re-crown a barrel?

[mattri]

Looking at re-crowning the muzzle on an old 30-30.

Has anyone ever done this? Any tips/ suggestions?

Have seen the Larry Potterfield/Midway vids on youtube, where else to look for information?

[ellobo]

our best bet is to take it to a gunsmith and get it done right. It would cost more for the right tools to do it than a gunsmith will charge.

El Lobo

[BrentWin]

Engine overhauls, open heart surgery and recrowning is best left to those with the right tools and the knowledge to use them :)

[KTV]

and the knowledge to use them :)




key words. There are a lot of hacks around.

[sinman]

I like the gunsmith idea too ;)

[macon]

i let longshotrifles do my crowns hes good and reasonable

[Don - LongRangeSupply]

Manson's tools will do an equal or better job without a lathe, than most gunsmiths can do on a lathe.

The tools are spendy, so unless you plan on doing quite a few crowns, the cost is hard to justify. If you build a lot of rifles, shoot a lot, and want to maintain optimum accuracy, you should own this tool.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Xpzv1Spsnk

[taylorwkrs]

I was the the shop foreman/ ran the Savage warranty repair station for the east coast in the mid 1970's. Re-crowning is/was SOP for any gunsmith.
Depending upon what the situation is with your crown, these answers may be correct, or perhaps incomplete. What is your actual situation.

taylorwkrs

[Rifleman51]

On something like an old 30-30, there is really nothing wrong with the brownells crowning cutter with the correct pilot.

It does an acceptable job. Flood with cutting oil while cutting and you will not get chatter. It takes a little experience to do it right and the tools are not that expensive.
Put the barrel in a padded vice, muzzle facing up and cut.

I had a Gunsmithing business and some people just would not go for a proper crowning job in the lathe or their gun was not worth the cost of a proper crowning job.

For those people, the brownells cutter with the proper size pilot did a pretty good job. The guns always left shooting better than when they came in.
People who really know guns will spend the money to have it done right, but for a cheap gun, the other way works acceptable.

John K

[51Bravo]

He put "precision" and "adjustable" in the same sentence. Its funny how you only ever see them do it on 22 rimfire barrels. For some reason you just never see them using the precision adjustable crown cutter on there 1000 yd. rifle.

Wood

[taylorwkrs]

I was the the shop foreman/ ran the Savage warranty repair station for the east coast in the mid 1970's. Re-crowning is/was SOP for any gunsmith.
Depending upon what the situation is with your crown, these answers may be correct, or perhaps incomplete. What is your actual situation.

taylorwkrs


I'll post a potentially unpopular answer, but here goes.......When a barrel came in for warranty repair, and there was slight damage to the crown
( which was almost always the case ) a brass crowning ball and valve compound cleaned up the problem. Probably re crowned as many barrels with a ball as the lathe. Most people want the re crown result and don't care about the process. But we also had people whom almost had a relationship with their guns....... ( http://www.rimfirecentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=349679&page=2 A recent example of me using a ball for re-crown .)

The truth is the ball method was equally fast or faster than the lathe (depending on damage), outcomes & appearance were identical. The crowning ball was essentially a brass slotted screw. But, most people did (do) not want to think that anything but a lathe could work. It's like using a 5lb. hammer and vice to "adjust" an expensive rifle or shotgun...call them adjusting tools. Otherwise a heart attack could result. If you believe that only a lathe can do the job, take it to a gunsmith...( but watch the work or you may have a ball used on your crown.) There is more than one way to skin a cat I have heard.

taylorwkrs

[ellobo]

Ditto on the ball and grinding comound. I have done it several times and it works just fine. I soldered a ball bearing into a pc. of steel rod with the end concaved in a lathe with a ball end mill. Chucked it in an electric drill with valve grinding compond thinned a bit with 3 in1 oil. Guns shot just fine afterwards.

El Lobo

[mattri]

Thanks for the replies, I'm going to give it a try, will post the results when I'm done.

[taylorwkrs]

For the crowning ball to work correctly, rotate the crowning ball as the same fashion as a child's toy "top" spinning as it is loses velocity. http://i602.photobucket.com/albums/tt107/cet1921/top.png

In other words, do not keep the shaft of the crowning ball parallel with the bore. This ensures that the barrel crown edge will be be cut evenly.

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I always use a brass rounded slotted screw. Some people use a steel ball. Both work. With the brass there is no chance of galling. But, brass wears out much faster and one brass screw will last a long time.

taylorwkrs