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I have had a few chambers come out squirrely recently. Four I believe, all 6.5 Creedmoore. Saami calls for a chamber max size .4714 and the fired cases are ending up as large as .4775 mic'd. The rifles, every one of them, shoots well. But there are complaints of brass being hard to re-size. In my Hornady dies they don't feel hard to re-size. But the cases are noticeably swelled at the base. These chambers have been done with two different reamers, one JGS and one PTG. Both are piloted and I always fit the pilot carefully to the bore. Any ideas of what I could be doing wrong? I have mic'd the fired brass and it's round. Cast one chamber and it mics round...... I'm lost? | ||
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The most common cause is floating reamer holders. They like to cut oversized with new reamers or if you drive them too hard. I threw them all away years ago. The second is your tailstock or reamer holder is off center and your reamer is becoming a single point cutter and cutting on one side only. This is only the case if you hold the barrel and reamer rigid. Or the barrel rigid and the reamer on a center. Exactly what went wrong with yours is tough to say. But those are the two causes I have run into over the years. I generally float the barrel in the steady rest so that the reamer slides up the bore like your foot into a sock. The tight fitting pilot and the taper on the reamer ensure that the reamer follows the bore exactly. Contrary to popular belief, reamers will not bend and go around corners. They follow the existing hole or they break. Floating the barrel allows the barrel to align itself to the reamer as it cuts. When I was a kid. I had the stick. I had the rock. And I had the mud puddle. I am as adept with them today, as I was back then. Lets see today's kids say that about their IPods, IPads and XBoxes in 45 years! Rod Henrickson | |||
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I have been using a Bald Eagle reamer holder.... I just hate using the steady.... | |||
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I like the steady because it saves so much time. There is nothing to dial in and nothing ever gets fawked up. I run the brass pads on the thread extension and center it with a rotating dead center in the tailstock. If there is any side pressure on the reamer the brass pads get cut down very quickly by the steel threads. Or you can just back them off .003 inch by putting paper shims under them and then run them out. I like to start the chambers with the steady rest posts on the threads to get past the high chatter area cutting the shoulder. Don't use steady rest posts with bearings or steel bushings as they will not self conform by wearing in. I hold the reamers in ER32 or ER40 collets. When I was a kid. I had the stick. I had the rock. And I had the mud puddle. I am as adept with them today, as I was back then. Lets see today's kids say that about their IPods, IPads and XBoxes in 45 years! Rod Henrickson | |||
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I have no idea what speerchucker said but it sounds really cool  Mike Legistine actu quod scripsi? Never under estimate the internet community's ability to reply to your post with their personal rant about their tangentially related, single occurrence issue.  What I have learned on AR, since 2001: 1. The proper answer to: Where is the best place in town to get a steak dinner? is…You should go to Mel's Diner and get the fried chicken. 2. Big game animals can tell the difference between .015 of an inch in diameter, 15 grains of bullet weight, and 150 fps. 3. There is a difference in the performance of two identical projectiles launched at the same velocity if they came from different cartridges. 4. While a double rifle is the perfect DGR, every 375HH bolt gun needs to be modified to carry at least 5 down. 5. While a floor plate and detachable box magazine both use a mechanical latch, only the floor plate latch is reliable. Disregard the fact that every modern military rifle uses a detachable box magazine. 6. The Remington 700 is unreliable regardless of the fact it is the basis of the USMC M40 sniper rifle for 40+ years with no changes to the receiver or extractor and is the choice of more military and law enforcement sniper units than any other rifle. 7. PF actions are not suitable for a DGR and it is irrelevant that the M1, M14, M16, & AK47 which were designed for hunting men that can shoot back are all PF actions. 8. 95 deg F in Africa is different than 95 deg F in TX or CA and that is why you must worry about ammunition temperature in Africa (even though most safaris take place in winter) but not in TX or in CA. 9. The size of a ding in a gun's finish doesn't matter, what matters is whether it’s a safe ding or not. 10. 1 in a row is a trend, 2 in a row is statistically significant, and 3 in a row is an irrefutable fact. 11. Never buy a WSM or RCM cartridge for a safari rifle or your go to rifle in the USA because if they lose your ammo you can't find replacement ammo but don't worry 280 Rem, 338-06, 35 Whelen, and all Weatherby cartridges abound in Africa and back country stores. 12. A well hit animal can run 75 yds. in the open and suddenly drop with no initial blood trail, but the one I shot from 200 yds. away that ran 10 yds. and disappeared into a thicket and was not found was lost because the bullet penciled thru. I am 100% certain of this even though I have no physical evidence. 13. A 300 Win Mag is a 500 yard elk cartridge but a 308 Win is not a 300 yard elk cartridge even though the same bullet is travelling at the same velocity at those respective distances. | |||
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 It's kind of like going to an Italian opera.That kid at the door with the bundle of papers and the tin cup? The one screaming: "Programs. Get your programs! Programs 50 cents." You should have bought the program!  LMAO ROFFWhen I was a kid. I had the stick. I had the rock. And I had the mud puddle. I am as adept with them today, as I was back then. Lets see today's kids say that about their IPods, IPads and XBoxes in 45 years! Rod Henrickson | |||
