20 gauge chamber length

[Dean Romig]

Originally Posted by Ronald Scott

Aside from the fact that we've been discussing chambers not chokes here's a quote from a fairly well respected shotgun smith Mike Orlen:

"To lengthen a chamber and/or a chamber forcing cone by hand, you will first need to secure the barrel in a bench vise. I like to use a couple of pieces of 2- by 4-inch lumber and an old shot bag to pad the vise. Make sure the barrel is held very tightly in your vise because there is a great amount of torque exerted during this operation.

"With a well oiled and sharp long forcing cone reamer, begin cutting your new chamber by turning the tool clockwise. You will be amazed at how quickly a sharpened tool begins to remove material. After cutting no more than 3/8 inch, remove your reamer, brush off the chips, push a patch through the bore, re-oil, and resume cutting. Always rotate the reamer in a clockwise direction—even when removing it from the bore."

The entire article can be found here:

https://www.gun-tests.com/special_re...l#.XS2tI-hKi70

I’ll begin by saying that I like Mike Orlen and have been to his home and workshop and have had him do some barrel work for me and for other friends, and he does good work.

Nowhere in his article on chamber and forcing cone lengthening does he ever address barrel wall thickness. He only says that chambers should never be lengthened on Damascus or Twist barrels - he simply mimics the warning that is printed on shotgun ammunition boxes. This is added simply as a guard against liability claims... heck, even RST prints their classic shotshell boxes with this warning. We all know this is all bovine excrement as long as Damascus, Twist, and even ‘fluid steel’ barrels are sound and of sufficient wall thickness in the critical area of the juncture where the front of the chamber begins the forcing cone.

Come on Mike, you can do better....





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