Chambering a barrel

I won't go into the whole list, but I can pretty well demonstrate that (unless you do the work yourself and don't count your time) to take an old military action and build a rifle the equivalent of an American factory sporting rifle will cost just as much or more than a Remington 700/Winchester 70/Ruger 77. A used sporting rifle will cost a lot less.

No one should get the idea of building a custom rifle to save money. You build a custom rifle to distribute chunks of your money through the American economy.

Jim
 
What Jim Said!

I could probably buy a couple of new remchesters for what I end up with turning an old Mauser into a decent sporter. Not near as much fun though!
 
chambering

Dear Shooter:
Listen to cntryboy 1289. Hand work was the originator of quality work. As I said, James V. Howe of Springfield arsenal (think I'm right on the arsenal) author of "The Modern Gunsmith" told of chambering and said, "A reamer will always follow a hole."
When building muzzle-loaders hand work is par-excellance" the art and fitting is splendid.
Where did schools originate? Generrally from one or more talented men who by their skill (not learned in a school) wanted to impart their knowledge to others!
Granted, chambering a bbl from a rifled blank all the way in is tough, but is is and can be done. I think cntryboy1289 is using "short chambered" barrels and that is the best practise to use - in a lathe you can get that reamer in too far too quick! I've done it! By hand for .010-.022 depth the hand method id the best.
Nor do you need an utterly mirror smooth cham,ber for you need that grip of the case on the walls to limit case head thrust on the bolt. We all learn (I do) by mistakes and we've ALL made them.
Good shooting and fiddling!
Harry b. :)
 
I am so glad to know that those of us that use lathes are wasting our time. Every bench rest gunsmith I have herd of chambers on a lathe. What a horrible waste of time. Yo9u should tell the folks over at Benchrest they are wasting there time doing it this way.

" When building muzzle-loaders hand work is par-excellance" [sic] the art and fitting is splendid. "

I have yet to see a 0.2 MOA muzzleloader.

I use a pilot and a holder 9floating) that lets the reamer follow the bore (not just 'a hole'). A chamber cut by hand is going to exhibit more run out and eccentricity than one cut using a lathe. I spent more than 25 years in aerospace design and engineering. Reaming holes by hand is about the lowest level of accuracy allowed, and is usually used for holes that will be taped since threads are more tolerant of eccentricity.

The floating holder for a reamer is intended to make up for the last few thousandths of error in the machinery. It still holds the reamer parallel to the bore.

But of course the benchrest smiths have no idea how to cut the best chamber possible…
 
Not to throw massage oil on this love fest, but we use a CNC lathe to chamber..we taper our own blanks too

WildfloatingpilotAlaska
 
Lol

I do use short chambered barrels most of the time and use a good many Shilen barrels and use my lathe to face off the barrel to headspace it. I have seen quite a few barrels chambered too deep with a lathe, like I said earlier, it just makes sense to check with a no-go gauge.

The original thread was about the cost of having a blank contoured and fitted, not about the benchrest gunsmiths and there quality versus a smith doing work by hand. I applaud you for your work if you have ever done any. You remarked that you would never spend a penny on a rifle built by hand. That is fine and dandy. I haven't been a machinist, but I have been smithing for several years now. Sir, I would suggest to you that just because a barrel is done on a lathe doesn't necessarily make it more accurate. I have seen many barrels done on lathes that were set up wrong to begin with and were cut off centerline with the bore. I would suggest that a lathe is only as accurate as the man who sets it up. The pilot on the chambering reamer will follow the bore and will provide accuracy as long as it was machined correctly. A reamer that is cut incorrectly will cut incorrectly whether it is used in a lathe or done by hand.

To put the matter to rest, let's just show what our rifles will do. You take any rifle you own that has been smithed by your benchrest smith and I will take one that I have built and we shoot them and post the results. Shoot it at 100 yds at a benchrest target and shoot all 25 targets and score them and post a pic of the target. I should have time this week to shoot and post mine. Good luck to you!
 
chambering

Dear Shooters:
Muzzle-loader accuracy; oh! yes! There has never been a modern rifle built that would equal the accuracy of a fine muzzle-loader!
At 220 yards Warner would, for practise, sign the W of his last name on the target - I have the target picture!
Cntryboy1289 is taking flack wrongly shooters. He is using "short chambered" barrels and this is a very correct practise on those barrels.
I ask; how many lathes have no run-out radially? How many of you have a lathe with a 3 or 4 jaw chuck with no axial or radial run-out - how many know how to test that. Headstocks on even fine lathes are not alweys aligned properly. Rare is a 3 jaw chuck, or a 4 jaw in alignment !
When you do this "short chambering" by hand you elimanate all run-out! A lathe uaually uses for chambering a "floating-head" reamer holder - even Douglas barrels uses a floating head reamer holder! Why? I'll tell you - because NO lathe is perfectly aligned unless done by a PROFESSIONAL ALIGNMENT TECHNICIAN!
Enough said.
Now, abnout muzzle-loader accuracy - I want to see ANY modern "tack driver bench rest abortion" sign their last name initial like Warner did! As the old gunsmith said, "there aint no such animule."
You measure your groups over a month - then average them - a rifle that will shoot a ragged hole at 100 meters may, over the course of that month open up to 1"! A five shot group proves nothing, but over a month of shooting every-day at the same range WILL prove what it actually do.
Do not despise hand-work; it is the finest!
Harry B. :)
 
In response to the request for info on barrel and action work, you might take a look at the information in John Hinnant's book on barrel and action work ... The Complete Illustrated Guide to Precision Rifle Barrel Fitting -Third Edition” by John L. Hinnant!

It is a very well informed look at the how-to of barrel and action work... well worth a look!

I know John personally, and he is a dedicated and experienced machinist with many years experience in his craft! His book is excellent in my view! :)

For those interested .. here is the link... good luck

http://www.saubier.com/smallcaliber/barrelbookreview.html

DW
 
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