I am looking for chamber reamers and headspace gauges in the following calibers and prefer not to pay new prices if folks have used ones in good shape they would like to part with.

.257 Roberts
6.5x55 Swede
.270 Winchester (I don't need gauges for this one)
.303 British
.357 Magnum

Good luck finding them.

IF you don't and need them.

I rented one from Kalispel, MT.

East to deal with, believe it cost $45 +
one way shipping.

George

Just curios, but do you need the gauges?

I have several hundred different reamers, some do have the full set of gauges, others have non.

I use a new case as a gauge, and never had any problems at all.

Built a 6mm Ackley a few weeks ago for a friend.

I used a 6mm Remington case to close the bolt on.

Once that was done, that is it.

The rifle shoots 1/4" groups consistently, and he is very happy with it.

For belted cartridges, I never use a Go gauge any more, just an empty case.

Again, I was worried at the beginning that some factory ammo will not chamber.

Never happened.

Saeed is right and I often use new brass as a gauge; I'm doing exactly that today on a 6.5x68 Sutler.
I do have some reamers for sale but none of those pest gun calibers. EK's definition,

Yeah...why have gages? Oh! gages are a STANDARD..something like buying a 1/2-13 nut in California and it will fit a 1/2-13 bolt made in Korea....safely...

Not for everyone; of course. I say all the time; Do Not do anything I do and do not read anything I say.

quote:

Originally posted by Duane Wiebe (CG&R):
Yeah...why have gages? Oh! gages are a STANDARD..something like buying a 1/2-13 nut in California and it will fit a 1/2-13 bolt made in Korea....safely...

Just can't argue with that.....hahaha

I second that comment, In view of what the industry is supplying as empty brass I would say that you are taking a big risk that you might be very disappointed with the results if you use the brass as a gauge heck I've been disappointed with the brass after having used a gauge as a gauge!

Standards are standards and any deviations means custom, custom chamber, custom dies, custom caliber, good luck with that especially if you are not a handloader!!!

Pay your money and take your chances.
BB

Ok, so if you are using ammo that varies that much then you will never have correct headspace.

Sent you a PM re 6.5 and 357

Some of you may remember the 416 Rigby in the old days...Gunsmiths had a ROUGH idea of dimension..Rough...as is the fact that most ammunition would not interchange with most chamberings...lack of standard! ...Until SAAMI accepted standard dimension in about 1989

The same was true with the 500 Jeffery..We can thank Art Alfin for leading the charge for standardization.

Ammo makers are under some intense pressure to make certain their product falls within all dimensional specs. Brass must be fit minimum chambers and reamer folks are again under pressure to make sure their reamers are ground to not exceed maximum dimension nor smaller than minumum.

That's why maximum brass must fit a minimum chamber and the chamber must not exceed maxiumum..The tolerances are not that great,

The gunsmith's role in all this is to carefully and sensibly cut the chamber with a trusted reamer. The only dimension he can control is headspace...That's why you gotta have a set of trusted gages.

quote:

Originally posted by Duane Wiebe (CG&R):
The gunsmith's role in all this is to carefully and sensibly cut the chamber with a trusted reamer. The only dimension he can control is headspace...That's why you gotta have a set of trusted gages.

I agree with Duane completely, I know I lived it with my 6mmBR, it changed while in it's infancy, prior to it being standardized of coarse after I had my rifle built.

Ahh OK, here you go Mr.Wiebe please build me my dream rifle of a lifetime that I saved my whole life to build and make sure to headspace it off the empty brass casings, I don't think so. hahaha
bb

quote:

Originally posted by dpcd:
Ok, so if you are using ammo that varies that much then you will never have correct headspace.

In a manner of speaking that is absolutely correct dp.
Headspace is a tolerance, there is a maximum and a minimum and everything in between is acceptable, it is the only way to have any kind of reliability. Without gauges to use as a datum we would not know where we are.
bb

Found reamers and gauges for .303
Found Reamers for .357 and 6.5x55

quote:

Originally posted by bigbull:

quote:

Originally posted by dpcd:
Ok, so if you are using ammo that varies that much then you will never have correct headspace.

In a manner of speaking that is absolutely correct dp.
Headspace is a tolerance, there is a maximum and a minimum and everything in between is acceptable, it is the only way to have any kind of reliability. Without gauges to use as a datum we would not know where we are.
bb

One must be willing to spend the bucks for proper tooling...goes with the business.