First rebarrel job 6.5-06 M70

[Danny1788]

I finally got all my ducks in a row after many hours of practice and buying tooling. First barrel to practice was a cheap green mountain 6.5mm barrel will be finished at 25.5", threaded 1" 16tpi for a M70 LA. I have a few more kinks to work out with my flush system before chambering it in 6.5-06 but hopefully next week ill get it chanmbered and crowned.

I built the outboard spider and used a bald eagle spider plate on the spindle. I used a range rod and dialed the barrel into .0004" TIR, took me about 4hours total so i called it good at .0004"TIR. Turned down the tenon to .995" then threaded it 16tpi. Came back and squared up the shoulder with a sharp threading insert to get rid of the small radius my HSS cutter left. I think it turned out pretty good.

 

[Dusty Stevens]

Nice work. Keep us posted on your results

 

[Danny1788]

Thanks Dusty,

On another note what RPM do you typical run with a flush system? 120RPM or faster? My flush system has a cheap pump max 80psi so i hope it will be enough.

 

[Dusty Stevens]

I have no clue. I only know of a few people using one and theyre all on the net i havent seen the setups in person. Rustystud will chime in hopefully. Hes the one id go to with any flush questions. Maybe someday i can slow down enough to get one going. I have all the stuff but lost interest after trying to figure out a breadpan on my southbend lathes for 2 days. I bought stuff, made a nice aluminum one and still had issues. That was back in the flush system's infancy ive seen a few solutions and got some ideas from one of my heroes.

 

[Dusty Stevens]

Oh, did you groove the bushing screw for oil flow?

 

[Danny1788]

Oh, did you groove the bushing screw for oil flow?

No I didn't , I have seen them but haven't cut mine yet. Also this practice barrel with be cut with a solid pilot reamer. Can you use a solid pilot and a flush system?

 

[shortgrass]

You can, but you'll not realize the benifits without the coolant grooves. Pressure will increase when the pilot is in the bore, as the coolant has nowhere to go but through the rifling grooves. Solid pilots can be grooved, too,,,, but why bother, removable pilots are the way to go. On mine, the stem where the removable pilots rides on the reamer are grooved. I never run over 40psi, too messy. 40psi will clear the cuttings with a reamer withdrawn as needed. No need to clean out the chamber or brush the cuttings from the reamer,,, the flow of the flush system will do that for you. Still, actual cutting time has been reduced by 2/3 to 3/4 of the time it used to take. Faster cutting doen't degrade chamber quality as long as the 'basics' are followed to begin with. 120 RPM would be a place to start, but you can turn faster. Depends on the tool and the material. A flush system really isn't needed by someone who only chambers once in a while. Where "time is money" it makes a difference.

 

[Danny1788]

You can, but you'll not realize the benifits without the coolant grooves. Pressure will increase when the pilot is in the bore, as the coolant has nowhere to go but through the rifling grooves. Solid pilots can be grooved, too,,,, but why bother, removable pilots are the way to go. On mine, the stem where the removable pilots rides on the reamer are grooved. I never run over 40psi, too messy. 40psi will clear the cuttings with a reamer withdrawn as needed. No need to clean out the chamber or brush the cuttings from the reamer,,, the flow of the flush system will do that for you. Still, actual cutting time has been reduced by 2/3 to 3/4 of the time it used to take. Faster cutting doen't degrade chamber quality as long as the 'basics' are followed to begin with. 120 RPM would be a place to start, but you can turn faster. Depends on the tool and the material. A flush system really isn't needed by someone who only chambers once in a while. Where "time is money" it makes a difference.

Shortgrass thanks for your input very useful info. So should i not even waste my time with the flush system?

The 6.5-06 is the only reamer i have that is a solid pilot, the others i have are piloted.

Now onto a really big question should i prebore? I know it will save time and tool life of the reamer, But im just a simple "Garage Warrior" I dont really care if i only get a few chamberings out of one reamer becuase im not cutting enough barrels to even make a difference.

 

[shortgrass]

If I wasn't making a sizable chunk of change doing gunsmith machining I probably wouldn't have set-up a flush system. Have that solid pilot reamer altered for removable pilots (Dave Mansons' turnaround time was about 2 weeks, last time I checked). You'd be surprised how much damage a solid pilot reamer can do to the rifling just ahead of the throat. I pre-bore so that the pilot has about 1/8" engagement with the bore and the shoulder (of the reamer) is engaged with the barrel. IMO, pre-boring is not so much about wear on your tooling as it is being lined-up directly with the bore. Others may disagree, that's JMO.

 

[Danny1788]

I fully understand what your saying with the pre boring to make it concentric, but can you tell a difference? I'm using a jgs floating reamer holder so will it matter?

 

[shortgrass]

I'm not familiar with the JGS reamer holder, so I don't know. That's the way we were taught in gunsmithing school 24 yrs. ago. We 'dialed in' with long reach indicators as grizzley rods hadn't come to be, then. I do know that I don't care for a 'spider' in place of a qulity made and mounted 4 jaw chuck. Maybe I'm uninformed or just not up on the "latest and greatest", but it looks like a prime opportunity for the barrel to slip,,,,, and once it slips.......... Looks more like gimick to me, instead of straight forward machining practice. But, what do I know...........