Hey Mickey,
I would have replied sooner, but had to spend some time on my therapists (us Kalifornians all have therapists) couch repairing my damaged inner psyche after the sound thrashing I got from you in regards to mammalogy, ornithology, and the way of the lemming. In my first post, defending the "Coleman BenchRest Lemming Theory", I cited trends in barrels to support this. Do you think barrel chambering methods have been affected by the Lemming Theory? The trend seems to be away from the old school chuck/steadyrest/tailstock method to the through the headstock method. Yet every gunsmith I've ever heard opine on chambering has said good guns can be built either way, and that one way isn't any better than the other. What do you think?
Justin
Justin,
I chamber through the headstock. I simply don't trust a steady rest but I suppose there are those rests that are spring loaded that work. Mine are the ones that came with the lathe that have bronze tips. As the barrel turns in them the wear that takes place always lets some slack get in the setup and that means the barrel can flop around to some degree and the chamber gets bigger at the back. Can't stand it.
I know you've heard people say that they had a Wilson seater that their cases would stick when they seated a bullet. I'd be willing to bet those were fired in a chamber that was cut in a steady rest. I have never chambered a rifle where the cases would stick in a Wilson seater......never. From what I read I think most benchrest gunsmiths chamber in the headstock.
You must recognize that gunsmiths are a 'quirky' bunch and are loathe to change their ways. I'm not much different because I finally found a method that works for me with minimum 'fuss' and simply don't see any reason to change. No lemming blood in my veins.........much. I've bought a ton of 'gadgets' when shooting benchrest simply because a good shooter was using it and I figgered that he had settled on what he considered the best and I just let him try things out for me. That was smart of me, wasn't it? I only spent fortyleven hundred dollars outsmarting them guys.
