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Reaming the Barrel


ES13Raven

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Where can I get my SP-01 barrel reamed for allowing longer bullets?

How much does it cost?

Thanks!

I see you are in Fresno. Do you ever shoot USPSA at the Aubury Range (2nd Sun and 4th Sat each month). There is a gentleman named Hal Roberts that competes there. I recently bought a Czechmate and wanted to have the chamber reamed. Hal said no problem, he has all the tools needed. Hal built the Limited, Open and two single stack guns he uses in competition. Just a note, I have not had it done to my CZ yet. I am having good luck making 9mm major with a 1.140 OAL. If nothing else, come out and shoot a match there, great people run the matches.

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Last time I researched this there was also a guy in Costa Mesa who did it for $30. I instead just switched bullets to one with a different profile/ogive and that let me load as long as I wanted.

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Cannot give you a specific recommendation, but almost any competent gun smith should be able to ream chamber and price should not be that costly. I would think $20-$40. Personally, I think $40 is high given the amount of work required.

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Last time I researched this there was also a guy in Costa Mesa who did it for $30. I instead just switched bullets to one with a different profile/ogive and that let me load as long as I wanted.

Do you mind sharing what bullet you switched to? Thanks

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If you are handy with tools, a throat reamer isn't that expensive. Add a t-handle and some cutting oil and that is it and you can do multiple guns. The reamer is piloted, use plenty of cutting fluid, and just cut a bit at a time, and only turn the reamer in the direction of the cut or you dull it. You will not mess up your chamber as you are only cutting the throat/freebore.

I have an Accu showing up today, and I will be reaming it as soon as my Brownells shipment gets here. I have a old KKM I have to ream and the CZ.

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Last time I researched this there was also a guy in Costa Mesa who did it for $30. I instead just switched bullets to one with a different profile/ogive and that let me load as long as I wanted.

Do you mind sharing what bullet you switched to? Thanks

I can tell you Bayou Bullets 124 gr RN works. I was using the 135 gr and had to load them very, very short. I can load the 124 gr RN out as long as the mag can take.

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If you are handy with tools, a throat reamer isn't that expensive. Add a t-handle and some cutting oil and that is it and you can do multiple guns. The reamer is piloted, use plenty of cutting fluid, and just cut a bit at a time, and only turn the reamer in the direction of the cut or you dull it. You will not mess up your chamber as you are only cutting the throat/freebore.

I have an Accu showing up today, and I will be reaming it as soon as my Brownells shipment gets here. I have a old KKM I have to ream and the CZ.

What reamer are you using? Manson? How many turns does it normally take you?

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Last time I researched this there was also a guy in Costa Mesa who did it for $30. I instead just switched bullets to one with a different profile/ogive and that let me load as long as I wanted.

Do you mind sharing what bullet you switched to? Thanks

I can tell you Bayou Bullets 124 gr RN works. I was using the 135 gr and had to load them very, very short. I can load the 124 gr RN out as long as the mag can take.

I don't have any Bayou 124 but I have some Blues. I'll try those out next, I've been running 147s (Bayou and Blue) and I have to keep them short. Thanks and thanks to Rowdyb also!

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Last time I researched this there was also a guy in Costa Mesa who did it for $30. I instead just switched bullets to one with a different profile/ogive and that let me load as long as I wanted.

Do you mind sharing what bullet you switched to? Thanks

I can tell you Bayou Bullets 124 gr RN works. I was using the 135 gr and had to load them very, very short. I can load the 124 gr RN out as long as the mag can take.

I don't have any Bayou 124 but I have some Blues. I'll try those out next, I've been running 147s (Bayou and Blue) and I have to keep them short. Thanks and thanks to Rowdyb also!

If it's a similar profile it should work fine. I know the round nose profile works, but Donnie told me the truncated cone 124 probably would not work.

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What reamer are you using? Manson? How many turns does it normally take you?

I have the Clymer, Manson's are good too. Just load up a few dummy rounds, one at the length you want and the next couple longer in .003-5 increments. Only give a quarter turn on the reamer with no downward pressure, remove it, clean out the chips and test. You want to cut about .010 longer than the load you want to use, hence the rounds loaded slightly longer.

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Beven Grams

Grams Engineering (949-548-3745)

http://www.gramsengineering.com

I sent my SP01 barrel to him and he reamed it for me. I think it was about 20 bucks. Give him a call, nice guy.

I talked with Beven today to place an order and asked about this. He said he throat reams 9mm barrels and uses a custom reamer to ensure lead bullets will chamber reliably. Hard to beat the price, too. If you have questions about the specifics give him a call. Very nice guy and very knowledgeable.

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Friend gave me tuncated cone bayou in 124grn and they fit the chamber nicely. The elongated cone and tapered sides bring the shoulder way toward the base and for my CZ barrels they fit well. I have not shot any but dropped some of his in my barrels to check. His are loaded long and just hit the rifling but not much. Bringing them down to 1.100 area would be perfect I am sure.

