reamers

[vikingsword]

I'm hoping someone here can help me out! One of my sharps rifles happens to be a Pedersoli (forgive me) chambered in 45/70, and I wish to extend the chamber to a 45/90, as I came across a deal of 300 brand new cases plus reloading dies for very cheap. I would rather they were 45-2.6, and would trade for such if there out there, but my question is this,. 4d reamer rentals offers reamers in 45-90 Shiloh, 45-90 Winchester, and 45-90 Winchester Match, and I've noticed that there is very little difference in the three, though I know there must be. I shoot primarily paper patch bullets, so as you can imagine, I'm here wondering which of the three choices would suit me best. Any insight into this would be most appreciated. Wes

[vikingsword]

Ok, I've done a bit more research and figured this out, 45-90 Shiloh Sharps reamer it is!

[77 sharps]

Did you do a chamber cast to see if the new reamer will remove all of the old chamber? I would think that that would be the determining factor.

[Tomklinger]

If not, it will just look like a bottleneck!


Tom Klinger

[vikingsword]

Ok, I'll bite, maybe get schooled a little in the process as were talking about a straight walled (for the most part) case here. Are we not just extending
the case wall length and in the process, getting rid of some or most of the freebore it has?

[Nuclearcricket]

Viking, Yes running the longer reamer into your chamber should theoretically just lengthen things, but sadly that is not always the case. A lot depends on how the original chamber was cut how loose it may be. If its cut a bit on the big side and your new reamer is on the tight side, things may not clean up as you would hope. That is where a good chamber cast will be of benefit to you. You will be able to see how the dimensions all match up. The extra step in a chamber cast may save a lot of problems and headaches down the road.
Hope this helps
Sam

[Aviator]

While it's called a straight wall case, there is taper. Different manufacturers use different dimensions for the chamber mouth, and different tapers.
Some measurements at this stage could help avoid disappointment later.

[vikingsword]

Having been a Mauser nut for many years, I have done many dozens of chamber cast so It was no trouble doing this chamber cast. It turned out well, and I've taken a number of measurements, now, to see how this is going to apply.

[vikingsword]

I've not been able to resize pics small enough so I guess I can't show the casting, but I could use some clarity on my measurements to make sure this is gonna work at all. The Pedersoli cast shows a bore of .450 and groove of .458, no big news there. The mouth of the chamber on 45-70 measures in at.485 and the case right behind the rim at .511 . there is .235 of freebore. When I compare the new 45-90 up next to the chamber cast it will run right up to and include some of the rifling. Now I know this is not the way this is done, but it looks like it will work, but you now have me concerned about the original chamber being oversized.

[Aviator]

At every distance from the case rim, if the new reamer is the same or larger diameter than the existing chamber, then it seems like it would work out OK.

[Kirk]

Shiloh reamer is .481 at mouth and .505 ahead of the rim with 2.5 degree lead and no freebore.
If it were I, get a hold of Lee Shaver, he works on them all the time, and see if you can't get the big pedersoli reamer.

[vikingsword]

Thank you Kirk, I'll check that out!