Hard barrel or bad reamer?

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Robmcleod82

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I have a question for you guys that have actually seen this. I will leave brand names out of the equation for now. Now majority of the barrels I have chambered have all been stainless barrels from the same manufacturer. I have never had any grief chambering any of them and they have all shot very well. I just recently chambered a barrel from a different (high end) manufacturer it was stainless steel. The reamer used was from my preferred reamer maker. Setup was perfect dialed in with .0001" dial indicators ect. While chambering the first inch or so I noticed some funny marks in the shoulder to body area. When I closely inspected the reamer I noticed the edge was rolled over on a couple of the flutes in the shoulder to body area. This reamer was brand new never used and didn't have any burs before chambering (I always have a good look at the reamer first. I filed the burrs off with a jewellers file and continued chambering. I had to take burrs off the reamer twice more over the next .250" then all of a sudden no more problems and the reamer cut a nice chamber. I have used the exact same setup on 25-30 other barrels and never had an issue.
Best I can figure either the reamer wasn't sharpened properly or there was a hard spot in the barrel.
Any of you experienced this before?
 
While I have never had that problem reaming a barrel, I ream lots of holes in lots of various materials (conventional reamers).

I have always found reaming to be a case of crossing your fingers. Sometimes you get bad reamers from good companies, and good reamers from bad companies. One small chip that doesn't get flushed or some material welded to the flute will ruin the hole size/tolerance or give you a bad finish. Hard spots in stainless is something I see often enough to know it's a thing too.

So.....when you say the edges were rolled over on the reamer.....you mean that actual flute was damaged? Or just that you had chips that were welding/rolling over the flute? If you could actually file the reamer with a jewellers file (unless it was diamond coated) with any sort of ease, I would say the heat treating was suspect.

Was it a Lothar-Walther barrel?
 
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It is possible that the barrel steel was work hardening on you maybe to slow a feed to start, this has happened to me more than once .When I started making barrels the first steel I used did this and I cursed it up and down every time I had to chamber it , the stuff I use now cuts like butter.

Anyway about 2 months ago I made another barrel with a piece of steel I had left over from that stuff I didn't like and was more aggressive with the reamer feed and it chambered very well.
Another problem I have encountered has been with PTG reamers they don't cut as well as some of the others it is hit and miss most times.

It sounds like you were getting chatter and creating flutes in the chamber though taking a bite with packed flutes will sometimes rectify that

Malice has a point about loather walther they are tough
 
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No it wasn't chatter, it was a Krieger barrel. Like I said I did everything the same as I had before. It seemed like once I got in a ways it cut fine and normal. I've encountered hard spots in lots of steel as metal doesn't seem to be what it used to for consistency any more.
 
One problem you run into with various metals, and I'll use Inconel as an example, is that while 2 different bars may both be '718', one may have a higher nickel content than the other while both being in the correct range. And bar A will cut nicer than bar B.

But unless you have the mill report, all you'll know is that you're breaking cutters/inserts at a faster rate in bar B.
 
I think some button rifled barrels may be work hardened in a thin shell around the bore. I shorted the barrel on a muzzle loader and most of the barrel was relatively soft. The last 1/16" around the bore was just about impossible to cut through with a hacksaw

cheers mooncoon
 
Sounds like chip weld on the cutting edge. Causes can include hard to machine steel , improper grind on the reamer, inferior cutting oil, improper feed rate , or a combination of above. Gummy steel will gall quicker than hard stuff. Hard stuff will damage your reamer as well. I wont rechamber hammer forged barrels .
 
Robmcleod82 said:
I have a question for you guys that have actually seen this. I will leave brand names out of the equation for now. Now majority of the barrels I have chambered have all been stainless barrels from the same manufacturer. I have never had any grief chambering any of them and they have all shot very well. I just recently chambered a barrel from a different (high end) manufacturer it was stainless steel. The reamer used was from my preferred reamer maker. Setup was perfect dialed in with .0001" dial indicators ect. While chambering the first inch or so I noticed some funny marks in the shoulder to body area. When I closely inspected the reamer I noticed the edge was rolled over on a couple of the flutes in the shoulder to body area. This reamer was brand new never used and didn't have any burs before chambering (I always have a good look at the reamer first. I filed the burrs off with a jewellers file and continued chambering. I had to take burrs off the reamer twice more over the next .250" then all of a sudden no more problems and the reamer cut a nice chamber. I have used the exact same setup on 25-30 other barrels and never had an issue.
Best I can figure either the reamer wasn't sharpened properly or there was a hard spot in the barrel.
Any of you experienced this before?
Click to expand...

yes.dont sweat it.you will find this once in a while from all manufacturers of barrels.
 
I have had similar issues with Black Star barrels. Lots of lube and very slow rotation as well as slow feed does the trick for me with those barrels. I tell people that bring me those barrels straight up that if the reamer gets pooched because of the hard barrel they will be charged for a new reamer.
 
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