choke reaming

[camerl2009]

ok im getting some 12ga barrel sets and thay have fixed chokes
i need to ream them out if there to tight and one know where i can get a choke
reamer

[hickstick_10]

l(i dont like chokes :-P)

I'm gonna assume your reaming them out to cylinder.

An expandable reamer from any machine shop supplier (Thomas Skinner) or something similar will do, they may even have them at princess auto or Busy Bee. Go a little bit at a time, or you will get chatter, and never turn the reamer backwards. Test it out on a piece of scrap first, before you apply it to the barrels, you dont want a step after all. And in case you dont know, measure each choke first before you ream, as they may not be the same. Its also usually stamped on the barrels under the forearm.

There is usually a cheap economy brand of reamers these machine shop suppliers carry, stay away from the name brand ones that may cost hundreds of dollars.

I believe in that book I recommended (recreating the double barrel muzzle loading shotgun) there are even instructions on making your own reamer.


ok so just to clear things up im buying the book Recreating the Double Barrel Muzzleloading Shotgun and see what it tells me to use.


Read the book you have first, it will answer many of your questions. It pretty much covers everything.

[gnoahhh]

No matter what style reamer you use, never ever attempt it without it being guided from the main bore with proper size bushings for alignment. I would like a dollar for every choke that ever ended up off center, canted and otherwise screwed up from a well meaning amateur trying to ream by hand with no guide. I have known 2 smiths who could do it that way ok, but not until after they screwed up a bunch. The learning curve can sometimes be a bitch! My buddy has a custom reamer for 12 gauge that he made precision ground bore bushings to support the reamer guide rod in .001" increments for perfect alignment in any deviated bore diameter. We trust that setup much more than our "eye" and "feel". Accurate measuring instruments are an absolute necessity to go along with reamer set-up. You need to know exactly how much you're removing.

Skimping on reamers is another questionable issue. With any cutting/machine tool you get what you pay for. There's a reason the best grades cost serious money. Better attention is paid to steel selection, accuracy of sizing between the individual cutter blades, accuracy of the grind and how nicely the edges are "backed off", fit of the cutters in the holder, etc. I'm not saying good work is impossible with cheap tools, but repeatable accurate work is harder to achieve with bargain basement tools. Plus, you'll be replacing them rather often if you do a lot of barrels, which makes the expensive professional-grade tool cheaper in the long run.

[hickstick_10]

I'l agree with gnoahhhh, bargain basement stuff will not get you the best results, but at the end of the day if its a difference in paying 50 bucks for a hand one, and 500 bucks for a carbide reamer used in an NC, your results are going to be pretty close because your holding a reamer in a tap wrench and turning it by hand.

http://www.thomasskinner.com/products/CUTTING%20TOOLS/REAMERS%20@@26%20COUNTERBORES/CUT-RC305/SOW-460.aspx

But heres a place to start at any rate. They'l cut within a half thou, measured with a 3 point bore micrometer and bore gauges take your pick. You can go as fancy as you want with reamers, but something in there will get you by. Industry uses em for thousands of holes, I'm sure they will work for a couple smoke poles.

A great horror of reaming is that a reamer thats chucked and turning may appear to not be concentric and you think it will ruin hole it gets plunged into, fortunately that's not the case, as a reamer on a through hole takes a path of least resistance, which happens to be taking an even amount of material off for each tooth which forces it to stay true to the bore. And misaligned or malformed pilots especially removable ones on loose pins, do far more damage for reaming through holes.

But hey, its just my opinion, filter it as you wish.

Maybe brownells has what your looking for then?

[Clark]

Reaming chokes out can be as easy was wrapping emery cloth around a screwdriver handle, and spin the screwdriver with an electric drill. Measure change in choke with a $12 inside telescoping hole gage from Enco.

I saw my father do that in 1961 and I did it myself in 1976.

I now have the Rem choke reamer and tap screw in choke tool set from Brownells. I use a boring bar to hurry it up before the reamer.

If you want to tap for screw in chokes, I have more to say.