Rechambering process

Lanmanb4 · Jul 11, 2003

Hi all .. I'm fairly new at this , 3 barrels so far.
I was wondering in which order you all prefer
to do the rechambering of a rifle barrel.
I have the Darrel Holland video ..
But have since watching it heard of other methods.
So I thought it would be good to get others opinions .
Myself . I setup the barrel with a spider that uses a plastic collar to indicate the bore at the muzzle end, and then indicate if its needed ( set-tru chuck ) at the chamber end ..
I then turn the shank, then predrill the chamber, then counterbore ( Remington 600 , 700, 7 ) then thread, then ream the chamber
with a finishing reamer on a floating reamer holder..

Whats everyone else do? Or do thats different or better? Always willing to learn
newer and better ways..

Thanks

Randy

Kurt Westfall · Jul 11, 2003

I do it much the same way as you with one exception. I use a indicater rod, it takes the same polits as the reamer, and just indicate the chamber end with two indicators on the rod. If that makes any sense.

Butch Lambert · Jul 12, 2003

Kurt, I agree. If you are chambering in the headstock with a spider on the back or left hand side, you indicate the deltronic pin next to the chamber end of the barrel with your chuck adjustment and move out to the far right side of your indicating pin and adjust your cathead on the lefthand side of your headstock.I drill, bore, and ream the chamber. I set up the same way to cut my crown. Thebarrelman

Gator · Jul 13, 2003

Kurt:
Did you make your own indicator rods or purchase them?
What length are your indicator rods?
Have made some for myself and am wondering if I made them correctly and if they are long enough or too long to indicate for rechambering.
I don't have a taper attachment so I offset the tailstock to make a taper on the rods which I made out of O-1.

Thanks.
Larry

Lanmanb4 · Jul 13, 2003

You make yours out of O-1 and stick them in the rifling? hmmmm .. I suppose if you are careful ..

I made mine out of what I believe is
copper-nickle .. harder than brass, which I
have made them out of too .. but softer than the bore .. I am curious how far up the indicating rod you do your indicating ..
I figured right at the bore is good enough ..
Thanks again everyone for all the help and info.

Randy

Kurt Westfall · Jul 13, 2003

Gator, I buy mine from Pacifc Tool phone 541-826-5808 Ask for Dave Kiff. They have two stiles, one is the indicater rod for unchambered barrels, about 4" long and a range rod for chambered barrels, around 6" long. Theres about 2" of rod that sticks out the barrel, one indicater is at the barrel and the other is at the end of the rod. I buy my rods because for what they cost I can't make them as true as Dave can, and my chambers/ crowns are only as good as the tools I use. I would be glad to send you a pic, just post a e-mail ad.

[This message has been edited by Kurt Westfall (edited 07-13-2003).]

Gator · Jul 14, 2003

Randy:
I am like you - I don't like to put any hard steel in my bore but in the case of Rechambering - the throat is going to be cut away anyhow. I use live pilot reamers only and make new pilots from brass to fit snug and also use brass pilots on the indicator rod. As for the gage pins to indicate the muzzle or breech I grind the sharp ends off as not to scratch the bore.

Kurt:
Thanks for the info. I didn't know Pacific Tool has indicator rods. I have talked to Dave Kiff several times since 90% of my reamers came from him. Next reamer I order I will purchase an indicator rod also.
My experience with the indicator rods is the same as I have heard from others, which are that after indicating chamber in, take the indicator rod out and reinstall it, check indicator reading and it will not be the same. But I haven't had any excessive chamber run out - maybe using a floating reamer holder is eliminating the run out?
I would be very glad to see a pic of your setup.
Thanks for the info.

Larry
[email protected]

rwaller · Jul 19, 2003

Kurt,
I would be interested in a picture as well.
Ron
[email protected]

Lanmanb4 · Jul 19, 2003

I use a floating reamer holder as well ..
I was given one from Brownells ..
I didn't like the design and redesigned it.
I like it much better now ..
I believe it helps improve runout quite a bit. I just finished some practice runs
chambering 6PPC and 6BR and both chambers
had runout of .0003 or less ..
I can take pictures of the floating reamer holder if anyone is interested ..

