Reaming .22 cylinder

Thanks for the information in this thread. A few months ago I purchased a Manson finishing reamer and had my gunsmith ream a 34, 35, and 18-3 that didn't get shot much due to difficulty ejecting cases. He said he was surprised how much metal was removed.

I'm shooting these revolvers much more often now that reloading is a pleasure rather than a PIA.
 
samwood said:
He said he was surprised how much metal was removed.

I'm shooting these revolvers much more often now that reloading is a pleasure rather than a PIA.
Click to expand...

I've reamed a bunch of S&W 22 LR chambers now and am still amazed at how many chips are generated. Glad you like the results, I've never seen any downside to doing this.
 
I'm glad this thread came back to life. My own experience with 10-shot 617s(I own 3) is that one(which I bought NIB) had no extraction problems. The other two did have problems and were reamed. I also have two Model 18s that are almost impossible to extract empties.

We had a period in this area during which many of us bought 617s(10 shot) and shot pin tops and steel with them. Many shooters had severe problems and our local revolversmith bought a finish reamer and fixed everyone's S&W revolvers.

My theory is that the factory simply uses it's chamber cutter too long before it's sharpened or discarded. The charge holes are probably still in 'spec' so out the door they go.

Please don't tell me to scrub my chambers again....I'm only half as dumb as you think I am!
 
S&WIowegan said:
My theory is that the factory simply uses it's chamber cutter too long before it's sharpened or discarded. The charge holes are probably still in 'spec' so out the door they go.
Click to expand...
Only thing I'm sure of is that I haven't found one with chambers large enough the cutter didn't cut. Some have generated less chips.

625s have been the same way. The reamer has cut in all of them but some it's "straightened" (just taken out high spots) more than enlarged (really makes me wonder how S&W can do that) and in some I get a full cut.

I've also cut SAAMI (sporting) spec chambers in several eternally finicky S&W 41s. I'd've though they came with a "match" chamber of one flavor or another but in each the reamer only cut "high spots" and just "straightened" the chamber. They did function much better after reaming with no noticable loss of accuracy.

My S&W .38/357s are a mixed batch. Most are tight on the reamer but won't cut. My 3" HB 10-8 has factory chambers the reamer rattles around in. It's my only pre FMFP 38 or 38/357.
 
BEFORE using a Reamer (ANY BRAND), I would measure it carefully with an accurate Caliper to make SURE it is indeed the correct size. If it is the correct size and metal is being removed from the Charge Holes than they were obviously too tight! There is no other explanation I can think of that makes sense. If someone states that their Manson Reamer just drops in than I would either suspect that their Charge Holes ARE the correct size OR the particular Reamer they received is NOT the correct size. Easy enough to find out just by measuring with a Caliper. Seems simple to me.
 
I just performed my 1st on a problematic 617:

- the amount that came out of all but 1 hole was ridiculous.
- I would recommend attempting it, even for the average tinkerer. It was not a hard job at all. Took about an hour including clean up.

Parts used:
1. Rimfire Cartridge, .22 Long Rifle Finisher (Cyl) : RIMFIRE CARTRIDGES | Brownells

2. 16 oz. DO-DRILL® : UNIVERSAL DO-DRILL | Brownells

3. Your version of Tap and Die Kit No. 1 : TAP & DIE KIT No. 1 | Brownells

4. A vise

5. Leather strips/padded vise ( I use extra leather/paint stirrer sticks) to protect the cylinder

*No way those cylinders were uniform from S/W. the reamer varied from sliding in 25-50% of the cylinders. The reamer also has a neck, all you have to do is stop reaming when the cylinder face is just shy of that neck. ( EDIT - not the cylinder face but the face of the extractor) I also left the cylinder and extractor together to try and ensure a uniform to cylinder mate up. I just put empty casings in each cylinder that I wasnt reaming to have a bit more lock up. Honestly though, not much pressure or "push" was needed, the reamer did its job with minimum effort

Pretty simple process and I'm no master gunsmith.
 
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I'm firmly on Tomcatt's side on this. I've been pistol smithing for nearly 50 yrs. and have found S&W's boring of .22 LR cylinder chambers to be suspect at best. I have the Brownell's Long Rifle Revolver cylinder reamer and it gives a wonderful finish of a 'correct' sized SAAMI chamber. It does not alter the throats. I also have a .22 LR Target reamer for bolt action rifles only made by F.K. "Red" Elliott. It was well known back then for being one of the 'tighter' target chamber reamers available. I have found two or three individual chambers on 22 LR S&W revolver cylinders that my Red Elliott reamer wouldn't go in. I do not know why S&W has varied all over the map in chambering size for SAAMI standard chambers, but they have. I have been reaming 22 LR revolver chambers for most of 20 years now and have never had anyone that was dis-satisfied with the results on their revolver.

