rechamber a 221 Fire Ball to 222 REM

[LaOtto222]

I have a Remington 700 and have bought a Shilen SS 221 Fire Ball barrel for it. The chamber is "short chambered" to the 221. I want to do this project myself. I have a barrel vise and action wrench. Is it feasible to chamber this barrel in 222 REM? If so can I do it with a rental reamer by hand? Can I rent a tight necked 222 REM and still do this project or just the regular neck? If not I can still go 221. I am set up for either cartridge because I reload for both now. I really wanted a 222 REM, but got a good deal on this barrel. One last question...Am I nuts wanting to do this myself, or should I hire a competent gun smith to do it?

[John Traveler]

It's probably NOT a good idea to attempt hand reaming from a .221 fireball chamber to a .222 Remington.  Without the cartridge drawings at hand, I recall there is a difference of 1/4" to 1/3" difference in shoulder length.  That is too much to do manually and you have a good chance of enlarging the chamber mouth.  Besides that, do you have any idea how many hundreds of revolutions you have to make to complete the chamber?  And don't forget the need for headspace gages.

Make sure the existing twist rate is suitable for your intended .222 rechamber.  Ask your gunsmith if a tight-neck chamber is advised, and proceed from there.

[LaOtto222]

Thank you for your input. I know that short chambers are made to finish chamber by hand if is so desired. I have never finished reamed a chamber by hand. I have no idea how much turning would be involved. I was under the impression that a sharp reamer would not take that much turning, could be wrong on that though. Like I said never done it. There is .19" difference to the shoulder between the two. Then there is the neck. The neck on a 222 starts at 1.387" the overall length for a 221 FB is 1.400". I do not know how how deep a short chamber is. I was under the impression it was about .050" short, but could be wrong on that too. If I got a reamer, I would get one with interchangeable pilots so it would fit the bore perfectly to avoid "rounding" out the neck area. Do not know about the chamber mouth. I think I would use that style even if I would finish reaming it to 221. One site that you rent reamers from will also rent go and no-go gages and extra pilots in varying diameters. Twist rate for this barrel is 1 -14, it is the gold standard for 222, great for 50 - 52 grain bullets. My do - it -your self attitude is waning here a bit. Any other input?

[John Traveler]

Okay, I checked reamer dimensions for the .221 fireball and the .222 remington.  It looks like a .222 remington reamer will clean up either a short-chambered or full-depth .221 Fireball chamber correctly.  See for yourself at www.clymerreamers.com

I would still strongly advise against attempting to do the rechambering by hand.  Manual chamber reaming is okay because little material (0.50") is removed to achieve proper headspace.  Trying to deepen a chamber shoulder by 0.19 inch manually is asking for trouble because any sideways pressure will result in the chamber becoming oversized or eggshaped.  Rechambering (including to "improved"  or blownout cases) is normally done on a lathe using steady rest and tailstock to apply reamer feed.  Extra care in measurements, alignment, lubrication, and chip removal is what gives perfect chambers.

Anyone experienced in the gun repair business can tell you horror stories about damaged chambers, hard extraction, and ruined brass from amateur attempts to "improve" rifle chambers.  I've seen a few disasters caused by running standard machine reamers using an electric drill.  My favorite is from the late Frank de Haas when he was an NRA  technical editor and received a Japanese 6.5mm Arisaka rifle that was rechambered to .30-06.  The owner complained that it "kicked too hard" and was difficult to extract, even though he had killed a couple deer with it.  Yeah we can imagine how it must have kicked, firing .308" bullets through a .264" bore!!

Anyway, enough said.  The CORRECT way to rechamber is on a lathe, if you want maximum accuracy and performance. but it's your rifle, and you are certainly free to do whatever you want.  Let us know how it works out for you.

John

[LaOtto222]

Thanks a lot guys. I makes sense to me what both of you are saying. I think I will contact a couple of smiths in my area about a chamber to 222 REM. I am definitely not going to try that. I will make up my mind after talking to them If I want them to chamber to 222 REM or I will rent a reamer and leave it a 221 FB. I like doing things myself, but do not want to botch it up because I do not have the right equipment. Even though I got a good deal on this barrel it still costs more than a run of the mill barrel. I am looking for more in the accuracy department than a run of the mill barrel will give me. I am not in a hurry with this and I want it done right, so it may be a while until you hear the results, but I will post.

[LaOtto222]

Whoops I just realized that John Traveler responded both times; my bad. Thanks again John it still makes sense.

[gunnut69]

John is right here. While such a re-chamber might be done there is risk and it's likely the precision would not be there.. Setting it up in a lathe is the way to go.. Good luck with the 222. I love the round and have had much luck with it over the years.. Best that I can remember I have 5 or 6 in the vault just now. A M700 Varmit Special is the most accurate. Will put 3 under a 1/4 at 100 using 50 grain Hornadys and BlC2. The handiest is a M7 purchased to replace a stolen M600. Short and acurate it is the handiest coyote rifle I've ever used. Works great when calling in the brush.

[LaOtto222]

Thank you for your response. I also have a 700 Varmint Special. That is the one I want to re barrel. The new barrel is the same contour, just 2 inches longer.  I found the best loads for it was BLC2 with 50 SX's. It has lost some accuracy and I want it back. I have done a lot of shootin' with it. It was my one and only varmint gun for many years. If I leave it a 221, can I do a quality job with a hand reamer? One more question. If I finish reaming it to 221, could I make it a 222 later?

[gunnut69]

You might try the 55 PLHP bullet as built by Remington. It is a hollow base bullet and is quite forgiving.. I've a 22-250 that was a real bear. Nothing worked and I was just about ready to sell it when I stumbled on the PLHP bullets. The slightly longer bullet may help get a bit closer to the rifling. If you install the barrel as a 221 it can still be reamed to a 222 at any time. that brings up another possibility. Perhaps reaming the 222 to a 223 would get the throat back in shape? The replacement barrel could be kept in reserve... The 222 in the 600 carbine was mine for many years. Extraordinarily accurate I missed it badly and the M7 replacement was never the same. Several M722 Remington's were added to the vault as the 223 drove the price of these fine rifles down to the bargain basement. The 700 Varmit Special was rescued from a brother in law about to trade it off for an 870 or something! I made aa cash offer and he thru in some 20 year old handloads. These would turn in 3/8 inch groups and mine are nearly as good.. It's truly amazing how well those rifles of the '70s were made.. Good luck!