Jud96
Site $$ Sponsor
I posted about this in a separate thread on getting my lathe setup for chambering, but I thought it would be a good idea to make a new thread on the adjustable reamer stop I made. This whole project began when I was considering my options for how to control the depth of my reamer on my lathe. My lathe doesn’t have .001 graduations on the tailstock, and my tailstock is round so attaching an indicator or something similar to precisely measure depth wasn’t simple. Then I saw a post about an adjustable reamer stop and I decided to make my own version that I thought would be simpler and work with a wide array of rifle chambering reamers and a variety of reamer holders. It kills two birds with one stone, gives me an accurate way to control reamer depth and is another layer of protection so I don’t ream too deep!
I made this reamer stop so it will work with everything from 223 Remington up to 338 Lapua without needing separate length stop collars. The reamer shank passes through the body of the reamer stop and there’s a 10-32 set screw to lock the stop to the reamer. The reamer shank then goes into your reamer holder so the stop has no influence on the reamer other than to act as a stop. The “lock nut” is engraved with .001 increments and each revolution is .025 with every .005 having a longer line. The body of the reamer stop is threaded most of the way and it has a flat milled on top with a reference line running the full length so you have a lot of adjustability for different length reamers. I also added a 10-32 brass set screw to the “stop collar” to prevent the collar from accidentally coming loose or possibly over tightening when it’s pressed up against the barrel tenon. The threaded body is also counterbored to allow more rearward travel of longer reamers so the stop is able to be adjusted far enough out to still work with setting headspace.
I CNC machined every part so I can make many of these fast and repeatable if I decide to do that. This reamer stop is a simple 3 piece system that has been working well so far. I don’t get to chamber on the clock at work, so I gave it to our chambering guy and he’s used it to chamber about 10 barrels so far. It’s nothing new, but I think it’s a great tool for chambering and in my opinion a simplified yet still affective piece.
Pictures show the reamer stop in action, it happens to be upside down in the first photo because I wanted to show the brass set screw that prevents the stop collar from moving unexpectedly. The second photo is the reamer stop without a reamer but has a 0.437 pin gauge in it I was using for checking the through hole dimension. The third photo is showing the stop collar adjusted towards the end of its travel, the counterbore in the the body of the reamer stop, and the 0.4375 reamed through hole.
I made this reamer stop so it will work with everything from 223 Remington up to 338 Lapua without needing separate length stop collars. The reamer shank passes through the body of the reamer stop and there’s a 10-32 set screw to lock the stop to the reamer. The reamer shank then goes into your reamer holder so the stop has no influence on the reamer other than to act as a stop. The “lock nut” is engraved with .001 increments and each revolution is .025 with every .005 having a longer line. The body of the reamer stop is threaded most of the way and it has a flat milled on top with a reference line running the full length so you have a lot of adjustability for different length reamers. I also added a 10-32 brass set screw to the “stop collar” to prevent the collar from accidentally coming loose or possibly over tightening when it’s pressed up against the barrel tenon. The threaded body is also counterbored to allow more rearward travel of longer reamers so the stop is able to be adjusted far enough out to still work with setting headspace.
I CNC machined every part so I can make many of these fast and repeatable if I decide to do that. This reamer stop is a simple 3 piece system that has been working well so far. I don’t get to chamber on the clock at work, so I gave it to our chambering guy and he’s used it to chamber about 10 barrels so far. It’s nothing new, but I think it’s a great tool for chambering and in my opinion a simplified yet still affective piece.
Pictures show the reamer stop in action, it happens to be upside down in the first photo because I wanted to show the brass set screw that prevents the stop collar from moving unexpectedly. The second photo is the reamer stop without a reamer but has a 0.437 pin gauge in it I was using for checking the through hole dimension. The third photo is showing the stop collar adjusted towards the end of its travel, the counterbore in the the body of the reamer stop, and the 0.4375 reamed through hole.
