5.56 finish reamer rental?

[HeavyDuty]

Can anyone recommend a place to rent a 5.56 chamber finish reamer? I don't build enough to be worth buying the tool, but would like to touch up what I have. I'd prefer to use the Michiguns reamer.

Thanks!

[HeavyDuty]

No leads, huh?

[C4IGrant]

Not many people have one of these (except dealers that know anything about AR's).


Why do you want to ream your barrel (what is the problem)?


C4

[HeavyDuty]

No problem at the moment, Grant - I have several ARs with differing brand barrels, none of which are likely to be true 5.56. More of a preventative thing.

[C4IGrant]

Originally Posted by HeavyDuty

No problem at the moment, Grant - I have several ARs with differing brand barrels, none of which are likely to be true 5.56. More of a preventative thing.

Well since they are running, might I suggest having the chambers checked out first and then if they are found to be out of spec, getting them reamed???



C4

[HeavyDuty]

Actually, I did try a friend's 5.56 field gauge on two, and they were tight. I normally shoot cheap commercial .223 at the moment, but my reserve stash is all 5.56 thus my concern.

This isn't a spur of the moment desire.

[C4IGrant]

Originally Posted by HeavyDuty

Actually, I did try a friend's 5.56 field gauge on two, and they were tight. I normally shoot cheap commercial .223 at the moment, but my reserve stash is all 5.56 thus my concern.

This isn't a spur of the moment desire.

A field gauge really isn't going to tell you anything about your chamber.

You need a 556 chamber gauge. We use the one that Ned makes. Works pretty well.



C4

[Tangotag]

You could always buy one use it then sell it.
Clearly document your limited use of the reamer. That may reasure any future buyer that the reamer is not wore out and increase your asking sale price.

[HeavyDuty]

Originally Posted by C4IGrant

A field gauge really isn't going to tell you anything about your chamber.

You need a 556 chamber gauge. We use the one that Ned makes. Works pretty well.



C4

That's pretty much where I was going in wanting to rent a reamer - it it's in spec, it won't cut. If I buy a chamber guage and find I need to ream, I still need to find a reamer. Just trying to kill two birds with one stone.

Thanks for the advice, Grant!

[C4IGrant]

Originally Posted by HeavyDuty

That's pretty much where I was going in wanting to rent a reamer - it it's in spec, it won't cut. If I buy a chamber guage and find I need to ream, I still need to find a reamer. Just trying to kill two birds with one stone.

Thanks for the advice, Grant!

Understand, but it is always better to check them first and then cut.

My suggestion is to find a dealer with one of these reamers and send your barrels to them for inspection and cutting (if needed).


C4

[Skintop911]

There is no harm in preemptively reaming a chamber with Ned's reamer. It may not be necessary, but it will do no harm.

Do be aware that even on in an in-spec chamber, the reamer may remove a small quantity of material due to the max dim cut it makes. Ned describes this in further detail in another post.

Buy the tools and recover your investment where you can. I knew I'd use mine, but I underestimated how much.

[Tangotag]

What kind of wear on the reamer occurs when you cut chrome lined barrels or are just non-chrome lined barrels reamed?

My consern for my own rifles is that I may remove the chrome lining in the throat area of the chamber and tool life.

[C4IGrant]

Originally Posted by Tangotag

What kind of wear on the reamer occurs when you cut chrome lined barrels or are just non-chrome lined barrels reamed?

My consern for my own rifles is that I may remove the chrome lining in the throat area of the chamber and tool life.

Chrome is pretty hard on the reamer.

The chrome in the throat area wears out normally from shooting pretty fast so that is not a concern.


C4

[gotm4]

I agree with Grant 100%. The new neck and throat checker from Ned Christiansen is very nice and helps a lot when you're questioning how your barrel is actually chambered.

Headspaced gauges only tell you if the gun is safe to fire or not.

Neds 5.56mm NATO neck and throat reamer is actually just that....it only cuts at the neck and throat. This is where it's critical if you're shooting 5.56mm NATO pressure ammo. This reamer also helps quite a bit if you're shooting steel cased ammo. If it doesn't run on Wolf 95% of the time if you ream it to a true 5.56mm NATO neck and throat and run it wet with oil it'll run.

[Skintop911]

Originally Posted by Tangotag

What kind of wear on the reamer occurs when you cut chrome lined barrels or are just non-chrome lined barrels reamed?

My consern for my own rifles is that I may remove the chrome lining in the throat area of the chamber and tool life.

I've reamed a number of chrome lined chambers and many more unlined. The tool is still sharp and removing material.

Ned posts the following on his site on the topic:

What about chromed-lined chambers? The good news is that in my experience, Colt AR15 chromed barrels have a proper 5.56 chamber. I would consider most others to be suspect. The reamer has been subjected to a secondary heat-treating process, titanium carbo-nitride, which makes it capable of correcting under-spec chromed chambers. Obviously it will do fewer of them, but I have yet to hear of one of my reamers geting dull-- and my personal one has done at least a few dozen chromed chambers. Will removing the chrome be a problem? No. Plenty of AR's don't have chromed bores and chamber and they work fine. I've sectioned some chromed barrels and the chrome doesn't last that long in the throat area anyway. Removing chrome in the chamber won't cause the area to peel like bumper chrome.

[Ned Christiansen]

As an update, I have now heard of one of my reamers going dull.

A member here (I won't say who but feel free to come out if you want to, and if I've messed up any details, by all means correct me) had a fleet of 300 guns to ream, all chrome-lined. He got partway through and had to get a second reamer. Between the two he successfully reamed the bunch.

My reamer gives a chamber that is actually a tad longer in the freebore and throat than 5.56. I have not been able to show in my own shooting, nor have I ever received a comment to the effect, that accuracy is degraded. On the other hand, I have never had anyone comment that "it didn't help, I'm still popping primers".

I do have information from a manufacturer that pressure-barrel testing, where 5.56 ammo was fired in a .223 SAAMI-spec chamber, resulting in average pressures (conformal transducer) of 72,550 psi, and peak pressure at 76,250 psi.

According to my source, 5.56 is spec'd to make just short of 59,000 psi (case mouth meaured) which equates to almost 62,000psi when measured via conformal transducer. The SAAMI max for the 223 is 55,000psi (conformal transducer). A .223 proof load goes 78,500 psi (conformal).

I'm not an expert on all this pressure barrel stuff although I hope to get a chance to get educated on it.

The cost of the reamer is one of the reasons I came up with the gage for checking to see which chamber you have. If the gage goes, no need to ream it, so no need to spend $240 on the reamer. I just didn't like putting a guy in the position of "you'll have to buy the reamer to find out". The gage is $44. http://www.m-guns.com/tools.php

[HeavyDuty]

Ned, have you ever considered setting up rental for a reamer or two? There must be many others like me - three or four barrels that probably could use reaming, but without the budget to spend $200+ on a rarely used tool.

[Ned Christiansen]

Yes I have, and it's a good idea, I just can't seem to make the time to manage it. I know a guy or two was doing this with one of my 6.8 reamers.