Reaming out the Pietta

[Rattus58]

I've learned that reaming out cylinders and or the force cone can solve some of the most thorny loading issues with the Pietta and others. All well and good. So I go to youtube and see this operation performed on a 44 or 45 ... easy enough... and at $260 for my 44 Pietta and 44 remington mag worth it if my accuracy is assured. But, when I went to Brownells, I found that these reamers don't seem to seem to bottom ream and at best would only ream a portion of the Pietta. Is there something missing or am I calling it and looking for something that goes by another name?

Thanks in Advance..

:cool::grin:

[bob208]

reamers are not bottom cutting tools. in fact a lot of reamers do not cut to size until you get them about 1" back from the end. the best way to do cap and ball cylinders is to set them up in a mill and bore them out.

[Rattus58]

reamers are not bottom cutting tools. in fact a lot of reamers do not cut to size until you get them about 1" back from the end. the best way to do cap and ball cylinders is to set them up in a mill and bore them out. I was thinking that myself. I have seven cylinders.. don't know how well they are set up, but if I made them equal I can see some expense to it. I don't have a mill but have reamed out my breech plugs for 32 caliber casing for small primers.. is something like that adequate for cap and ball?

[fouronesix]

I assume you want to ream the cylinder throats out a tad so they're more or less equal to the bore's groove diameter??

Agreed, a mill is better but can be done on drill press or even with hand tools. Really, the reamer will find center of the cylinder throat- it's just a matter of keeping it on axis. If it were a $3-5000 competition revolver I'd get it to someone who specializes in that work. But for a C&B repro that could really benefit from opening the throats a little- I wouldn't hesitate to give it a go. I have access to a couple of different mills but it wouldn't scare me doing it by hand with a T handle driver or even a brace-n-bit. But that's just me.

Oh and if you are looking at the center fire revolver throat reamers like in Brownells- they are pass though and piloted I believe and not really suited for C&B cylinder throat reaming- as bob208 pointed out. You need to find a short, tapered, fluted reamer of correct diameter- whatever the best match to the bore's groove diameter is. That type reamer may be found in other sources and not necessarily in gunsmithing related tools. Also, there may be some non-standard drill bit sizes out there of the right diameter- I dunno never looked but would be the very simplest method of opening the throat portion of a C&B cylinder.

[Rattus58]

I assume you want to ream the cylinder throats out a tad so they're more or less equal to the bore's groove diameter??

Agreed, a mill is better but can be done on drill press or even with hand tools. Really, the reamer will find center of the cylinder throat- it's just a matter of keeping it on axis. If it were a $3-5000 competition revolver I'd get it to someone who specializes in that work. But for a C&B repro that could really benefit from opening the throats a little- I wouldn't hesitate to give it a go. I have access to a couple of different mills but it wouldn't scare me doing it by hand with a T handle driver or even a brace-n-bit. But that's just me.

Oh and if you are looking at the center fire revolver throat reamers like in Brownells- they are pass though and piloted I believe and not really suited for C&B cylinder throat reaming- as bob208 pointed out. You need to find a short, tapered, fluted reamer of correct diameter- whatever the best match to the bore's groove diameter is. That type reamer may be found in other sources and not necessarily in gunsmithing related tools. Also, there may be some non-standard drill bit sizes out there of the right diameter- I dunno never looked but would be the very simplest method of opening the throat portion of a C&B cylinder.
Thank you... that was kinda what I was thinking that the reamer for my 44 wouldn't be adequate for my C&B....

[Bent Ramrod]

I used a 0.323" reamer from MSC on a Pietta cylinder for a Remington Pocket Pistol clone and on an ASM cylinder for a Colt Pocket clone. It didn't have to all the way to the bottom, just far enough in to allow the balls to swage to the same size.

The original Colts (and maybe Remingtons as well) had tapered chambers. You could only ram the balls so far into the cylinder before they would stop.

I put a tap wrench on the reamer and did them by hand. The reamer followed the chamber holes and cleaned them up with only hand pressure. There was only a few thou difference in the chamber diameters, with 0.323" being the largest.

[hylander]

Rattus58:
Did you undertake this yet ?
I also want to open up my Pietta's cylinders.
Not sure what tool to use or where to get it

[Rattus58]

Rattus58:
Did you undertake this yet ?
I also want to open up my Pietta's cylinders.
Not sure what tool to use or where to get itNo I haven't... I've been just now looking at reamers and means to hold the cylinders in line with the axis of the press. I've was advised that I could take a half round file and file a portion of a block of wood(s) and with the radius on both sides of the cylinder in the clamp might be able to "hold it" for the operation. We'll see... I'd say within the next couple of weeks I'll have the time and the tools in hand.

http://www.maritool.com/Cutting-Tools-Reamers-HSS-Chucking/c78_262_263/index.html?page=30

Aloha... :cool:

[John Taylor]

You can get almost any size chucking reamer from http://www.mcmaster.com/#
I use the mill and rotary table for reaming out cylinders in most cases.
http://s95.photobucket.com/user/johnptaylor/media/cylinderreaming.jpg.html?sort=3&o=94
Another way to insure the chamber is lined up with the bore is to make a dummy barrel as a reamer guide. This would be a little hard for open tops.
http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l132/johnptaylor/reamingcylinder.jpg

[hylander]

I'm thinking this is the Reamer I need ?
High Speed Steel Chucking Reamer ?

http://www.mcmaster.com/#reamers/=p7568l