Is it possible to chamber a rifle with just a finish reamer from A to Z or does a roughing reamer have to be used first? Are there any advantages to a solid pilot versus a rotating pilot or vice versa?
Thank you for any advice.
In my opinion, using a finishing reamer all the way is best. roughing reamers are used in
production operations where speed is the objective. They are under sized and the chamber MUST
be finished with a finish reamer.
With a flushing system or frequent cleaning, the reamer will last/stay sharp for many chambers(I
have reamers that have cut 10+ chambers that will still cut you if you run your hands down the
flutes the wrong way).
I have repaired chambers that were roughing reamer only chambers and there was no throat and the chamber was not concentric with the bore and had to be set back to clean it up. (These were
new rifles that showed pressure at lowest loads and no accuracy and someone decided that a roughing reamer was good enough to do a chamber.
As to the solid pilot or a removable piloted reamers, I use both and as long as the solid pilot reamer is a good fit (Less than .0005 clearance) I can see no difference, I use a high temp grease on both type of pilots to prevent any metal to metal contact with the bore to prevent any marking of the lands by ether pilot.
Where accuracy is the goal and time is not a finishing reamer all the way is the best IMO.
J E CUSTOM
