Reaming 223 to 22-250

[SDLAW]

I have a 223 barrel that I'm going to ream out to a 22-250. My question is this: Will the 22-250 reamer follow the 223 chamber or do I need to counterbore first. I am assuming the pilot bushing on the reamer will not reach the rifled bore? I have the lathe and necessary tooling but have only done short chambered barrels previously. Thanks for any insight you can give me.

 

[B23]

I know this doesn't answer your question but for what it's worth I have a new 22-250 take off barrel & recoil lug from a Remington M700 BDL I would make you a smoking deal on.

 

[J E Custom]

I have a 223 barrel that I'm going to ream out to a 22-250. My question is this: Will the 22-250 reamer follow the 223 chamber or do I need to counterbore first. I am assuming the pilot bushing on the reamer will not reach the rifled bore? I have the lathe and necessary tooling but have only done short chambered barrels previously. Thanks for any insight you can give me.

Yes. Take light cuts (.015 to .030) and clean.

The reamer will always try to center it's self in the old chamber.

The reason for taking small cuts is so as soon as the pilot reaches the bore it will true up
any misalignment that may have existed in the old chamber.

You should not have any problems as long as you take it easy.

Good luck and have fun.

J E CUSTOM

 

[sinarms]

I do it all the time, actually I have one in the lathe right now and the next barrel right behind it is going to have the same thing done. I also do quite a few 308 to 300wsm rechambers. This is a good way to clean up bad factory/gunsmith cut chambers and still save a barrel.

 

[SDLAW]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I've been messing aroung with factory takeoff barrels to sharpen my skills before taking on a new custom barrel. It won't hurt so bad if I make a mistake. The more I thought about counterboring the more questions that came to mind and it seemed like the chance for creating a huge mess increased. I give it a go with the reamer.

 

[Clark]

The 223 is a much better cartridge than the 22-250.
The 22-250 is SAAMI registered at 65kpsi and has a practical limit for handloads at 67kpsi.
The 223 is SAAMI registered at 55 kpsi and has a practical limit for handloads at 75 kpsi

With light bullets, the fastest a 22-250 can push the bullet slows down the fastest a 223 can push that bullet with in a few feet.

The 22-250 has big advantage with heavy bullets, but due to some bullets spinning apart, factory barrels for 22-250 have slow twists, and can only stabilize light bullets.

But if you already have wasted money on the 22-250 reamer and have a take off 223 barrel you want to screw around with, and the action lying around is a Mauser bolt face, then the way to get the reamer pilot to reach the bore is with a series of steps with drills and a boring bar.

Or you could hack saw off some of the old barrel, if you have enough shank to re thread.

 

[NesikaChad]

Anything short of a boring bar will take the path of least resistance.

That means when you "stack tools" up inside a hole the first tool used generally wins. Meaning everything else will be inclined to follow what the 1st one started.

 

[Clark]

The drill is faster than the boring bar for most.
The boring bar is faster than the reamer for most.
The boring bar washes away the sins of the drill getting off center.


So many people, use drills, then the boring bar, and then the reamer.

I thought that I thought of that until I read that Ed Shilen said that earlier.

 

[J E Custom]

The drill is faster than the boring bar for most.
The boring bar is faster than the reamer for most.
The boring bar washes away the sins of the drill getting off center.


So many people, use drills, then the boring bar, and then the reamer.

I thought that I thought of that until I read that Ed Shilen said that earlier.

What's the hurry ? As chad said use one tool to chamber(The reamer).

Speed can be the enemy when it comes to gunsmithing. Quality takes time.

If you have the finest of tools and plenty of skill you can do a chamber job faster than
with a lathe but using a drill or a boring bar or both will normally lead to a poor chamber.

Speed is the reason that I won't use a pre chambered barrel for an accuracy weapon.
the only reason speed is important is to increase profits of production barrels not accuracy.

The smith that coached me said "If you dont have time to do it right the first time, When
are you going to find time to fix it".

J E CUSTOM

 

[sinarms]

Using only a reamer works for me and works very well. Each person has their own way of doing it, my way just seems to be the same as many

 

[Clark]

I would assume that Ed Shilen does it for the same reasons I do it.
Saves time.
Saves reamers.
More concentric than just a reamer.

Precision Riflesmithing by Bryant Custom: Barreling

 

[sinarms]

here is a 223 rechambered to a 22-250ai and was cut with just a reamer. cleaned up very nice and as long as you set it up correctly you have nothing to worry about. I am happy with my results and my customers are very happy.

 

[sinarms]

This was just cut between now and my post up about, not bad for 40min