First off I'm seeing rough and finishing reamers; do I need both? How much for a decent custom reamer? Anyone have some made lately?
How much for a custom reamer?
- Thread starter Basic user
- Start date
I was interested in a shorter freebore. Was also interested in having dies custom made to match my chamber.
What chambering? There is probably a gunsmith out here with the reamer you want
Op, do you plan on jamming shorter bullets…?
…most guys here would probably want longer freebore if anything…
You seem pretty sure of the load as you want to customize the barrel around it vs fitting the load to the rifle like with regular reloading.
…most guys here would probably want longer freebore if anything…
You seem pretty sure of the load as you want to customize the barrel around it vs fitting the load to the rifle like with regular reloading.
I want to load a slightly heavier bullet at a normal depth inside the neck, but dont want a gigantic jump. This way, it's right in the middle. I know a lot of guys say jamming the bullet way down deep into the neck where the base of the bullets wayyy past the neck/shoulder junction is fine, but I just dont trust it. I have no desire to do that. So if I'm right in the middle seating depth-wise, I can be really close to the lands to start my experiments. If the bullets dont like it, I can seat them 10 thou deeper and be fine; now I'm ten off the lands but still not too deep into the case. If the bullets like to be right up against the lands I can do that too, and not be seated too long out of the neck. I then will have some room to play as the throat wears, and gets further away from the ogive.
I know there's articles out there that show 90 thou or some other huge jump is fine, I just dont have any good experiences with that much jump personally.
What's different about your chamber? Changing freebore from SAAMI spec doesn't affect your dies...
Maybe I need another cup of coffee...you want to use heavier boolits- don't want to seat them deeper in the case- and you want less freebore?
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OP, I run heavy bullets in a standard freebore 6.5cm (.199”) with zero issue. In fact I’ve had nothing but that across three or four 6.5cm barrels. I run 153.5 Berger hybrids at 60k off and just leave it there the entire life of the barrel. The bullets don’t seem to care a whole lot where they are.
But I think @StraightJacketArmory offers a .170” freebore for their 6.5cm along with the standard spec one.
But I think @StraightJacketArmory offers a .170” freebore for their 6.5cm along with the standard spec one.
And Chase Fisher (@FisherT&C) has a 6.5 CM reamer with .150 FB in addition to standard SAAMI of .199. And his work was very good, price is good and his turn-around time was very good.
I shoot Berger 140 HT mainly and w a SAAMI chamber I can only get to about .070” off the lands and still be in mag length. And this is on a brand new barrel without any throat erosion.
One, there is some data on Preferred Barrel’s site where the tested various factory 6.5 CM ammo with varying FB and found .150” is the sweet spot. Of course, factory stuff is loaded short. But I still have room to back up w my hand loads if the bullet shows it likes more jump which is the conventional wisdom for 140 HTs.
It’s a CDG barrel w the shorter FB and I haven’t shot it yet so can’t comment on field experience.
Cheers
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I have an APR that shoots the 156gr Berger EOL into little bitty holes and it has the .199" SAAMI freebore.
For the die situation, I was just going to have the dies match the chamber, so that it's all one size now; less movement of the brass. For the chamber, yes, I want less freebore. I want to be really close to the lands. It's my own experiment.
Using a SAAMI spec reamer, WILL match off-the-shelf dies. As I mentioned, freebore has nothing to do with any sizing die. If you're changing something like neck diameter from SAAMI spec, you just use a bushing die- no custom die needed.
Full wildcat cartridges/custom reamers are ground from a print approved by the buyer. You give the reamer print to the die maker, or you order a special re-sizing reamer ground to go with the chamber reamer and make the dies yourself.
Not necessarily. I've had multiple different 'off-the-shelf' .308 Win dies, and some size the shoulder (diameter) more or less than others, and some size the case web more or less than others.
You can play musical sizing dies, buying one after another trying to find what you want... or get custom dies made that do what you expect them to.
