Undersized Chambers?

[blind bat]

Is there a new trend whereby gun/barrel manufacterers are cutting their barrels with really short throats or are they just being cheap by running their reamers until the go-gage no loner goes into battery?

I ask because the last four 9mm barrels I've received (whole guns and parts) barely have any free space between the chamber and the rifling. The worst barrel would only accept 124gr MG JHPs out to 1.080" the best was 1.100". I purchased a Manson finish reamer and all of the barrels will now chamber the same bullets out to 1.135-1.140". I tried not to change the head space, I just turned the reamer until it spun freely. The reamed chambers were all within .003" of their original depth and they all pass the go/no-go gage test.

I figured if the vendors were just being cheap and using worn out reamers then the barrel's chamber should be tight as well as having a short throat but that doesn't seem to be the case. Maybe the throat part of the reamer wears down before the chamber portion?

Edited March 18, 2015 by blind bat

[feederic]

Hardly a new trend...

Most gunsmith fit barrels will come without a proper finish reamed chamber by default, and the smith can set it to whatever they want. The only exception I know of is for AET barrels, which for other reasons as well I am not a fan of.

For those that do finish ream on complete guns you are probably right and they don't replace their reamers as often as they should, if reamers are used at all.

[blind bat]

Ahh good point about not reaming. With CNC lathes I guess anything is possible. The factories can always stamp "MATCH" on their under sized barrels and charge a couple extra bucks.