I am still trying to decide moving from 124grn JHP to bayou but cant decide. My switch was more for health reasons then anything. Blood lead levels are a real problem and I know most have not taken the blood test to see what they have. My bullets are Zero 125grn JHP and need to be under 1.100 OAL to work. I was at 1.098 and a few would go on the plus side and hang up during course of fire. I just shortened them back to 1.090 so they vary on the plus side to 1.098 at most now.

I considered reaming but would rather leave the barrel stock

Edited by brian45acp
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Beven is the man, I could swear that my SP01 is a tad bit more accurate after he did the throat.

Just saying.......

Turn around time is fast,fast,fast!

Edited by corny
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If you're not having accuracy issues as a result of a poorly reamed chamber, there isn't a reason to ream your chamber. The number of bullets you can't make work in a CZ is VERY small and in no way prohibitive to your use of the pistol. If you think that somehow a longer OAL is in and of itself better in some way, you're putting meaning into a number that doesn't have much to do with performance. OAL is the exterior measurement we use to control bullet length so it will fit in the chamber and our magazine. That's it.

I understand what happens -- we load RNs out to 1.16 then buy some JHP and push test them and find we have to seat it at 1.07 and think "OMG, that's super short, SO much shorter than these other bullets I've been loading!" But the cartridge doesn't care how far the nose of the bullet sticks into the barrel when it chambers. The cartridge cares how far the bullet sticks down into the actual case. That's where pressure is going to be affected. So how big a difference do these big differences in OAL make? .300 is the limit to seating depth in 9mm. That's where the case walls start to thicken, and the bullet won't seat any deeper. That's the mechanical limit. And if you're using 124gr bullets or heavier, you're more than likely seating deeper than .200 anyway. So that 10th of an inch is what we wring our hands over. I load Berry's 124gr HBRN to an OAL of 1.14, which has a seating depth of .226. I load Montana Gold to an OAL of 1.07 (OMG! Short!), but the seating depth is .256. So the difference in seating depth is .03. Three one hundredths of an inch difference in seating depth between that "long" loading RN and the "short" loading JHP. It's just not a big deal. If you're conducting load development properly -- using a published starting load and working up -- these "short" loading bullets are in no way, shape, or form a problem. I've loaded bullets 147gr bullets right down to the .300 mechanical limit, and they work fine because my reloading practices are safe and sound.

If you worry over short OAL's, stop. You're worrying over nothing. ;)

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I just like throating the barrels so I can load my bullets close to the max length of the magazine for feeding reliability.

I have not seen any accuracy or velocity changes afterwards.

Edited by himurax13
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I just like throating the barrels so I can load my bullets close to the max length of the magazine for feeding reliability.

Loading bullets close to max length for the magazine doesn't increase feeding reliability. Loading longer might increase reliability with a particular bullet, but it might hurt reliability with another. There is no magic OAL number that means the same thing to two different bullets or to the same bullet in two different guns.

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I just like throating the barrels so I can load my bullets close to the max length of the magazine for feeding reliability.

Loading bullets close to max length for the magazine doesn't increase feeding reliability. Loading longer might increase reliability with a particular bullet, but it might hurt reliability with another. There is no magic OAL number that means the same thing to two different bullets or to the same bullet in two different guns.

I don't know if there is a magic OAL but i have found that making the longest bullets that will feed in a CZ mag also happens to work in all of my other 9mm pistols as well. My malfunction rate with clean magazines is basically non existent.

The profile makes a big difference when loading long. Bullets with wide shoulders early on will hit the rifling sooner. Those are the ones that i would use the reamer for.

I typically load all of my non truncated cone bullets between 1.130 to 1.165. I haven't loaded a truncated cone for 9mm in a long time but I remember loading those long as well.

Edited by himurax13
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My malfunction rate in terms of feeding is 100% non-existent, never had one with my 75, and I've put I don't know how many thousands of Montana Gold 124gr JHP through it loaded to 1.07. I've also shot a bunch of Berry's HBFP at 1.065 and a bunch of BBI 125gr TCRN at 1.1 and BBI 147gr TCFP at 1.124. And again, NEVER a failure to feed.

If you want to load longer for other pistols, load longer for other pistols, but the CZ-75 doesn't actually need long OALs to feed properly. It's a solution looking for a problem.

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No you don't need to be able to load long, but I have multiple 9mm's in different brands and the CZ is the only one that have to be loaded short or throated. My practice load has been 1.150" with 135gr Bayous for quite awhile and I have a 5 gallon bucket full, easier to ream the barrel than load differently. You may choose not to ream, but it doesn't hurt anything and makes it easier to develop a load as you are not limited to loading short.

Edited by zen_grasshopper
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Or you could load to the shortest OAL that will work in all your pistols, which in this case would be the CZ, and shoot that load in all your pistols. You might even save a little powder. ;)

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