Need a new barrel soon - chamber question?

[thefitter]

Very soon I will need a new barrel. I want to have the chamber cut so that I can go back to feeding from a AICS magazine. My handloads are so long I need to single feed.

But, I still want to be able to jam into the lands. I have been told to buy my own custom reamer. I have been told to load a round exactly the magazine length I want and send it to someone who cuts the reamer.

After that I buy the barrel and send it and the reamer to a gunsmith to fit?

Am I close? I'd love someone to walk me through the details. Thanks

REM 700 .308 SPS

 

[alf]

That works the way you describe it, as long as you want to shoot that cartridge and set up, and own your own reamer.

A lot of smiths just order a reamer with zero or minimal freebore and have a separate throating reamer, and can throat to your specs. You might wanna look at that aspect too.

 

[thefitter]

Thanks.

 

[TonyR]

Owning your own reamer is a big advantage if you think you will end up shooting the same case in multiple barrels either on one gun or on more than one gun because you can match your reamer to your dies or your dies to your reamer and your cases will always fit properly. I've specd reamers both ways: custom dies from fired cases or a reamer cut to fit a set of standard dies. PTG makes the reamers for some of the die manufacturers and I have had them make me a couple of reamers to fit off-the-shelf dies and was very pleased with the results. The short throat idea is also good because it lets you adapt your chamber to different bullets that you might want to use at some point. I have my own reamer for all of the cases I shoot and it is nice to know that a case fired in one gun or barrel will chamber in any of the others without F/L sizing.

 

[thefitter]

Owning your own reamer is a big advantage if you think you will end up shooting the same case in multiple barrels either on one gun or on more than one gun because you can match your reamer to your dies or your dies to your reamer and your cases will always fit properly. I've specd reamers both ways: custom dies from fired cases or a reamer cut to fit a set of standard dies. PTG makes the reamers for some of the die manufacturers and I have had them make me a couple of reamers to fit off-the-shelf dies and was very pleased with the results. The short throat idea is also good because it lets you adapt your chamber to different bullets that you might want to use at some point. I have my own reamer for all of the cases I shoot and it is nice to know that a case fired in one gun or barrel will chamber in any of the others without F/L sizing.

I appreciate the response.

Please bear with me, some of my questions might be rudimentary.

Isn't the chamber part of the new barrel? I want to spec a new chamber dimension. I do not want this long sloppy factory chamber. I would like one shorter and tighter. (Boy, Freud would have something to say about that statement. 8) )
So I would not want to use a case fired in this chamber right?

Thanks

 

[rcw3]

I assume this is a .308 Win chambering, so what bullet will you anticipate shooting and at what OAL do you need it to be? I may be able to give you a very good handle right away on your reamer design.

 

[TonyR]

fitter. I'm sure Robert will have some good advice. You are correct about your fired brass. I recently speced a reamer by measuring the new cases and allowing for a small amount of clearance. This particular case will get custom dies because it is a shortened version of a much larger case, but I believe that it is possible to buy commercial dies called "small base die" that aren't sized for the sloppy chamber. You might want to ask about those for the 308.

 

[thefitter]

I assume this is a .308 Win chambering, so what bullet will you anticipate shooting and at what OAL do you need it to be? I may be able to give you a very good handle right away on your reamer design.

I'm thinking Berger 185 Target VLD

2.88 would be OAL

 

[Reddrum]

2.88 -- Man You gotta love AI mags!!!

I would take a long hard look @ the Berger 185 Match Boat Tail / Tangent Ogive -- Slightly higher BC than the VLD and they jump MUCH better!!!!!!!
Sorry to side step your thread but I felt this was info you should at least consider

 

[thefitter]

2.88 -- Man You gotta love AI mags!!!

I would take a long hard look @ the Berger 185 Match Boat Tail / Tangent Ogive -- Slightly higher BC than the VLD and they jump MUCH better!!!!!!!
Sorry to side step your thread but I felt this was info you should at least consider

No problem thanks. I'm trying to eliminate the need of bullets to jump.

 

[Reddrum]

You are missing My point -- This is the bullet that has WON national and international F-T/R matches for the last few years!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! F-T/R = 308Win.

 

[thefitter]

You are missing My point -- This is the bullet that has WON national and international F-T/R matches for the last few years!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! F-T/R = 308Win.

I did not know that. I thought all the pros used custom bullets.

They are in stock at Powder Valley. Which weight? I've been wanting to try some heavier bullets like 185 or 190. Thanks

 

[Reddrum]

The bullet is a Berger 185 Match Boat tail -- I think it has a .282G7 / .551G1

Some of the F-T/R guys shoot a 155 but they are shooting long barrels.

 

[thefitter]

I'm waiting for PV to get some powder in, when they do I'm going to order some of those Bergers also. Thanks