I work for a gunsmith (friend of mine) part time. I have an old Stevens single shot, bolt action 22LR that has chamber erosion from the previous owner shooting shorts in it exclusively. I have had the barrel tested for pressure and found it will contain the pressure from a 22WMR. Does anyone have a chamber reamer in 22WMR that i could borrow/rent? To purchase one for the shop is cost prohibitive, since it is a rarely used piece of tooling. The reamer would be used one time by a trained and experienced gunsmith only. any options or interest is appreciated.
Don't know much about them but ya could check and see. 4D Reamer Rentals, Exclusive Source to Rent Chamber Reamers & for Renting Gunsmithing or Shotgun Tools
No concern about going from the .222-.223 caliber to a .224? I was told emphatically NOT to try it by a local gunsmith.
^ this is something to consider. .22WMR is slightly larger diameter than .22LR. That explains the mediocre accuracy out of "convertible" pistols. They are bored to the larger diameter .22WMR. A smith might be able to mic the bore and see. I know it's a low cost project, but be careful. .22s aren't high pressure. That doesn't mean they can't hurt you. Definitely keep us posted. I want to know how this one goes.
The very slight difference in diameter between .22S, L, LR and the .22WMR is no problem. It's the case diameter that causes folks problems. SAAMI specs for both show the same pressure - but the spike or 'pressure curve' is different! This should be a 'piece of cake' conversion. But do look at the extractor too - that 'different diameter' thing again......
Seawolf1090- thanks for clearing that up a little bit. Hutinbull- I am VERY interested in how this goes. If you don't post back, I will find you
I will post an update when i pull the trigger on this project. May be mid to late summer before it happens.
According to Wiki, the case length of a 22 rf is .613 and the 22 mag is 1.055 or about .442 difference which is a lot of material to remove with a reamer.