i understand gunsmiths being reluctant to share reamers: they can be abused
Really hard to abuse go no go guages.
Should we establish a "GUAGE CENTRAL"? all AR members in good standing should be able to borrow guages.
I have go no go guages for 9.3x66 to contribute if such an exchange is established.
Should we have a central repository for guages? any gunsmith volunteer?

quote:

Originally posted by emron:
i understand gunsmiths being reluctant to share reamers: they can be abused
Really hard to abuse go no go guages.
Should we establish a "GUAGE CENTRAL"? all AR members in good standing should be able to borrow guages.
I have go no go guages for 9.3x66 to contribute if such an exchange is established.
Should we have a central repository for guages? any gunsmith volunteer?

What does "in good standing" have to do with borrowing anything? Reamer rental companies rent them. They get a credit card number in case those "in good standing" damage or forget to return them. That is how it should be.

I agree with Westpac; no reason to go into competition with legitimate businesses.

Now, if someone here wanted to start a rental business I say "go for it". That's free enterprise, something that is seeing its value decresing in current White House cricles.

For me borrowing is not worth the hassle, it only costs ~$20 to buy a Go gauge and that is all I use for chambering. I have contemplated renting reamers before but again it seems to be a hassle. I want to take my time chambering and not feel hurried. So I have always bought reamers and gauges.

It sounds like a good idea for all of us to band together but in practice I don’t think that it will work.

Just my 2 cents. take it for what it is worth....

I have to agree with Westpac and Toomany Tools. First they are "in the business" and might need their gauges when the next customer walks through the door. As an individual, I won't need mine (16 different sets) until the next project. However, having spent my hard earned dollars on them, I am selfish and therefore reserve the right to determine who I might loan them to if I was so inclined. The standard of "in good standing" could mean one thing to you and something else to me. I would consider all those who I have bought something from and sent my money and received something from to be in good standing with me. I can't say that the reverse would be 100% true simply because I can't speak for others.

IMHO, if someone needed a set of gauges, they could submit a borrow/rent/buy thread and then go off the response and look at what the rental companies want for a price guide. I do that when looking for reamers. It may be cheaper to rent a known good sharp reamer for one chamber than gamble on an unknown one, unless buying new, that may need sharpening or be out of spec etc. etc.

Just my .02 YMMV.
TH

I like having tools on hand And telling a customer I have to "borrow" a tool makes it sound like you you don't have your act together.

I can see having to rent or buy a reamer but $50-$60 for a set of standard gages come on.
Then take into consideration that some gages cover a wide range of cartridges that means you don't have to have one for every caliber you build. it gets easier to own your own gages.
I just buy them as I need them and chock it up as the cost of doing business

Anyone need a set of 7x57 ones, or a 257 robts finish reamer, new?

I used to rent reamers, at least for the more exotic chamberings, but eventually found that I could usually buy the reamer outright and then sell it later for less of a total $ expense than if I had rented it. Plus, selling it later allows some other poor aspiring smith to get a bargain!

Gauges? I've got less than a dozen sets that cover 99% of my needs, no use for any rental/borrowing service, sorry.

I WOULD be interested in some sort of location where we could trade/swap/buy/sell chamber reamers, though. I need 2 or 3 right now....
Regards, Joe

There is one.

The reamer sharing co-op is a group of us who combine our reamers and headspace gauges and make them available to others within the group.
To join the reamer sharing co-op you must send in a reamer or a set of headspace gauges or both and then you are a vested member and have access to all the reamers and gauges in the co-op.
Once you become a member you will be invited to join the Yahoo reamer sharing co-op group. This is where a lot of our communications takes place.
As a member of the co-op you can contact me and I will send you the reamer and or gauges that you need for you project. It will cost $10.00 to have a reamer and gauges shipped to you ($6.50 for shipping and insurance and $3.50 goes into the sharpening fund)
If you are interested in joining, or if you have any questions please feel free to e-mail me for more information.
Mike Case
Chasmike@yahoo.com

Who maintains the reamers?

I believe Mike does and inspects them and gets them sharpened if needed. But I don't belong to the group so I don't know for sure. I copied that from another source. The people I know that uses it has no issues with the reamers. But I just buy a reamer when needed. I don't need them very often, less than once a year. At that rate it doesn't cost that much to own them.
Don