# Reamer Question, recommendations, thoughts?



## Mike8623 (Nov 6, 2018)

OK guys I'm looking for a hole through reamer for reaming rifle barrels every once in awhile and I really don't want to spend $200.00 each. Not a chamber reamer but a reamer to finish reaming the bore in a gun barrel. 

What type and brand maybe would you folks recommend for this type of use?  Hopefully $50.00 or under in price, must have a hole for coolant/ cutting oil. Hopefully something available in longer lengths.

What do you folks think.....what would you use and or your thoughts. I'm looking for info and a possible narrowing of the choices that would work for me.


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## derf (Nov 6, 2018)

What exactly are you trying to accomplish? Pull through reamers for rifle barrels are custom made tools, and with flow through shanks, they are for dedicated machines. $50.00 ain't gonna buy much.


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## Mike8623 (Nov 6, 2018)

derf said:


> What exactly are you trying to accomplish? Pull through reamers for rifle barrels are custom made tools, and with flow through shanks, they are for dedicated machines. $50.00 ain't gonna buy much.


I want to make a rifle barrel. once drilled it will have to be reamed.............so I was hoping for some thought s on a type of hole thru reamer that may work. I realize that the big barrel makers use custom made reamers but surely another type of reamer will work for a few barrels.

anyone out there dome this before and what worked for you or didn't work for you


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## derf (Nov 6, 2018)

So how are you going to drill it?


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## Mike8623 (Nov 6, 2018)

derf said:


> So how are you going to drill it?


I am going to use my lathe. What type of reamer would you use if you didn't have $200.00 for each caliber hole reamed and wanted to ream a long hole 18-28 inches long?


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## Mitch Alsup (Nov 6, 2018)

I buy barrels from reputable barrel manufactures who drill, ream, rifle, and lap the interior of the barrel.
They have all the necessary tools to get it right {to size, dead straight, properly rifled, polished inside.}
I can buy the barrels 0.000,5 undersized if I like, too. In any conceivable caliber, too.

Why do you want to take on the most difficult part of gun smithing yourself?


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## Dan_S (Nov 6, 2018)

Just buying the proper drill bit (gun drill bit) is going to cost you over $200.


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## Mike8623 (Nov 6, 2018)

I guess the challenge and just to do it.  Eldorado sells gun drills in the hundred dollar range.

I'm just looking for some reamer info here guys surely someone out there has been here before. Anyone that can help please do.


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## derf (Nov 6, 2018)

I think you are biting off more than you can chew.....
Deep hole drilling for rifle barrels requires a deep hole drilling machine, not just any lathe.
Is your lathe capable of turning 2500+ rpm? Do you have a pressurized oil system that will produce 800 p.s.i.?  I'm betting not. I don't mean to discourage you, but making barrels is not a hobbiest thing. Like others have said, it's easier and cheaper to buy a quality barrel than to spend money on tools to do it. Barrel makers have spent lots of time and money learning their trade and all the tricks associated with producing good barrels.
 I've personally been to 4 barrel makers and watched their process, and it takes precision machines and precision tools that most have never seen or heard of. Besides the drilling and rifling machines, you must also have support machinery.

One of the barrel makers that I knew and shot competition with was a farmer that made barrels in the off season. He built his machine with the help of a seasoned barrel maker that also mentored him. He told me making the machines was the easy and cheap part. The rest was the hard part......precision tool grinders, precision measuring systems and  the knack to figure out what made things right.

 Eldorado has everything you need, but the machinery.


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## GL (Nov 6, 2018)

I think Gale McMillian said it best, we have invested millions of dollars to create a precision rifle barrel, why do you think you can run laps on a cleaning rod that will make it better.  I get the challenge and the wanting to do it yourself- I personally love that attitude. But at the end of the day, a man has to know his limitations.  Maybe you are looking to become a barrel maker, or just your own for a few.  The Kentucky rifle guys are still building their own. But that's a different game than accurate centerfire. Depends what you want to end up with.  There is enough work to make a rifle accurate- barrel clambering, action accuritising, barrel mounting, etc , plus hand loading to keep your mind busy with nuance. Once you get past an accurate hole down the middle of a long round thing, you still have to deal with the rifleing, which is a whole 'nother can of worms that a lathe isn't the right tool for.  So, while I hate to stifle creativity and all, going to have to agree with derf and others, buy a good barrel and work from there.  Cheaper, easier, better - the tide is against us on this one.


