Barrel recycling?

Why is not anyone offering a barrel recycling service? Someone say...like McGowen...heres the deal...

You have a SAVAGE, REMINGTON or other make barrel that has seen its useful life...say a 22-250 or a 243AI with a high round count and maybe some throat erosion...

You send it to a barrel maker and they then use your barrel to drill a caliber larger, say from 22-250 to .243AI or from 243AI to 308, cutting the chamber end by an inch, rechambering and cutting/rifling a new bore a step larger than the old bore and then returning it to you as basically a new barrel...at half the cost of a new barrel...you get your old barrel in the contour you wanted/liked/desired with a new caliber...basically a brand new old barrel...

Of even offer TRADE IN with your old barrel for a new one, the barrel maker could then sell these as ALMOST NEW...

Seems like a niche market wide open to someone...

DISCUSS...

Sounds like a good idea to me. Go for it capt!

Sounds nice in theory, but I think that the cost of the work involved would far exceed the value of the finished product.

Easy... setup cost.

Right now, they start with a nice round piece of stock and turn it, gun drill it and rifle it.

They dont have to deal with a couple dozen countours. Also, think about it from a safety/liability aspect.

The barrels also would have to be re heat treated.

I am not completely sure, but I bet they are drilled pre hardened so they would have to be annealed, drilled, rifled, hardened.....

I think the liability is the largest factor. Would you want a barrel from some of these guys that are sending 55 grain 224 bullets at 5,000 fps?

It's evident that you guys know very little about barrel manufacturing. It's actually much more cost effective to build a barrel from scratch than to rework one that has been in service. The cost of the billet is only about 5% of the cost of a new barrel. Raw billets are much easier to drill and ream than one that has already had a hole punched through it and rifled.

The process of reboring barrels has been done for 100 years and is still in use today.
http://www.cutrifle.com/reboring.html
http://www.redmansrifling.com/reboring.htm

Prior to the advent of mass produced hammer forged barrels, it was common for military armories to rebore or reline wore out rifle barrels. My father has a Norwegian Krag that has been rebored and an English made 22 rimfire target rifle that has been relined.

The thing is reboring or relining barrels is not an economically sound choice for the vast majority of us. A new hammer forged factory barrel is much cheaper to produce than it is to rebore or reline a wore out barrel.

Even rechambering a wore out barrel is generally a bad idea. I have a borescope and can say with certainty that the last 22-250 barrel I replaced was not worth rechambering. The rifling was nearly completely eroded in the first 6 to 8 inches of the bore. Rechambering and setting back a wore out barrel often just isn’t worth the expense. A professional gunsmith will charge more than $200 just to properly rechamber and refit a barrel. It might be worth doing if you have the tools and skills to do it yourself and the barrel has some life left in it.

I give my wore out barrels to my brother. He has a machine shop and finds many uses for them.

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Originally Posted by sharpshooter

It's evident that you guys know very little about barrel manufacturing. It's actually much more cost effective to build a barrel from scratch than to rework one that has been in service. The cost of the billet is only about 5% of the cost of a new barrel. Raw billets are much easier to drill and ream than one that has already had a hole punched through it and rifled.

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???? Isn't this pretty much what the three posts prior to yours were saying???

When I read the title to this thread, I thought we were talking about making lamps.

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Originally Posted by barrel-nut

???? Isn't this pretty much what the three posts prior to yours were saying???

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Yeah....I thought I'd just hammer that home just one last time to make it official. I've been there and done that.

Reboring or relining barrels is done when trying to restore (salvage) a historic piece and preserving all the original markings and outwards appearance while still getting a shootable gun.

For example, restoring a 1873 or 1886 Winchester.

This may be thought of as "freshening" the rifling more than trying to make a larger caliber.

Always figured that reboring/relining cost more than a new barrel.



Now, as to "recycling" barrels.

Have done that for years.

After a hundred rounds or so, all my barrels go on loaner guns.

When you can buy a fresh barrel blank for around $100 and it's of better quality than your average mass production run.......can't see spending 1-2 in work on a worn one. When 3 gets a new hand lapped barrel that's even better. Can't see it going anywhere.
When one of our own local sponsors can deliver a great fresh barrel for 2 bills................It's just too easy.

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Originally Posted by sharpshooter

Yeah....I thought I'd just hammer that home just one last time to make it official. I've been there and done that.

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That's what I'm talking about.

They'd probably make good table legs. With a barrel nut installed you could adjust them for height and never have to worry about a wobbly table!

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Originally Posted by DrThunder88

They'd probably make good table legs. With a barrel nut installed you could adjust them for height and never have to worry about a wobbly table!

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Now there's a great idea! I like that.

Another great idea would be to retread old tires. Wonder why nobody ever thought of that lol.

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Originally Posted by DrThunder88

They'd probably make good table legs. With a barrel nut installed you could adjust them for height and never have to worry about a wobbly table!

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Now that is ingenious. Build a gun bench with barrel legs and use old stocks as the sides to shelves. I might have to start planning this out

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Originally Posted by Hammer

Now, as to "recycling" barrels.

Have done that for years.

After a hundred rounds or so, all my barrels go on loaner guns.

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Can I borrow a rifle?

:)