Some of us have floated the idea of keeping a log of people who have reamers, and who would be willing to lend them to qualified gunsmiths in exchange for having access to the "reamer library'. This way the cost of renting reamers, and in particular, having new reamers made, would be substantially lessened for AR members. So far, it looks like we may ask the person "borrowing" a reamer from the library to put up a deposit in case it is damaged.
I have a list of people who are interested so faR, BELOW. IF YOU ARE INTERESTED, PLEASE POST ON THIS THREAD, and i will add your name.
Thanks everyone.

The list as it stands
1. Indlovu 500 A2
2. Pinotguy 8x68
3. Gumboot 458 475 A&M
4. Boomstick 577 Belted mag
5. TSJ 400/375 nitro

Trouble is, you can't tell if a reamer has been "damaged" until you try and cut a chamber...unless it's real obvious. Old time gunsmith, George Foreman out of Oakland CA, said: "I won't even let anyone else touch a reamer, let alone borrow one" I''m kind in the middle on this, and will lend/borrow only from well know professionals...doesn't take much to screw up a reamer...be careful!

Loaning Reamers to me would be like lending a chainsaw or girlfriend to my best friend. I know he would throw a rod in either one.

Longshot

I will only borrow reamers from one man on the face of this planet. He is also the only person I would even consider loaning a reamer to.

Have you searched this forum to see how many different ways folks chamber? Point being we all have different ideas of what is good and what is not so good. Reamers are fairly delicate objects and you want me to loan them out to some guy who won't even use his real name on the screen?

I have posted this before-the reamer drawer in my big ol' honkin' Gerstner 92 is overwhelmingly the most expensive drawer in the chest. I'll keep my reamers, throaters, and bushings off the list, if you don't mind.

I have one "on loan" right now! I'd also loan a reamer to a few here (like Jim Kobe for example) but it's more likely that he has so many he'd never ask for one!

Sadly, most of my reamers were purchased new and used only once!.....I think the best way to deal with them is to outright sell them. A comunity reamer supply will most certainly deteriorate to uselessness IMO.

quote:

I will only borrow reamers from one man on the face of this planet. He is also the only person I would even consider loaning a reamer to

ditto that Marc. I only lend to one gunsmith in my area. We have known each other for over thirty years & know each others abilities quite well.

Nerd 1: Oh, here ya go.
Snake: Uh, wallet inspector.

I appreciate the comments of the pro's; they already have all the common reamers, they take care of them, they use them again and again. I am talking about the non-gunsmith gun nuts, like me, who will probably get their wildcat made once, and then the reamer will reside in their drawer. Its not likely that many people will want to buy a bizarre wildcat reamer, and if they did, they wouldnt know about its condition either till they tried to cut a chamber or looked at it with a microscope. It is for people like these that the AR reamer library may come in handy. I will be happy to contriute my reamer, an if it cuts one more chamber for someone, thats better than it sitting in my drawer. if it gets destroyed.. well, maybe ican claim it in m taxes!

RGB and others have brought up good points, but I would like to see how many would consider chancing their reamer. After all, there are reamer renals, and they take the sam chances!

The list as it stands
1. Indlovu 500 A2
2. Pinotguy 8x68
3. Gumboot 458 475 A&M
4. Boomstick 577 Belted mag
5 TSJ 400/375 nitro
6 Terry Blauwkump

22-250

6mm Rem

243 win

25-06

257 Robts

270 win

6.5-06

7 x 57

300 Win Mag

300 Wby Mag with altered ( shortened throat)

30-06

338 Win Mag

35 Whelan

375 H&H

I have been trying to learn amateur gunsmithing for ~8 years, and have ~15 reamers.
That is an acquisition rate of about 2 per year.

.308
.243
.45acp throater
7.62x54 [shared]
257 Roberts Ackley [shared]
9x23mm Win
300 Win Mag
.223 .250" neck, short throat .050"
6mmBR .272" neck, short throat for 87 gr Vmax
30 Mauser
17Mach2
12 ga Rem Choke reamer
.469" straight fluted reamer[45acp benchrest]
.380" straight fluted reamer[357 mag benchrest]
22LR

Randy Ketchum of Lynwood Guns [ a REAL gunsmith ] has developed lots of wildcats and has elaborate tooling for making multi flute reamers.



I am just an amateur, I just buy reamers from Manson, Pacific, Clymer, and Brownells.

I wish Clymer would get their web site reamer design page going again.