Easiest round to cut a chamber for

[Hamo]

I was going to try and cut my own chambers and fit my own barrels. is there any caliber that is easier than another. I would assume the smaller rounds like a .223 rem would be the easier, and the bigger the round the harder it would be.

I have an old .30 cal barrel, and a rifle chambered for a .22-250 so thought a good place to start would be making a .308 win switch barrel project.

what are your thoughts. Keep in mind i have machining experience, but safety is my main concern - i dont want to screw up and have the thing blow up in my face

 

[Kenny474]

Consider finding a local smith that will allow you to spend a day working with him and let him show you how he threads and chambers barrels. It will answer a lot of questions and be about the best way to learn.

There are some that run classes that you can pay to attend as well. Gordy Gritters does 2 day classes that cover certain areas, like his "extreme accuracy chambering" class. A bit pricey though.
http://www.extremeaccuracyinstitute.com/gunsmithingclasses.html

He also sells videos, such as "chambering a championship match barrel", that may answer many of your questions and give you a good idea of the process.
http://www.extremeaccuracyinstitute.com/gunsmithingvideosdvds.html

Gre-Tan (Greg Tannel) sells a few videos as well.

As far as machining a bigger chamber being more difficult, I don't think so. I am still very new to this as well, having only chambered a handful of barrels, but I haven't felt that anything "standard size" (.308/.30-06) was any worse than the smaller .223 or 22BR/6BR size rounds. You do remove more metal, and it may take a bit longer because of that, but the process is still very much the same.

Like I said though, I am very new at this, and maybe after years of experience the smaller chambers may be easier. But right now, I still sweat bullets praying the reamer doesn't chatter or have some other issue. ;D

If you have any questions, just find one of the smiths on the forum and see if they can give you a hand and answer some questions. Most here are willing to help and will take a few minutes and explain stuff to you.

Good luck

Kenny

 

[Preacher]

Like Kenny mentioned, the only difference in chambering a long caliber (338 RUM) or a short one (6MM BR) is the time involved in doing the cutting, nothing else..
Both will need your undieing attention to the measuring details that will make or break the job..

 

[Dgd6mm]

Darrell Holland has some verygood videos. He is like Greg, leaves no stone unturned.

 

[Preacher]

If you want a great chambering video check out the one Richard Franklin put out..

 

[Larryh128]

Big part is to do your research first, don't take more than about 30 thou without cleaning the reamer & chamber etc. Good cutting fluid & lots of it. A floating reamer holder is nice & make sure to indicate on the bore & not the OD. Check often & turn the cell off. Not hard if you have machining experience.

 

[Hamo]

Thanks for your help everyone. I've read the book "the complete illustrated guide to precision rifle barrel fitting" by John Hinnant and found it to be a very useful resource on setting up and cutting the chamber. What you dont get from the book is feed rates and the time takend to perform these sort of tasks. A video is a really good idea.

I've tried to read as many resources as i can, but find that everyones opinion on how to chamber a barrel is so different in terms of through the headstock/between centers and weather to use a floating reamer holder or not im a little overwhelmed.

Essentially i'm forced to use the through the headstock method for holding the barrel as my lathe is only 650mm between centers, but has a 35mm bore through the headstock. This decision is pretty easy.

As for a floating reamer holder, everything i read says that its good, but not essential. In my opinion, its just another thing to go wrong in a first attempt, so ill just use a dead center to hold the reamer in place. I intend to cut the whole chamber with the finish reamer, taking 20 or 30 thou at a time, and using lots of good quality lubricant, and set the lathe to around 100 rpm.

As far as i can tell, this is a pretty standard way to cut a chamber, and i can see little (apart from chatter) which can go wrong as long as i center the barrel properly. The first few attempts i just want a functioning barrel, and although i am hoping for match quality, i know these sorts of things take practice, so ill just use old target barrels on hunting rifles, or cheap barrels for the first few until i get the hang of it

I tried to find a course, but i'm in Australia, and there is little in the way of gunsmithing courses (or gunsmiths) for that matter. Just getting my last rifle re-barrelled took 3 months and half of that was just getting him on the phone.

From what i have read the best and easiest way to center the tailstock is to put a dial indicator on the headstock, and indicate just inside of the morse taper in the tailstock, until there is minimal runout. Is this good enough, or is it better to turn a blank between centers until it is perfectly parallel.

 

[Bnhpr]

A machine tool course with emphasis on manual lathe operation makes chambering a breeze.