What Took Me So Long! - Finally Reamed M 18 Chambers

I

InTheWoods

Bronze Supporter
Joined
May 4, 2009
Messages
444
Reaction score
445
Location
Rural Midwest
Wow, what a difference! Been thinking about doing this for a couple of decades, but was hesitant to mess much with such an expensive revolver. Took the plunge a couple of hours ago and just tested the results on my backyard 50 yard range. It is just day and night. The CCI mini mags slip in the chambers easily and eject with almost no ejector rod pressure.

When I finally decided to do this, both Brownells and Midway were out of .22 finishing reamers, so I ordered directly from Manson Reamers. Brownells was out of the small tap handles, so I ordered one from Midway and my wife picked it up when shopping in Columbia. We had a warm day today, so I moved my vice to the picnic table outside and didn't worry about the minor mess I was making. Took about an hour.

Now I have go do my 17 as it has a similar tight chamber challenge. My 63, 34, and 35 seem to be ok. Thanks to all in this site that gave specific instructions on this process!
 
Register to hide this ad
Shouldn't be any. I did 6 of mine and it only yielded some really really fine cuttings on any of them and nothing is removed from the throats. I have never heard of any accuracy loss from this. Any rotational slack what so ever in the cylinder lockup would be way way more than the amount of movement of a case in a reamed chamber. I have never seen a revolver with absolutely none because that would be impossible. The cylinder stop needs clearance to move up and down and as well as some to enter notch.

It would be interesting to ransom rest a K22 ream it and then Ransom rest it though. I just find it really hard to believe it would make any difference at all.
 
Last edited:
Ive built many M1 Garands over the years and found that a quality finish reamer will improve the rifle's accuracy by quite a bit. Ive used very fine chamber Oil based lube/lapping compound to get a mirror finish.
 
I have reamed a lot of .22 cylinders in the past 10 years and my experience with Models 17 18, 34 and 43 is that accuracy, at the least, does not change when reaming the cylinders. Most of the cylinders I have done have yielded very small amounts of metal but the difference in charging the cylinder, elimination of first time failure to fire due to very sticky charge hole and extraction have been well worth the work. It's a pleasant half an hour with lots of cutting oil to turn out a very nicely finished cylinder that just works.

Stu
 
You think smith & Wesson gave any thought to the dimensions of charge holes in revolvers they've made for 100 years?
 
Some of the guns work fine, some don't to varying degrees. I'm thinking that they just ran each reamer too long and let it get worn out before changing to a fresh one. The chambers cut with a new reamer would be fine, then as it wore out, the chambers would get gradually smaller and smaller, until they put in a fresh reamer and started the process over. They probably did hundreds or thousands of chambers with one reamer.
 
Ackley1952 said:
You think smith & Wesson gave any thought to the dimensions of charge holes in revolvers they've made for 100 years?
Click to expand...

I think that it probably has more to do with variances in ammo manufacturing than it is about dimensional changes in the chambers.
 
cmj8591 said:
I think that it probably has more to do with variances in ammo manufacturing than it is about dimensional changes in the chambers.
Click to expand...

Don't think so. The chambers of my 18-4 were so tight that it hurt my thumb trying to fully seat any brand of .22 LR. To shoot the gun I actually used a short piece of nylon dowel to completely chamber the rounds. It took so much force that I was actually concerned about crushing the rim enough to fire a round before getting it seated. There is no excuse for S&W shipping a gun in that condition.
 
alwslate said:
Don't think so. The chambers of my 18-4 were so tight that it hurt my thumb trying to fully seat any brand of .22 LR. To shoot the gun I actually used a short piece of nylon dowel to completely chamber the rounds. It took so much force that I was actually concerned about crushing the rim enough to fire a round before getting it seated. There is no excuse for S&W shipping a gun in that condition.
Click to expand...

Same here. Two Model 18s and a Model 17. All were hard to load and worse to extract, no matter what kind of ammo I used.

I finally found a 1950s K-22 that works like a champ and I'll never let it go.
 
Did the same to a 43 that was awful to use, now it's great.
It hurt my feelings to have to cut on such a high-condition gun, but they are supposed to shoot and not just look pretty. It didn't then and now it does, so I don't regret it. Thanks Mansion! When ordering remember they sell cylinder reamers and autopistol reamers and make sure to specify.
 
Last edited:
sigp220.45 said:
I finally found a 1950s K-22 that works like a champ and I'll never let it go.
Click to expand...

Did the same thing a few years ago. I found a new in the gold box pre 17 made in 1952 at a LGS on consignment. Nothing but the box and gun, no tools or papers but too cheap to pass up. No problems with it what-so-ever. It's here until I don't need it anymore :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

cmansguns
22LR Cylinder Finisher Reamer LOANER Program UPDATE add a tap handle option
2
Replies
26
Views
2K
Blues Fan
B
Kyler Hamann
10mm Magnum Starline brass now available
Replies
1
Views
793
BLUEDOT37
BLUEDOT37
ameridaddy
Chamber reamer - Manson or Clymer? Manson arrived update!!
2
Replies
20
Views
3K
2152hq
2
Kiwi cop
Well it is finally over (almost)
Replies
7
Views
758
DirtyShirt
D
N
This Forum Costs Me $$$
2
Replies
32
Views
3K
turnerriver
turnerriver

Latest posts

Back
Top