School me on home chamber reaming

[flyinbrian]

What do I need for a DIY chamber reaming from .243 win to .243 win AI? Barrel is an 8 twist LW SS match on a Stevens 200 action. I have a hankerin' for a bit more velocity and am pretty much a DIY guy, so would like to accomplish this in my garage.

Actually I'd like to accomplish it in my living room as my wife needs another annoyance to help get her low blood pressure up.

Thanks in advance

 

[bheadboy]

fwiw, some years ago i had a 357m single action army, found a new 44special bbl in a Colt parts bin and got the hankering to convert.

i purchased roughing and finishing reamers that had a long pilot for the chamber/throat of the cylinder, and very slowly went to work, the pilot kept it inline, and after completing the 6 chambers installed the cylinder and set the clearance etc.

result, it shot very very well and i had a 44spcl.

later did the same with 357m smiths and 44 spcl bbls.

surely not a rifle, and no way to confirm technique on a rifle chamber using only the throat and a finishing reamer but i would not hesitate

Bob

 

[Ackman]

What do I need for a DIY chamber reaming from .243 win to .243 win AI? Barrel is an 8 twist LW SS match on a Stevens 200 action. I have a hankerin' for a bit more velocity and am pretty much a DIY guy, so would like to accomplish this in my garage.

Actually I'd like to accomplish it in my living room as my wife needs another annoyance to help get her low blood pressure up.

Thanks in advance

If this is a serious post.....don't screw around with that kind of thing. Have someone who knows what they're doing rechamber it correctly on a lathe. There are reasons for this.

 

[stacy]

I'M WITH ACKMAN LET SOMEONE DO IT THATS QUALIFED...........

 

[Tim Singleton]

Not to discount the work a quality gunsmith can do. I would not want to try and chamber a barrel from scratch. But going to an AI chamber or final chambering a short chambered barrel is something anyone with a good mechanical back ground can do.
Most of us aren't talking about chambering a full blown benchrest rifle. I have re chambered a couple of savages in 6br to Dashers with very good results
This video is very helpful and all you need to know.
Tim

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fVJo2i3hyvE&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DfVJo2i3hyvE

 

[DOGCAPPER]

Its not how far you will ream--- its the last 0.005 that counts. If you cannot measure depth in increments of 0.001-Let it alone...Burn the 243 barrel out then rebarrel to AI---It wont take long..LT

 

[KMart]

Here is a recent topic from the Gunsmithing section that kind of covers this. In this instance it seems that he had success.

http://forum.accurateshooter.com/index.php?topic=3814803.0

 

[Larryh128]

1st , you need to understand that a lathe is required to re-cut the shoulder & face off the barrel. Most of the time, you are eliminating 1 thread on the shank. This is nothing that you can do in your living room, unless it's a shop.

 

[Preacher]

No way will that ever happen in your living room, wife or not...
You will need to move the shoulder back a few thousandth to do what you want to do..
The old chamber will never clean up unless you do..

 

[flyinbrian]

Here is a recent topic from the Gunsmithing section that kind of covers this. In this instance it seems that he had success.

http://forum.accurateshooter.com/index.php?topic=3814803.0

Thanks very much for the link. Very interesting reading.

 

[ROCKJAG4]

send the barreled action to PREACHER, & know it will be done right. this is serious work. not parlor work. you could seriously hurt yourself or the people next to you. I have seen this happen first hand.

 

[paperpuncher]

As mentioned above you really want to set the barrel back enough to get the chamber cleaned up and the headspace set properly. A lathe will be required to do it properly

 

[msalm]

He does have the advantage of it being on a Savage action, setting back the barrel will be no problem with a barrel nut, but if the tolerance between the bolt face and the barrel itself isn't enough you may need a lathe to take a few thou off the barrel face. This really shouldn't be difficult for him to do himself as long as he understands the dimensions needed.

All he needs to do is ream with the AI reamer until the chamber is fully cleaned up, if it's a stainless barrel (I think he mentioned it was) coat the chamber with Dykem and ream until the shoulder area is just cleaned up (shiny). Then he just installs the barrel to proper headspace and ensures there is still .005 or better gap between the bolt face and barrel. Chances are good he can do this and not screw anything up, if he does ream too deep he'll have to have someone with a lathe face the barrel off a touch...of course there's some old timey gunsmiths that would just file the barrel off the needed amount using squares and such keeping everything square.

Of course I'd just use a lathe, but I have one...

I'd say go for it and learn a few things in the process.

 

[Tim Singleton]

He does have the advantage of it being on a Savage action, setting back the barrel will be no problem with a barrel nut, but if the tolerance between the bolt face and the barrel itself isn't enough you may need a lathe to take a few thou off the barrel face. This really shouldn't be difficult for him to do himself as long as he understands the dimensions needed.

All he needs to do is ream with the AI reamer until the chamber is fully cleaned up, if it's a stainless barrel (I think he mentioned it was) coat the chamber with Dykem and ream until the shoulder area is just cleaned up (shiny). Then he just installs the barrel to proper headspace and ensures there is still .005 or better gap between the bolt face and barrel. Chances are good he can do this and not screw anything up, if he does ream too deep he'll have to have someone with a lathe face the barrel off a touch...of course there's some old timey gunsmiths that would just file the barrel off the needed amount using squares and such keeping everything square.

Of course I'd just use a lathe, but I have one...

I'd say go for it and learn a few things in the process.

+1

Like I posted earlier. A lot of us are building our own rifles. That is why the savage is so appealing. Most of us are not trying to build a national champion rifle we are building our own stuff and learning along the way. Re chambering a barrel to an AI is a simple job with a T handle and reamer. Along with Go gauges. Your on your way. We really shouldn't make it out more than it is

 

[Spook]

this should prove to be interesting to say the least 8) please please please let us know how it turns out?

 

[markr]

I once watched a youtube video that showed me how to rebuild a chevy 350 and get 650 horsepower while watching tv in the living room......pretty neat!