Broke a chamber reamer this afternoon.

bearhunter said:
No, it came out of Ukraine. About half the price of anything in North America and it was very good quality. I have a couple of reamers from the same manufacturer. They do very good work and the reamers take ten days from ordering to my doorstep.
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It came from Ukraine, was very good quality, and broke? Huh. Interesting.
 
pathfinder76 said:
It came from Ukraine, was very good quality, and broke? Huh. Interesting.
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You should have read the rest of the posts.

The 22 Hornet reamer does not have a lot of cross section for strength. It wasn't the reamer's fault, it was mine. I fed it to fast with to much rotational speed on the chuck.

I have several reamers from this establishment and they are as good as any I've had from anywhere else.

I've also spoken to a few others who've broken reamers. They also commented that the reamers were for SMALL, long cartridges, with a taper.

The reamer was fine, I was thinking of other things while doing the job and muffed it.
 
The new 22 Hornet reamer from Ukraine came on Monday, Jun 30, it got held up by DHL in Europe and instead of coming straight to Canada, got routed through the US. So held up in Canadian Customs for a week.

I used it to cut a new chamber and it went perfectly. Less speed and kept my mind on what I was doing.

Doing any job dozens of times makes a person to confident, or maybe less attentive to detail. This time I paid attention.

The inner cross section isn't much bigger than that of a 22rf reamer and it's a lot longer with much more surface area to cut. Lots of lube, slow rpms, and very slow meticulous feeding, pulling out to clean after every .125 in. of cut.

Very sharp, proper rake angle, etc. and it was like cutting butter, with just a slight bit of resistance.

Chamber is very smooth, shouldn't have to polish it at all.

Very happy with this reamer.
 
Getting set up takes time. You want the barrel indicated in, at both ends, ideally referencing off the bore. I ream using lowest RPM in backgear. Using lots of cutting fluid, I advance the reamer one turn of the tailstock ram (.125) or less. Withdraw, clean the reamer and the chamber. The reamer is advanced very slowly, feeling the cut. Repeat. When the reamer is reaching full depth, I slow down, less advance on the reamer. Start checking with the gauge. Creep up on the final depth, using a depth mike to check gauge protrusion. Clean the reamer and chamber every time. A stray chip can cause problems. You can feel the reamer cutting. Its not like driving in a drill.
Time to ream the chamber depends on the length of the cartridge. Obviously a .300WinMag will take longer than a 9x19. A longer cartridge could require 20 or more cycles.
I have found that the more challenging chambers to cut are for the Ackley Improved cartridges. Easy to get chatter. I usually pack the reamer flutes. This reduces the chance of chatter, but makes the reaming go a lot slower.
Pressure lubricant flow from the muzzle, a dial indicator rigged on the tailstock, etc. make the job faster.
 
bearhunter said:
I broke a brand new chamber reamer this afternoon.

I've done this once before and it's frustrating to say the least.

22 Hornet, I was feeding it to fast.

There isn't very much metal in the center of these small reamers, and they just don't have the strength of larger diameter reamers.

Lots of lube and the reamer was sharp, it all felt good and I was advancing it at a normal rate, no binding or felt interference which would indicate an issue.

I should have been more careful. I broke the last one the same way appx 15 years ago, for the same reason.

Patience pays off, and I was thinking about other things while doing the job. Not a good combination.

Such is life.

Now to order another reamer, as the barrel is undamaged otherwise.

Grrrrrrr.
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Like most metal cutting tools. you have to go slow and use lots of lube. Backing out and cleaning the chips often is also a key point. How many threading taps have you broken just because you were almost there and another turn would do it. I think keeping some pressure on the tool is also important as you do not want to gall the cut. It is a pain when you break a tool but it is nice when the broken tool comes out easy and better yet when you have a spare.
As an aside I have a set of SAE/Metric taps and dies I bought at CTC many years ago when I needed some taps at my sons place which was some distance away. I have used the Metric taps a few times since when I needed them and always was careful with them. The originals are still in the box but the SAE ones have had a few replacements as I abused them. I have a coffee can full of various sizes to do so that I have accumulated over the years from jobs.

Bill
 
billbmcleod said:
Like most metal cutting tools. you have to go slow and use lots of lube. Backing out and cleaning the chips often is also a key point. How many threading taps have you broken just because you were almost there and another turn would do it. I think keeping some pressure on the tool is also important as you do not want to gall the cut. It is a pain when you break a tool but it is nice when the broken tool comes out easy and better yet when you have a spare.
As an aside I have a set of SAE/Metric taps and dies I bought at CTC many years ago when I needed some taps at my sons place which was some distance away. I have used the Metric taps a few times since when I needed them and always was careful with them. The originals are still in the box but the SAE ones have had a few replacements as I abused them. I have a coffee can full of various sizes to do so that I have accumulated over the years from jobs.

Bill
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I have broken a few threading taps, always the small ones, with coarser threads and usually a bit worn.

I've done quite literally several dozen chambers, at least three of them in 22 Hornet. I knew better. My mind wasn't on what I was doing and when that happens, mistakes happen. I should have just left it for another day.
 
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