lathes. Gunsmithing was formerly less of a machinist's job than it is now and centered more around the European and frontier tradition of one off hand work.

Keep in mind that the advent of the overbored bottleneck cartridge increased the metal removal requirements tremendously. I chambered a .458 the other day, and literally couldn't tell if the reamer was cutting or not. Most older cartridges were very close to bore diameter. Look athe the 45-70, 45-120, all the old Stevens target rounds etc. Reading old reports and literature, it is my impression that hand chambering was actually the normal practice. Given the minimal cut, soft barrel steel in black powder days and decent reamer, chambering by hand should be relatively easy.

I saw an old treadle powered lathe which was part of an estate I had to appraise once upon a time. I wanted that lathe but the anticipated auction never took place. I don't know what happened to it or the mint Stevens 44 target rifle which was among the guns.
It would have been a good trick to ream a chamber while keeping the treadle going smoothly!
The Potlatch Forests machine shop in Bovill Idaho had some really neat machine tools which ran off jack shafts. I was fascinated just watching the metal peel off the workpiece when I was a kid. A lot of that machinery likely went into a landfill when the shops closed down. Regards, Bill

I've known several people who have reamed a chamber by hand, with no lathe. It is a time-consuming, muscle-wrenching job, but can be done!!

I cut one chamber by hand, a 25-06 well before it was a factory round. Using a lathe is MUCH better. If you are going to do it, be sure to practice beforehand.

Bwana-be; Et al. My long since got absconded 1939 edition of " The Shooters Bible", which was MY "bible tract" in grade school days had pictures of Peerless brand gunsmiths tools. There was a noteworthy cut of chambering reamers made by German Craftsmen. The shank end had the exact same shank end as the Auger bits on other pages or at hardware stores where they sold such things. This end was square in cross section and tapered. Guaranteed to fit your fine Russell or Millers Falls Bit Brace with the rosewood palm pad. I gotta ask the same question now as then. " But how do you fit that in a lathe chuck"?