Lanmanb4 · Jul 24, 2003

Can I get more info on chambering using the steady rest .. I normally use a spider .. and put the barrel thru the headstock .. but this barrel is too short .. so I need to use the steady rest ..
I assume a lathe dog is being used?
or can I put a teflon bushing over the muzzle end of the barrel and chuck that .. doesn't seem like it would be lined up well enough that way though .. It would be a set tru chuck .. but the other thing I would worry about that way is the barrel slipping in the bushing during threading ..
Anyways.. how does everyone else do it ?

Kurt Westfall · Jul 25, 2003

First off I'am not well versed in the use of a steady, now that said here is how I have done a few. First get a pice of steel, any round will do, chuck it up with a inch or so sticking out, does not have to be centered too good, turn a 60 deg center point on it this will be your headstock center. Next is a lathe dog, and the barrel between centers, cut your threads, and true a spot on both ends, one to indecate the muzzle end and one for the steady to run on. 3 remove the center you turned and chuck the barrel, with the tail stock in place, so your between the chuck and tail stock, indecate the muzzle in, set the steady up, move the tail stock and chamber.

Lanmanb4 · Jul 25, 2003

I'm not sure I understood that ..
Can you give that to me again in the
"rechambering for dummies" book version?

Kurt Westfall · Jul 26, 2003

I will try, you turn the headstock center in place, so it will be true on the center line. Put on the lathe dog and the barrel between centers, the one you turned and the tailstock live center. Cut the threads, and true a place on the barrel for the steady to run, and one to indecate the muzzle end when it is chucked up. Chuck the muzzle of the barrel in your 4/3/6 jaw with the tailstock center in the chamber end, indecate the muzzle in on the section you trued. Set up the steady on the other section back by the threads that you trued up. Plane as mud? Now there is another way, get a pice of pipe long enough to hold in the chuck and hold your barrel inside, drill and tap four places near the one end just like your spider, then drill and tap four more inline with the first four somewere near were the muzzle will be. Then with the pipe in the chuck and steady you can use it just like a through the headstock set up, but you can only indecate one end, and it is a week set up so use very light cuts, and you still need to be sure its in line with the tailstock center.

[This message has been edited by Kurt Westfall (edited 07-25-2003).]

GRUNING · Jul 26, 2003

I was told when serving my apprenticeship years ago, that if you ask 3 machinist to machine a hole into a piece of steel, each one will do it different. I indicate using a test indicator the bore and grooves on both sides (breech & muzzle). This will also give you an idea if the barrel maker put the grooves in the middle of the bore. I use a Buck adjustable chuck on the breech and spider on the back side of spindal for muzzle. I like the chuck because unlike a 4 jaw you tighten the jaws uniformally and adjust the chuck location.This allows for even pressure on the jaws. I indicate the tailstock in and use a dead center and driver for reaming. I know this might take some getting use to, but give it a try you might like it. You can use a .ooo1 indicator and really get intense.

rws · Jul 28, 2003

For chambering short barrels through the headstock, I was faced with the same problem when shortening a XP-100 barrel. The OAL couldn't be over 18" from boltface. It was a HV taper barrel, so I had plenty of stock to work with.

I took a piece of 1-1/4" cold rolled, threaded the inside of one end for the 1-1/16" action threads. The other end (the cold rolled was about 12" long)I threaded the inside for 7/8" thread.

Putting the barrel between centers, I threaded the muzzle end for the 7/8". Now I could screw the "extension" onto the end of the barrel and had plenty of length to go through the headstock. I set the barrel back what I needed and chambered it. I wanted to loose the length of the barrel on the chamber end for a fresh leade. Flipped it around screwing the action threads into the other end of the extension, and crowned it. Then made a false "cap" for the threaded barrel end out of a barrel drop and screwed it on the barrel. All you could see was the faint joint of the threads on the end of the barrel if you finished the OD of the barrel properly.