I know freebore doesn't have anything to do with dies; never said it did. There was two separate reasons I wanted a custom reamer; one was to perform a short freebore experiment, and the other, was the ensure my chamber matched my dies exactly. (not really wanting to get into bushing dies at this time) Both are really an experiment to test what I've read out there. A lot of people read books or technical articles, or listen to what others say and repeat it as truth without doing the experiments themselves, I just dont want to be one of those people. Ive read a lot about how you get better consistency from shorter freebores. I want to see it in real life.
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A whole plethora. I really like the Bergers, but if I can make the cheaper SMKs, hornadys and noslers work just as good, I certainly wouldnt mind that.
Guys like this fuel the industry. I say go for it OP ..don't let anyone talk any reason or sense into you. Burn that cash.
Are you trying trying to match a set of dies you have or are you going to have dies made from the remers
How would a "custom" resizing die- made using a SAAMI spec reamer print, differ from a production die, made from the same SAAMI print?
I get there are always tolerances in machining- but...
Dies require a resizing reamer, slightly different geometry. Your brass needs to be smaller than the chamber cut by the finish reamer. This is what I was trying to explain...
I have both Sammi and .150 freebore reamers for the 6.5 CM. I used the .150 chamber with the 147 ELDM’s, 144 Bergers and had great success. I have also chambered them with the .150 and cut the throat to .160, and that may be the sweet spot.
Right or wrong if people like basic user did not try this stuff, success or failure, we would still be riding horses and shooting muskets.
The guy wants to burn some money, use some brain power and try something.
I can relate, I built an in ground pool from scratch. Naysayers said it will fail, waste of time and money, blah blah. Here it is done for pennies on the dollar. Was it a risk ? you betcha but I have a pool for 5k.
The guy wants to burn some money, use some brain power and try something.
I can relate, I built an in ground pool from scratch. Naysayers said it will fail, waste of time and money, blah blah. Here it is done for pennies on the dollar. Was it a risk ? you betcha but I have a pool for 5k.
Wrong. People who are educated on the subject they are trying to tinker with is how we get improvement.
People who don't understand the basics ( ironic user name ) and just throw money away trying to reinvent the wheel are how business make easy money. We also call this stupid money. It's the easiest to make.
Ignorance is bliss. And stupid costs money.
You might want to tell that to the dummy that developed .223 Wylde.................
I was actually thinking about that a few days ago, when contemplating brass springback properties. I was going to pose that question next lol.
I see what you're saying, but if I have the money to burn, why not? I've done the same thing to cars when I built them to race. In the performance car world there's the same amount (by that I mean a lot) of parroted 'knowledge' that while it worked ok, wasn't technically true. Every time I researched the next step in my build, I did the same experiments, which was to purposely go in the wrong direction just to see for myself. Over the years I've found a few things that were absolutely not true when it came to certain parts, or certain expectations. A lot of people avoid the certain parts or processes because the verified experts said to, and while they know WHAT to avoid, they never really KNOW why, because theyve never experienced them personally before; they just 'heard'.
I wonder who the first guy was that started full length sizing their brass every reloading in the benchrest world where NO ONE did it. EVER. Until.... one guy said "oh yea?" and now look at us. Look at flash holes for the PPC cases. There's a study out there that says 80 is the best flash hole diameter you could have, and the results of the test prove it, but because the 'masters' said it's wrong, because of their specific results, no one wants that flash hole size. Pure superstition. In fact, everything I have read except that study, told me that uniforming (up in diameter as well) usually ruins the es & sd's of benchrest brass, and to never do it. I imagine 99% of those people that said never to do it, were just people parroting what the others have said. I just really enjoy experimenting even if my results are not good. I can then say absolutely unequivocally to never do this certain thing, because I have physically experienced it lol. I can then always provide actual evidence when someone asks me.
Between 300-400 for a finishing reamer from JGS. It just depends on if you get high speed steel or carbide.
I have had great luck with JGS reamers. A finishing reamer is all you need and a GO gauge. Get a Wilson blank and use the reamer for a custom seater. I use a Cortina sizing die.
