making a 22 rimfire chamber reamer?

[king nero]

I want to make a 22 rimfire single shot handgun.
For the moment, I am looking for a chamber reamer, but where I live it's hard to get hold of these items.

I know there are plans+instructions on the web available, how to make your own reamer.
Does anyone knows where I can find those, or give me some pointers?


My appologies is this has been covered on here before, but the search didn't work for me...


Thanks in advance...

kn.

[Nobade]

At the minimum you'll need a lathe, mill, indexing head, proper cutters, a way to sharpen it, and a way to heat treat it. Beyond that it's the same as making any other form reamer, use 5 flutes so it won't chatter. Also a .22LR can be chambered with just a drill bit. I don't remember the exact size but once cut just polish it out and you're set. If the design includes a rim cut in the barrel you can do it with a single point boring tool. BTW, where do you live? UPS goes a lot of places and a .22LR reamer is only about $35.

[BUGEYE]

I think the drill size is #11

[king nero]

At the minimum you'll need a lathe, mill, indexing head, proper cutters, a way to sharpen it, and a way to heat treat it.

check!

I don't want to do a bodge job, no offense but using a drill, that can't be a good way to make a match chamber - for the small bit of wisdom I carry 

Also, I live in Belgium, importing anything firearm related is almost impossible: before the paperwork is approved, it takes upto half a year, and the chance of a denial is still rather big. Also, import taxes is another way of our government to make money...


To make the 5 flutes, can someone give me some pointers for this? The depth mostly, or how small may the flutes be for still being efficient? How to sharpen those?





didn't know if I should make this a new topic or not, so here goes:

What is the minimum barrel diamater for a 22 LR. ?
If being too small, would it affect accuracy?
It won't be for long range shooting sessions, so heating won't be a problem. I'd do it for weight loss, as it's a 2/3" barrel...
and I want to to be .6", or maybe even slightly smaller....


Also, how many threads do I need (or length, depending on the pitch) into the receiver for a 22 rimfire barrel to be securely fastened into the (aluminum) receiver?
Not much I'd expect, as pinned barrels also exist?

[Cknerr]

If interested, (I will have to dig up the link) Pacific Tool and Die will send the tooling to you. Kipp makes outstanding reamers that I use in Match rifles ,and most of the gunsmith I know of working on match rifles use his tooling too (Benchrest). His website is a little weak, he doesn't need much in the way of advertising because of his reputation. BTW, if memory serves me right, no where on his invoice or packaging is there anything about firearms. You would be ordering a reamer for a machining operation....

Take care,
Chris

[king nero]

That would be great! and that's the main reason I don't buy from brownell's or the likes...

[Cknerr]

http://www.pacifictoolandgauge.com/chamber_reamers.asp

is the place. The price tag of calling him from where you are isn't going to help the budget in the beginning, but his vast wealth of knowledge and the people workiing there are well worth the expence. Your project will jump ahead with a few minutes of talking to him. Since you would have to call around midnight your time... you might want to email them first and set up a time.

They can also answer all your question about dimensions.

Please post from time to time about progress.

Chris

[MSP Ret]

Hi guys, interesting  thread and best of luck to you king nero. For those of you knowledgeable types, could I use a #11 bit to lengthen a .22 LR Chamber to .22 Mag specs? It would be on a single shot rifle and I have a drill press and some amount of expierence and mechanical ability...Thanks....<><....

[gunnut69]

The 22 mag uses an inside lubed bullet of 224 diameter and thus the case is quite a bit larger than the 22 LR. The No.11 bit would not work.. One could make a chamber reamer by turning the full shape from drill rod and then removing a bit less than half along the length of the shape. The result is called a shell reamer and while it is slow is cheap..

[king nero]

a shell reamer = a D reamer?

[MSP Ret]

Thanks gunnut69, I knew that, how could I have forgotten it? Getting old I guess, or too excited about a cheap conversion....<><....

[gunnut69]

Yes the reamer is 'D' shaped in cross section with a round pilot and drive section. It is best to harden the drill rod before removing the inside of the 'D' shape with by grinding. It avoids somewhat the warping issue.