This is just one method I used, but it did a fine job. I hate steady rests, I've never been able to indicate a barrel with a steady rest close enough for my tastes.

Lanmanb4 · Aug 6, 2003

RWS ... I know ... I'm not exactly a steady rest fan either .. but many people swear by them .. ( I just swear at them LOL )
I have to say though .. a couple of ideas
have helped .. one is to modify the posts to use ballbearings... the other .. which I used recently and liked was to take emery paper .. ( shop roll ) and put in in between the steady rest posts and the workpiece and oil it up good .. that works great for me for crowning at least .. not tried it chambering ..

The short barrel problem .. one thing I tried that seems good to go .. is I turn a piece of teflon rod .. it has to be soft enough and elastic enough to stretch just a
little .. but not soft it distorts ..
and I bore out a hole in it about the size of my muzzle .. then I make the outside diameter the size of the ID of the spindle bore .. actually just shy of it .. so I can slip it into the spindle bore without toooo much trouble .. then I insert the barrel from the chuck , into the teflon bushing and hold the bushing into place with a piece of pipe .. then as I push the tapered barrel into the bushing, the pushing expands and holds onto the spindle bore ..
That seems to be enough to hold it there..
Prolly not the most accurate method ..
but when I turn the lathe on and look into the back of the spindle I don't see the bore out of center by enough to say so ..
Now , admittedly , this method would assume the bore at the muzzle is concentric with the outside of the barrel .. Not always a good assumption .. I suppose that could be checked prior seting it up ..

Cheeers all

rws · Aug 7, 2003

Lanmanb4, I've heard of doing what you say about a bushing of sorts it the headstock, but you touch on a controversial subject. That is the straightness of the barrel/bore.

Some barrels come through quite straight, some a fairly crooked. Just because a barrel has some wobble in it doesn't mean it won't shoot. But the question is how to set it up through the headstock, dial in both ends and forget about the bore runout, or dial in the barrel itself? I opt for the latter.

When a barrel is in the headstock, I use a guage pin which will protrude out of the barrel about three inches, then "walk" the barrel into zero runout on BOTH ends of the protruding pin. You may end up with quite a bit of runout on the muzzle end, but he portion of the barrel where the chamber is will be dead nuts in alignment! That is where the action is, so to speak.

Always use a reamer with a pilot that fits properly, never a solid reamer. This will give you a match-grade chamber job that will compete with the best of them.

I doubt you could align this way with a steady-rest.

Lanmanb4 · Aug 7, 2003

rws .. How do you " "walk" the barrel into zero runout on BOTH ends of the protruding pin " on a barrel that is in the spindle about 6 inches or so ..
I have a SMithy BZ-239 lathe .. and the spindle / chuck length combined is about 21
inches .. so theres no way to adjust the muzzle thru the headstock / spindle bore..
Thats why I opted for the bushing ..
One thing though .. about mine .. if the bore isn't concentric with the outside or the barrel then I will retaper it so that it is .. and the last three barrels I did came with no contour so I had to put the contour
on them myself .. therefore I know its pretty close .. problem being , as you said .. coming from the factory, its not always the case.. I have even seen Hart barrels that way ..

(

Ken R · Aug 7, 2003

With the pin is sticking out the bore by about 3 inches you can indicate the pin in two places, once up near the barrel and once out toward the end. When you have both dialed in you can be sure that the chamber will be inline with the bore at that end of the barrel. If a bore though the barrel is bent (common) then the muzzle end of the bore can be quite far out of alignment with the dialed in chamber end, but where the bullet engages the lands and starts down the barrel, you will have your dialed in alignment. Use the same setup for threading the barrel.

Butch Lambert · Aug 7, 2003

Ken&RWS, you are both correct in my opinion. I do this on the muzzle end when I cut the crown also. Thebarrelman

Rechambering process

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