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## Mike8623 (Nov 7, 2018)

Thanks guys, I just wanted info on reamers, anyone with any info on the opening questions I asked?


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## derf (Nov 7, 2018)

All of the pull through reamers I have seen are spiral fluted.


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## weewill (Nov 7, 2018)

You could use a armory reamer . These  are easy to make from a square file.


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## john.k (Nov 9, 2018)

In the English Model Engineer magazine,there was a very long and detailed series on using a square reamer and spill.on barrels........original research to uncover the mechanics of spill reaming from over (then) fifty years before..........In England ,spill reaming prevailed ,even for the millions of barrels made during two world wars......The process ,like many things ,seems very simple ,but is far from it,even though the machinery needed is simple....In the US the process was superceded around 1900 by the Pratt and Whitney method,using the familiar series of fluted reamers.


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## Mike8623 (Nov 10, 2018)

Well looks like the thread has slowed down and run its course. I want to thank all that replied.

I have bought 4 reamers and a gun drill. John Hall over at Eldorado quoted me a price (which I thought was awful good) of 100.00 each for two gun drills made to order, (5 weeks out). I just finished my hydraulic fluid system yesterday and I am going to start machining on the adpaters to attach the hydraulic hose to the rifling adapter I made for my lathe,
	

		
			
		

		
	







	

		
			
		

		
	
 today or tomorrow. I then have to fabricate an indexing sytem for my barrels on the lathe. Then a box to catch fluid on the lathe rails and a few pieces of pvc pipe to reroute fluid from the lathe back to the hydraulic fluid box. So I'm just plugging along and we'll see what happens. Thanks again to all those that took the time and thought to respond to my question.


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## magicniner (Nov 13, 2018)

Google Homebrew357 for home made barrels by a hobbyist.


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## rgray (Nov 13, 2018)

I set my lathe up for a gun drill, but just pistol length. I used the coolant system fist and then switched to an air regulator/oiler.
That works better but the chips are everywhere at 60 psi.
I then wrote a program so my cnc lathe could do it. Was a little tricky cause it really doesn't have the travel.
Only drilling and using a liner for 22 caliber here.
It's a boring video but here it is anyway.


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## Mike8623 (Mar 7, 2019)

Well I've been slowly moving along with my barreling/rifling attachment for my lathe. I'm just about there. The high pressure system is done, the boring carriage is done, I've got the cutter head almost done all that is left is to make my cutter...the cutter box and parts are done. I have barrel steel, gun drills and reamers. All I've got to do is indexing mechanism, a little plumbing and buying the oil. I'll attach a few more pictures. Oh I threw in a picture of the bear paw my dog drug up in Nov. I wonder where the rest of the bear is, I could use the skull.


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## Jubil (Mar 7, 2019)

Mike8623 said:


> Well I've been slowly moving along with my barreling/rifling attachment for my lathe. I'm just about there. The high pressure system is done, the boring carriage is done, I've got the cutter head almost done all that is left is to make my cutter...the cutter box and parts are done. I have barrel steel, gun drills and reamers. All I've got to do is indexing mechanism, a little plumbing and buying the oil. I'll attach a few more pictures. Oh I threw in a picture of the bear paw my dog drug up in Nov. I wonder where the rest of the bear is, I could use the skull.



THAT is cool. Looks like a well thought out, and executed system. 
I too had given thought to this idea, but at my level of experience and ability I will refrain for the time being. I had thought to attach the high pressure system to the outboard end and allow fluid and chips to flow into chip pan and thru the lathe coolant system. Then back to the high pressure system. 
My Dad used to say  ' "can't" died 3 years ago'. You are limited by the limitations your own mind puts on you. 
Please let us know how this works out.
Chuck


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## BtoVin83 (Mar 7, 2019)

When you talk of a pull though reamer are you talking about a button like in button rifling?


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## MarkM (Mar 8, 2019)

When I first read your post I thought here we go.  Another wanting nasa precision with no idea what it takes and costs.  Then I see you step up and use the info given to try to make it happen.  Awesome!


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## killswitch505 (Mar 9, 2019)

Well that’s really impressive please keep updating!!!!


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