The biggest advantage to reaming 22 LR revolver chambers is the resulting ease of extraction/ejection. I have NEVER seen accuracy go down in the least and I HAVE seen accuracy improved by uniforming all the cylinder's chambers. ...........

I have had similar observations on S&W's .22 MRF chambers in revolver cylinders, but not near to the same extent that was seen on .22 LR chambers.

BTW, I am continually amazed at the accuracy obtainable when reaming a S&W 22 LR cylinder to 22 MRF and fitting it to a M 617. The use of 22 MRF thru the slightly smaller bore of the M 617 just seems to give 22 MRF the same accuracy as the original .22 LRs have. ....
 
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Slightly off topic but might be of interest. In 1986 I bought a used model 16. I used that revolver extensively for practice and bullseye shooting. I also collected and shot Colt DA revolvers .I shot many of my own reloads with cast unsized wadcutter bullets. Frequently they had a slight bluge where the bullet was encased in the brass. These rounds always chambered without difficulty in my Model 16 but the same bulged rounds would not chamber in my 1920s to 40s Colt revolvers either the service or Officer's models The 38 sp Colt cylinders had significantly tighter chambers than the Model 16 Smith. both shot very well.
 
Another testimonial for .22 chamber reaming. I have a pre model 18 and a 17-6 that gave me trouble with extraction. After Big Cholla reamed them they both extract very easily. The accuracy of the 17-6 is greatly improved now that the chambers are uniform. Money well spent.
 
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
 
Life of a Reamer?

Lou_NC said:
To anyone thinking about reaming their .22 cylinder chambers, if you can use a tap, go for it!

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
Click to expand...

IMHO and experience a 22 caliber reamer of good quality will ream quality chambers for hundreds of times.....IF you take care of the reamer. i.e.: clean the reamer every time it comes out, Use quality cutting oil and lots of it, never turn the reamer backwards, turn the reamer in the cutting direction even when withdrawing from the chamber, don't try to hog out the whole cut in one pass, use multiple ins, outs, cleans, re-oil chamber and reamer. Do all this enough and you develop muscle memory for the 'normal' effort it takes. When and if you feel the necessary effort go upwards it is time for a new reamer. Yes, the reamer can be reground, but it usually undersizes it. So, the solution is to just get a new reamer when the original has given its all. And store the reamer in a plastic tube container that never allows anything else made of steel to touch it.

Don't try to ream a chamber that has been chromed. I don't know anything about reaming titanium. I have reamed aluminum but only when using special cutting oil specifically for aluminum. ...............
 
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Gauges?

Odd that in all this discussion of experiences good and bad no one, even experienced gunsmiths, spoke of checking chamber dimensions with gauges. I guess whatever works is the right solution, but it would be informative to know if your pistol was on specification, particularly if having the fix done by S&W outside warranty. Has any one checked either before or after reaming?
 
ggibson511960 said:
I guess whatever works is the right solution, but it would be informative to know if your pistol was on specification, particularly if having the fix done by S&W outside warranty. Has any one checked either before or after reaming?
Click to expand...
Read post #30.

The other question would be what is "on specification"? There are many different spec .22LR chambers.

Saami spec chambers are usually called "sport" chambers.

There are many more (usually) smaller and shorter with shorter throats.

How tight a chamber you can use ultimately seems to be based on the consistency of the ammo and the guns ability to extract the fired cases.

You can run a tighter chamber in a .22LR bolt action than will allow the usual blow back semi-auto to function. On our revolver it's compounded by having 6 to 10 to extract at a time...

Remember also that SAAMI spec is actually just a reference value.

With the amount of chips we're getting reaming the chambers they're way smaller (as post #30 references using a know VERY tight chamber reamer as a gauge) than Saami (sport) spec.

I don't have a telescoping gauge small enough to measure a .22LR chamber and small hole gauges aren't accurate enough. I did a bunch of measuring of 625 chambers verifying they were also just badly sized, being both undersize and out of round.

Try chambering fired cases from ANY .22LR semi-auto in your 617...

Near as I can tell S&W will call the chamber "in spec" if a .22LR round can be inserted into a clean chamber. They won't ream chambers if you send a gun back, they might install another cylinder with chambers probably no better than what you had. It was a really big deal to get them to warranty 625 cylinders and they still won't admit the "short" firing pins many CF FMFP guns have are a problem...
 
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I have a question for the pro reaming guys.
If you attempt to insert a Cci standard velocity 22 round into the ball end of your reamed cylinder chambers will it go?
This is the only way I know to check throat dimensions and puts mine at about .224.
Don't know if it matters, just askin.
 
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