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Gunsmithing Recommendation on a chamber reamer for 260 Remington

McGuyver

Sergeant
Full Member
Minuteman
Dec 29, 2011
126
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50
Utah
Hello all,

I am getting ready to purchase a chamber reamer to do a 260 Remington and I was looking for some suggestions on whether to do a standard SAAMI chamber or a match chamber. Standard throat of custom throat? As it stands right now, I am considering a live pilot reamer from Pacific Tool and Gauge, with standard throat. Maybe a carbide instead of high speed steel to give me a little more life out of it. I am a beginner at this so I figure on doing a few practice chambers on some worn out barrels before trying to do it on my Krieger blank. Does anyone know what the difference is between the standard and match chambers? tighter clearances maybe? I want to use this gun in practical/tactical matches. I'm thinking I could use a throat reamer if I wanted to extend the throat from the standard length if need be (for longer bullets but want to still fit in an Alpha Industries longer than standard magazine), so no need to get a reamer with a custom throat. Is this a sound approach?
Thanks for the input in advance.
 
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I have a ptg reamer with .070 freebore.i can shoot the Berger 140 gr. and still fit in a standard length mag.unless you are going to chamber a bunch of rifles there is no need for the carbide reamer
 
Just had my new barrel spun on and I elected for the PT&G .260 Tac Match GAP reamer. It has a .297neck to run Lapua brass, and .079 freebore witch allows me to run 140 AMAXs at mag length. Works great.
 
Thanks for the input guys. How many chambers could I expect to get out of a high speed steel reamer vs. a carbide reamer?

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No kidding? Is that with high speed steel?

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Thanks for the input guys. I have copies of 4 different reamer drawings from PTG: 419, 12916, 31082, and 11096, and I have to admit, I'm a little confused as to which dimension constitutes the freebore. Also some acronyms on the drawing I'm not familiar with: TPI? That's not threads per inch is it? That doesn't make sense to me on a reamer drawing. Confused.

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Cool. Thanks for the clarification. That makes a lot more sense. Some more terms I need clarification on: is lead the same as freebore? Does it only include the diameter at the bottom of the rifling grooves, or does it include the distance where the 45 degree angle steps down from the neck diameter? Is the throat just the section where the angle transition happens from the free bore diameter to the rifle bore diameter?

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My 260 reamer is a SAAMI chamber that cuts a .299 rear of the neck and .298" at the front, which is also what my Douglas factory chamber is.

That is far from ideal, but now that I have screwed around with the necking down 308 brass and turning it to fit, a better reamer would just screw me up.
 
I suggest you start with a HSS reamer, more forgiving and uses the standard pilots. The carbide reamers are more expensive and use a different pilot that doesn't interchange with other HSS reamers. On top of that the carbide reamers need to be run at no less than 180 - 200 RPM's or you will just dull them and or stand the chance of breaking one, especially if you don't pre-drill and pre-bore.

I suggest you call Dave and tell him how you plan to chamber the barrel and let him suggest the reamer to use. Dave will tell you the same for speeds for the carbide reamer. For what it's worth I have two identical 6BR reamers, one in HSS and one in carbide. They both cut great and produce a chamber that shoots great if the rest of the rifle is put together properly.
 
Thank you FCrifles, I appreciate your advice.

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What does "resize N.D." mean? Resize neck diameter?

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