David Emerson
Well-Known Member
The way you have it chucked I am afraid the reamer would torque off to the side unless I am not seeing your set up right
? about bad barrel blank
- Thread starter 70oldsracer
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70oldsracer
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Apr 16, 2016
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I had the reamer in a floating reamer holder, I kinda thought that would allow it to float
David Emerson
Well-Known Member
I looked at your pictures and the crown and threads look fine. A few dings on the outside o0f the muzzle edge would not cause it to shoot bad. All my reamers are live pilot (bushings) you want to get to .0002 to hold the nose of the reamer centered. The only solid pilot I own is a 358 Winchester. With a solid pilot as I said before it needs to ride on your live center and hold the back with a wrench so it can find it,s own way if you will. Hold the back solid you are and it will most likely torque and cut off center. I have a 40 inch bed lathe and when I start I put the live pilot in the bore and take .001 skim cuts until the shank is true with the bore. Then I mount my steady rest and cut the threads and face. Then I pull the live pilot out using a rod find the bushing that fits the bore. Then I mount the reamer in a JGS floating reamer holder and mount it in my tail stock and start reaming. Some guys really like to complicate things by chambering in the head stock. I like simple. If you put the muzzle in the head stock and the shank end with the live pilot in it how can you get more exact? You can,t. I understand with your little lathe you had to do it as you did. Next time just have your shank true to the bore and hold the reamer on center with a wrench.
David Emerson
Well-Known Member
I tried it with a solid pilot in a floating reamer and it cut off center. A solid pilot reamer is many thou smaller than the bore. So with a boring bar I cut the inside to the end of the neck and had to chamber it to a fatter case with a bushinged reamer. Any smith that tells you he has never had a wreck is a **** liar
Anyway I hope I have helped.
Anyway I hope I have helped.70oldsracer
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Apr 16, 2016
- Messages
- 118
I gotcha, yes, you have helped. I don't know enough about this to tell whether the reamer cut off center, but I would have thought if that's what happened, the guy from Wilson barrels would have told me that was the issue.I tried it with a solid pilot in a floating reamer and it cut off center. A solid pilot reamer is many thou smaller than the bore. So with a boring bar I cut the inside to the end of the neck and had to chamber it to a fatter case with a bushinged reamer. Any smith that tells you he has never had a wreck is a *Rule 4 Violation* liar
birdiemc
Well-Known Member
David I'm not tracking 100% when you say you insert the live pilot into the bore then take skim cuts. How exactly are you holding the barrel? From your description I'm envisioning muzzle in a chuck? Reamer inserted into the breech held by a live center in the tail stock? Am I picturing this correctly?
I have a solid pilot 300rum reamer that has built a handful of really good shooting rifles.
Fun fact: I even ground some channels in the pilot and polished it so my oil pressure system pushed oil thru
Fun fact: I even ground some channels in the pilot and polished it so my oil pressure system pushed oil thru
David Emerson
Well-Known Member
Live center. Sorry! My bad
David Emerson
Well-Known Member
After I take the skim cuts so the outside is true with the bore I set up my steady rest with the live center still in. Then I take out the live center and install the floating reamer holder. But only with a reamer that takes bushings that you can match to the bore diameter
David Emerson
Well-Known Member
With your small lathe it is so much different than what I do. Just use a reamer with bushings that you can match to your bore.Or with a solid pilot reamer do as I told before. I learned from a man that has done this for 40 years. He tells me that the jgs floating reamer holder is the best in the business and I believe him. After I get dialed in and reaming I can set up a dial indicator and have 0 run out. I am thinking that your problem and I did it once too that a floating reamer holder hold the tail of the reamer too deep and will not let it find center.With a solid pilot reamer. The way I told the live pilot pushes the reamer in the center and your wrench keeps it from turning. I guess if me on your lathe I would have the live center in the bore to set up your spider in the head chuck so the bore is exact inline with your tailstock that holds the reamer. The worst that could happen would be if there is a wowy in your barrel the rear of your chamber might be a few thou bigger. With wowy I mean if your barrel is bent. If you want to get into it far enough you could use a tapered indicator rod that takes bushings to get the bore exactly in line with your tail stock. You would need 2 dial indicators to do this. Why I use the muzzle in the headstock and use a steady rest on the shank that is set up using the live center. I do not need to do all that crap when I use a floating reamer holder with bushinged reamers. But your little set up is too short so you need to use the headstock with a spider. Simply if you use a floating reamer holder you HAVE to use reamers that take a bushing to exactly match the bore. I hope I did not overwhelm you. Trying to help.
David Emerson
Well-Known Member
Yes muzzle in the chuck
David Emerson
Well-Known Member
Read your words about Wilson being able to tell if you are off center. Without a bore scope how can you confirm? Let me know what you find out. I once chambered a 6.5 Remington mag. 2 cutting and then throw one about an inch out. Bore showed there were colusions in the steel. Little voids that uncovered when the reamer cut. A very respected barrel maker. My bore scope takes a memory card and I sent it to them and they sent me a new barrel. Stuff happens.
David Emerson
Well-Known Member
Chamber I should have said and up into the neck.
David Emerson
Well-Known Member
After all this I guess now you can understand why we charge as much as we do to mount a barrel. It takes a lot of stuff. Expensive stuff
