Chamber Reamers

[Carl S]

I've purchased quite a few reamers from ptg over the years and bolts.the reamers have been excellent I've got to admit.no problems at all with shipping either.i haven't dealt with them for quite a few years now so I don't know what they are like now.Border ballistic technologies or ARC ballistics I deal with now.both make excellent reamers and tooling and both are excellent to deal with.UK companies.

 

[LVLAaron]

No doubt they can make a good product. I have one PTG reamer that cuts on TWO flutes. It does produce a match winning chamber though...

I've used two others that are one flute ferries though.

I probably like my manson reamer the best but hate that they use c clips and not screws to retain the pilots

 

[ridgeway]

I have reamers from Manson, PTG, JGS, Henriksen. All work great and make nice chambers. Reamer failure or outcome subpar...most likely it's user error.

As for all CNC, as far as I know, Hugh still makes all his stuff manually.

 

[Machinist John]

I have over 120 reamers of all makes. Recently ordered a 3 reamer set for 500 Jeffery (Rougher, resize, and Finish) Took about 5 months for delivery but they cut as expected.

When I first started buying reamers (over 25 years ago) delivery from PTG was less than two weeks. My how times have changed.

 

[DaveTooley]

I have reamers from Manson, PTG, JGS, Henriksen. All work great and make nice chambers. Reamer failure or outcome subpar...most likely it's user error.

As for all CNC, as far as I know, Hugh still makes all his stuff manually.

All specials and modified standards at Manson are backed off manually on a KO Lee.

 

[TylerFromMS]

Are there any videos besides the Croatian one on YouTube about how reamers are ground/made? Not having a machining background, this is something that’s really interesting to me and there isn’t much that I’ve found in the way of information.

 

[Machinist John]

The old digest book "Gunsmithing" by the NRA staff ( way back when NRA had a decent technical staff)
had a chapter on making reamers by Keith Francis. Lots of photos. This was manual before CNC appeared.
I bought it in the 1970's.

Hoffman's books show how to make reamers the cheap and dirty way, I have all of his books. His button rifling tool is a real hoot compared to those of the present quality barrel makers. He even ground his carbide buttons.

For those younger ones KOLee= tool and cutter grinder.

Speaking of the Croatians, I am tempted to buy a reamer from the Ukraine guys, but I am leery of sending money to a war zone. Nothing precise, just a 45-120 finish reamer. The Ukraine guys have them in stock.

 

[Dusty Stevens]

The old digest book "Gunsmithing" by the NRA staff ( way back when NRA had a decent technical staff)
had a chapter on making reamers by Keith Francis. Lots of photos. This was manual before CNC appeared.
I bought it in the 1970's.

Hoffman's books show how to make reamers the cheap and dirty way, I have all of his books. His button rifling tool is a real hoot compared to those of the present quality barrel makers. He even ground his carbide buttons.

For those younger ones KOLee= tool and cutter grinder.

Speaking of the Croatians, I am tempted to buy a reamer from the Ukraine guys, but I am leery of sending money to a war zone. Nothing precise, just a 45-120 finish reamer. The Ukraine guys have them in stock.

The croatian reamers are fine for a saami/cip cartridge. Good quality. Ebay has the best resellers. They are so far behind right now they will not do any custom work.

 

[DShortt]

The croatian reamers are fine for a saami/cip cartridge. Good quality. Ebay has the best resellers. They are so far behind right now they will not do any custom work.

Good to know. I'm planning a rebarrel of a .223 to a 300AAC and didn't really like the idea of renting. I tried that once and wasn't happy with the results.