New Forster Gunsmithing Tools

If you do any work with rifle barrels you are likely familiar with Forster Products’ extensive headspace gauge sets. They’ve recently expanded their tooling and gunsmithing line, adding reamers and a roughing drill I just put to work!

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About Forster Gunsmithing Tools

Forster produces high-quality go, no-go, and field gauges as well as an 11-piece set for select calibers. These cartridge specific gauge sets span the SAAMI minimum to maximum in 0.001” increments to determine headspace to 0.001”.

SAAMI specifies that the base to datum measurement for the Creedmoor family of cartridges can vary from 1.541” to 1.551”.

Forster’s headspace gauge set for 6.5 Creedmoor covers this entire range. The no-go gauge sets at 1.5450”, though the set expands beyond that. This allows for troubleshooting, diagnosis, and incrementally walking in headspace during chambering.

New to Forster are chambering reamers. These have a standard 7/16” shank and accept standard bushings, but have unique relief cuts every other flute designed to break up chips and alleviate chatter.

This reamer has a six-flute design that also has oil grooves for better flow of cutting fluid and flushing of chips. Forster currently offers reamers in five calibers: .223 Remington, 6mm Creedmoor, 6.5mm Creedmoor, .308 Winchester and .33 XC. Forster also offers a variety of pilot bushings.

The piloted roughing drill utilizes bushings for added stability and pairs well with my standard chambering process. I generally start by removing the bulk of the material from a barrel with a conventional twist drill, but these wander as they drill. This requires extra clean-up with a single-point boring bar to get the surface running concentric. Forster’s piloted drill uses a pilot to guide the reamer, reducing deflection, runout, and chatter to a minimum. This not only makes the process more efficient, but contributes to a better finished product.

About My Shorty 18” 6.5 Creedmoor Build

I utilized Forster’s 11-piece headspace gauge set, chamber reamer, and piloted roughing drill in concert with my Precision Matthew PM-1440HVT-2 to bring an ECM barrel blank from McGowen Precision Barrels to life.

I combined this barrel with a 1934 BE1 action, WOOX Furiosa Micarta chassis, Hawkins Precision M5 DBM bottom metal, Bix’n Andy TacSport Pro-X Trigger from Bullet Central, and Telson Target Master 5-25×56 Scope.

About the Precision Matthews 1440HVT-2

The Precision Matthews PM-1440HVT-2 is a great gunsmithing lathe, with the following stand-out features:

All Taiwanese built with Japanese spindle bearings
2.055″ thru-spindle capacity
Available cast iron ultra-rigid base
Variable Speed drive
14” Swing, 40” Between Centers
D1-5 Chuck Mount
MT3 Tailstock Taper

If you’d like to know more about the PM-1440HVT-2, check out our full overview HERE.]

Chambering Process for 6.5 Creedmoor Build

At the beginning of this project I decided to cut the barrel to 18” to make it more suppressor-friendly and to see what effect the shorter barrel has on accuracy.

This 18” blank was one of the shorter barrels I have ever chambered on my PM-1440HVT-2, so I had to use a barrel extension to get it all the way through the spindle and into the spider.

I used the piloted roughing drill to remove the bulk of the chamber, choosing a pilot bushing that had a bit of friction but still fit (0.255”).

These bushings can be quickly installed and swapped out by way of a screw at the end of the drill. At this point in the process I worry about the drill’s diameter and the depth as measured from the end of the tenon to the end of the major diameter of what the drill bit is going to cut.

This depth is not critical with 0.050” to 0.1” of breathing room that the chambering reamer will clean up at the end of the plunge of the chamber.

I was very impressed with how quiet this process was with the Forster drill compared to without!

After completing the pre-drill, I checked runout. It was very small for a drilling operation, around 0.0005”. Next came full chambering. I secured the Forster finishing reamer in a rigid reamer holder and added some lubrication.

I took my time with my first cut, zeroing the tail stock DRO when the major diameter portion of the reamer began to cut at full diameter.

I also brought up the bump stop to rezero the position with each successive plunge.

Before completing chambering, I took the time to clean up the reamer and verify runout.

I also turned down the tenon, cut the relief, and threaded the tenon.

When I reached my desired measurement, I screwed on the action and checked headspace before chamfering and polishing the chamber entrance.

Rifle Assembly

I secured the barrel in a vise and used 1934 Armory’s internal action wrench to torque the BE1 action into place.

At this point, I used the gauge set to determine precise headspace: Go + 0.001” (1.542”).

While slightly on the tight side, it will feed factory ammunition with no issues.

To see how the rifle performed, or learn more about the BE1 action and Telson Target Master 5-25×56, check out the dedicated videos!

Conclusion

Everything functioned perfectly on this rifle with smooth feeding and good accuracy. Not once did I experience stiff bolt lift and the brass all showed no signs of pressure or wear, indicative of well-dimensioned tools and precise machining.

I even recorded a 3,045 fps average velocity on the Athlon Rangecraft Velocity PRO Radar Chronograph with the 18” barrel and Hornady 100 grain ELD-VT ammunition! I was incredibly happy with how Forster’s equipment performed, particularly the piloted roughing drill. The headspace set is also super handy!