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Thank you Mr. Rod. I'll investigate. My steady has roller bearings so that is gonna be a bit different..... I for sure am gonna check my alignment yet again..... . | |||
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Rod doesn't know it, but I've stalked him across the forums for years lol... One of the few that unashamedly admits to working between centers lest you get the "WHAAAAT? You don't know what you're doing!! Don't you know you MUST use the Gritters indicating rod method and dial in the throat to .0000001 four inches from the breech!" I've been tempted to use his method, but haven't found the balls to try it. I need to just grab a take-off and give it a go after getting an MT collet holder for my tailstock. I've used a "tooling ball" holder like the Bald Eagle, and didn't care for it, went back to a straight "pusher" type with flats. I know it doesn't allow well for axial misalignment but the chambers come out tight. | |||
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Yeah, don't use a steady rest with roller bearings. I made that mistake early in my career. I know others who have too. One of those things that seems like it should work just DANDY. But I can assure you that in practice, steel steady bushings or roller bearings will get you into trouble REALLY fast. They have their place in a machine shop when you're supporting really heavy objects and you're just cutting to a rough size before heat treat and grinding. When you need things to run nuts on, be forgiving and wear into a surface and not damage the surface they're running on, brass bronze and copper are a must! I think if you check your steady. You will find one or two screws which will allow you to remove the roller bearing assembly. You can just buy some brass or bronze and turn some pads to fit. A lot of steadys will come with rollers, steel bushings and bronze bushings and you just change them for the working conditions. When I was a kid. I had the stick. I had the rock. And I had the mud puddle. I am as adept with them today, as I was back then. Lets see today's kids say that about their IPods, IPads and XBoxes in 45 years! Rod Henrickson | |||
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Using the Bald Eagle floating holder, barrel through the headstock I assume. Do you drill the majority of the chamber, dial in the throat area and single point pre-bore? I dial everything in and pre-bore the chamber, maybe cutting to within .015/side. As long as the pilot enters the bore before the reamer starts cutting you have two surfaces that align the reamer perfectly while making the first cuts. Never had a problem cutting oversize when set up like this. Shoot straight, shoot often. Matt | |||
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As Rod pointed out, if the chamber is oversized, the reamer is misaligned. If one is chambering in the headstock, the tailstock is offset. It is not uncommon for a tailstock to sit high. Floating reamer holders generally cut to center under load. Problem is, the center to which they cut is their center which is often nowhere near that of the machine. Threading between centers, chambering in the steady, threading after chambering, are all perfectly acceptable methods. The steady can be run on the threads or on a trued steady path. The advantage of setting up in the steady is that one can be reasonably certain the breech end of the barrel is aligned with the tailstock, providing he hasn't screwed up somewhere. Regards, Bill | |||
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Floating reamer holders will always present side torque. (push the butt of the reamer to one side or the other) With the commercial ones with pins, not all of the pins bear evenly with the same force. This puts side pressure on the reamer and if the reamer is sharp or the cutting forces are high it will force the reamer to cut harder on one side than the other. The hand held models have all of their load supported on one side of the reamer and causes the same problem with new, sharp reamers or heavy cutting force will push the butt over slightly and cause it to cut oversized. Basically you are creating a floating, single point cutter. The only ones that won't do this are the ball bearing, gimble type. I looked at one at Kennemetal once. They wanted $4,000 for it. I cried just a little and said: "Thank you, no!" When I was a kid. I had the stick. I had the rock. And I had the mud puddle. I am as adept with them today, as I was back then. Lets see today's kids say that about their IPods, IPads and XBoxes in 45 years! Rod Henrickson | |||
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I only order reamers that are minimum Saami with no turn necks. That goes a long way to help with chamber dimensions. Remember that ammo and brass is minimum saami so it will fit In all chambers. I use the floating holder by Dave Manson and NEVER have oversized Bases useing his holder with minimum saami reamers. I WILL NOT cut a chamber without using his floating holder. Manson holders have an aluminum head and the light weight Helps to very much eliminate the issue Speer is referring to.  Doug Humbarger NRA Life member Tonkin Gulf Yacht Club 72'73. Yankee Station Try to look unimportant. Your enemy might be low on ammo. | |||
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I had a floating reamer holder; used it a few times, didn't trust it as I could see that it wanted to torque sideways, so I gave it away. I have no need to use one again. Cut a 350 Rem Mag Chamber just today. I never have OS chambers. So, there are myriad ways to skin the cat. That work. And some that don't. | |||
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