Reaming .22 cylinder

[S&WIowegan]

The finish reamer does NOT have any impact on the throats. The reamer only trues up the chambers(you know...the part where the brass goes).

 

[tomcatt51]

The finish reamer does NOT have any impact on the throats. The reamer only trues up the chambers(you know...the part where the brass goes).

+1

The revolver chamber reamer pilots in the throat (doesn't cut the throat) and only cuts the chamber.

The reamer will cut the rim recess so care is required to (at most) just touch the rim recess. If in doubt, stop a bit short.

Revolver chamber reamers are configured differently than other action type chamber reamers.

 

[Tom S.]

To anyone thinking about reaming their .22 cylinder chambers, if you can use a tap, go for it! Here's a thread I started a while back after reaming my first cylinder on a Model 18. I've never regretted that decision.

Just out of curiosity, for those of us who've used the reamer, is there an projected life expectancy for the reamers before replacement or resharpening is required?

Thanks,
Lou

Reamers cannot be resharpened and still cut the same diameter hole. To sharpen, you have to remove metal from each flute on the reamer, which leaves the overall diameter smaller than reamer was when new. Depending on how oversize the reamer was when new, how much material has to be ground off when resharpening it, and how much is needed to open a chamber hole to make it chamber a round.

Now forget everything I just wrote. What can be done to a used reamer is the have it re-cut, not resharpened. Reamers cut with the leading edge of the reamer, and that is where most of the wear takes place. After a lot use, the reamer cutting surface takes on a tapered shape from the front towards the rear. By moving away from this worn area and cutting off the end of the reamer, it can have the flutes where the shoulder is ground/sharpened to size and a new shoulder created. Whether this is cost effective depends on who is doing the work.

About the life of the reamer, it is dependent on a lot of factors. Two things that effect the life of a reamer is how fast it is used and whether you use a good cutting oil. A hand reamer, used with little downward force at slow (hand) turning rate and lots of cutting oil should be able to ream a lot of holes before needed re-cut or replaced. Storage is also important, as you don't want to damage the cutting surfaces. Cutting life is also dependent on the material being cut. Normally I would say stainless steel would shorten it's life, but the grade of stainless S&W uses seems to be pretty soft compared a lot that I've had experience with.

 

[H Richard]

The Manson reamer does not cut the throat. The shoulder on the reamer that cleans up the rim recess acts as a stop and keeps the reamer from going too far. There should be no change in dimensions of the throat.