Tales of a "butcher" 'smith - chopping a barrel on the cheap
I forget who said something about me being a ham-fisted gunsmith (I'm not a gunsmith at all) but they are probably not far off. ha, ha. I'm just not afraid to try things, whether or not I have the right tools. Guess it's from my "modest" upbringing of making things work...
Anyway, I have been wanting to chop my 22" model 11 barrel back to 20" for a while now. Don't ask me why. I just did. I had this idea in my mind for some time that the ultimate lightweight deer rifle was under 40" total length, with a 20" barrel and under 7 lbs. Well, to get my model 11 within those specs, I needed to chop 2" off the factory barrel. That would also take me from 7 lbs. to 6 lbs. 14 oz. total weight.
I had some experience re-crowning a few air rifle barrels with good success, and I recently re-crowned my Ruger 77 RSI with equally good success - both using the brass screw and toothpaste in a cordless drill method. I hadn't hurt the accuracy in any of those guns, and most likely improved it, so I was ready to do the same with my Savage model 11.
So yesterday was the day. I mounted the gun in my vise, got out a fresh new hacksaw blade and chopped 2" off the end of my .308 barrel. Then I took a mill ******* file and as carefully as I could, squared up the end, checking it with a small level and square. When I was satisfied with that, I tried (for the first time) the "Lee case trimmer" method of cutting a target crown (look it up, it's a thing). I have a 7x57 mandrel for my Lee case trimmer, so I shimmed the inside of the .308 barrel with some aluminum, greased the barrel, inserted the trimmer and started turning. Try as I might, I couldn't get it to stop chattering or skipping, so I didn't play with that very long at all. But I was able to use it to confirm that my cut was square, so it did serve a purpose.
I then filed the outside edge very carefully to round it off. That was fairly simple by turning the barrel in my hand as I filed at an angle to the edge.
Next, I got out the brass screw and toothpaste, just like I had for my Ruger. And I started going to work....
Nothing. I mean Nothing! That Savage barrel must be hard as hell because I went through two large brass screws and you couldn't even tell I did a thing! I had broken a sweat and spent the better part of an hour - not to mention two Dewalt batteries - trying to make a dent in the crown. That was very depressing. So I quit for the night.
This morning, after looking at the price of crowning tools, I decided I was going to get more aggressive. So I broke out the Dremel bit with the round abrasive stone, chucked it in the drill and started working in the muzzle with a circular motion. THAT produced some results! Within a few minutes, I had a recessed (albeit rough) crown to the depth I wanted it. So, what to do about the roughness? I took a piece of 600-grit sandpaper and with my thumb, started working that crown in a circular motion. I did this until my thumb cramped, and it actually came out really nice. As smooth (dare I say) as a factory crown.
My final step was to get out the brass screw and toothpaste and polish that crown. I did this for about 20 minutes until I was satisfied that it was as good as it was going to get, then I headed to the range. I was completely prepared for that sub-MOA rifle to start spraying groups due to my ineptness.
The results? Absolutely NO change in group size from the factory 22" barrel. None. In fact, it may have gotten better. I shot sub-MOA groups (with my handloads) at 100, 200 and 300 yards, finishing with a 2" group at the longest distance. I was elated!
I used some cold blue (blueing pen) to finish it off, and honestly, if you didn't know it was done in my garage you'd never guess it.
So now I have my sub- 7 lb., sub-40", sub-MOA .308 with a handy and stiff 20" barrel. I'm a happy camper. :D
Just wanted to share this in case anyone else was thinking of shortening their factory Savage barrel. It can be done with common workshop tools and some elbow grease, but don't expect it to be a 10-minute job. It ain't. Those Savage barrels are **** hard!
