lets talk custom reamers!

ultimate_monkey

ultimate_monkey

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As some of you may have read in my ongoin thread in precission section. im in the middle of a .284 win build. now my plan is to have a custom reamer made, set up for exactly how i plan to seat my bullets, bullet type, and turned necks.. for the sake of brass life, im thinking min saami specs on the body, and the neck - minimal safe clearance.

who makes quality custom reamers?i know PTG does. but as many of you know there as been a knowen hit or miss in QC, where dull or improperly machined/sharpened reamers were making it out the door. now for the few that did make it out compared to how many they produce, they are doing pretty good. how ever, my latest match reamer from them fell into this category, i sent it back after a few e-mails were exchanged between them, my smith and my self.. but iv yet to hear any thing


i know Manson reamers will make one, but iv never heard much about them..

Any advice to aid my search is greatly appreciated!

thanks!
 
I have had a couple of bad reamers from ptg also in the end it never is their fault, at one point there answer was it is only the Canadians having problems, but I talked to a couple of friends from the USA one from Texas and one from P.A. On the east coast and they have the same problems and got the same answer there is no way it left ptg like that. So that said I am waiting on some mason reamers.
 
I prefer manson and jgs to PTG. With PTG, I had too many orders missing and/or incomplete, plus they wouldnt even hear of the issues I had with one of their parts - it "HAD" to be a problem on my end. The only issue I had with a manson reamer was corrected quickly, and to my full satisfaction (and it was a very very minor issue). Top notch company, JGS is great aswell.
 
asa said:
I have had a couple of bad reamers from ptg also in the end it never is their fault, at one point there answer was it is only the Canadians having problems, but I talked to a couple of friends from the USA one from Texas and one from P.A. On the east coast and they have the same problems and got the same answer there is no way it left ptg like that. So that said I am waiting on some mason reamers.
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thats pretty much i got from them too, was told it looked modified (got that from a pic sent to them) and that it must have been done wrong and made it dull. luckily i have a great smith (dennis sorenson ) who was able to ream a little, polish it out, ream a little, polish and get a good chamber from a bad reamer..

emails are shot off to dave aand JGS..

looking like 6 months + wait for the Manson reamers for a custom... maybe hes got something close enough that will work for me..
 
Apparently PTG put out over a million in sales per month... 160 busy guys...

Manson and JGS are both excellent, Manson cheaper.
 
In the last 3 years, PTG cranked out worse and worse junk. Their customer service capabilities suck as well.

I never liked Manson, but I didn't believe I would live the moment when Manson is preferred (or recommended) over PTG.

Apparently, for the regular guy from the street, JGS is the best choice right now.

For highly specialized or extreme quality work, there might be a couple of choices out there,
but the price grows exponentially.
 
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the last one I had dave build for me was a custom 9.3x62 reamer that he went above and beyond making sure the dimensions where going to work with what I was wanting to build .
trying to talk to someone who actually knew anything about making a reamer at cylmer or ptg was next to impossible .
 
Dave Kiff (PT&G) has not had a problem with actual dimensions that I am aware of... it is the poor cut of the margin leaving to much round on the body that has been the problem with several reamers I have used... when they are about 1/2 inch from being finished the rear of the reamer quits cutting and burnishes... the reamer becomes extremely hard to remove from the chamber... some had to be driven back... then the rear of the chamber required polishing before you could ream any farther.. and this needed to be repeated several times... and it makes it difficult to advance only a thou or two... and takes twice as long to finish a chamber... and it all boils back to not enough back grind on the body. I had one reamer brake a flute due to this... and Dave Kiff (PT&G) ground a new one n/c. His warranty is okay but it should not get down to that...
 
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I was very happy with the service and reamer I got from Manson and I will buy again from them soon.
 
ultimate_monkey said:
thats pretty much i got from them too, was told it looked modified (got that from a pic sent to them) and that it must have been done wrong and made it dull. luckily i have a great smith (dennis sorenson ) who was able to ream a little, polish it out, ream a little, polish and get a good chamber from a bad reamer..

emails are shot off to dave aand JGS..

looking like 6 months + wait for the Manson reamers for a custom... maybe hes got something close enough that will work for me..
Click to expand...
It's always "fun" when a customer orders a reamer that he designed incorrectly or it's not his fault because the manufacturer made it out of spec. In this case it was a JGS reamer. So, YMMV.
Your lucky Dennis did that for you.
 
lejarretnoir said:
It's always "fun" when a customer orders a reamer that he designed incorrectly or it's not his fault because the manufacturer made it out of spec. In this case it was a JGS reamer. So, YMMV.
Your lucky Dennis did that for you.
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The bad reamer I got from PTG, was one of their production .308win match reamers. Nothing had been changed or modified to how they make them.
 
guntech said:
Dave has not had a problem with actual dimensions that I am aware of... it is the poor cut of the margin leaving to much round on the body that has been the problem with several reamers I have used... when they are about 1/2 inch from being finished the rear of the reamer quits cutting and burnishes... the reamer becomes extremely hard to remove from the chamber... some had to be driven back... then the rear of the chamber required polishing before you could ream any farther.. and this needed to be repeated several times... and it makes it difficult to advance only a thou or two... and takes twice as long to finish a chamber... and it all boils back to not enough back grind on the body. I had one reamer brake a flute due to this... and Dave ground a new one n/c. His warranty is okay but it should not get down to that...
Click to expand...

I'm just trying to get my head around this ......

would it be correct to say that the heel of the of where the reamer was ground is making contact before the cutting edge ?
 
The problem with any reamer you buy is that you can't measure it (most of us anyway). With any luck it will cut properly but when the chamber is done will most sizing dies work with it? You are at the mercy of the reamer maker and I would rather be at the mercy of JGS or Manson. I did once have a PTG reamer that cut like a JGS, it was great. Having two PTG reamers made to the same print tells the tale very well. Several years ago I was warned not to use PTG reamers by a top GS in the US and he was right. Any PTG reamer that matches the print is a pure coincidence was the warning which proved to be true. I have asked lots of GS in the US about PTG and the feeling is pretty common. Price and availability make PTG attractive however and they will guarantee what they make but I don't have a couple of months extra for them to maybe fix their problem.
 
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