Crowning a barrel

[big honkin jeep]

My last build was a 16" .308 that started with a 22" factory sporter barrel. I left the cutting crowning and threading for a brake to a very good local smith.
Here's a pic


After the project I started wondering about doing the cutting and crowning myself. Being a cheapskate I really didn't want to spend the $ on the proper crowning tools from brownells.
I have a couple of gunsmithing books that suggest using a brass screw with some abrasive compound chucked up in a drill for the crowning but was a bit reluctant to try it myself.
After reading a post on another forum I saw the results of using a Lee case trimmer and a chamfer tool to cut a crown and was impressed. I have had an old British Enfield for quite some time that was bubbaed up pretty good by the previous owner with a shortened barrel and a really messed up crown and didn't know what to do about it so I figured I'd use it for an experiment. I got out my Lee cutter and lock stud and a .30 cal case length gauge.
I also used a chamfer tool to knock off the sharp edge.
Here are the results
The first pic is after a couple of file strokes to square up the barrel when I realized I oughta take a pic


This is after I was done but before I re blued it.(which I still haven't completed)


I finished it off by spinning the rifle muzzle down on some 800 grit on top of a thin sponge to remove the file marks and polished it by spinning the rifle muzzle down on a scotch brite pad.

I still don't know how it will shoot but it's gotta be better than the hacksaw crown it had :)
Comments welcome

[tinkerer]

Let us know how it shoots. You might want to bronze brush that exit to make sure you have no burrs.

Larry
Tinkerer

[big honkin jeep]

Oh yeah,
I put an earplug in the barrel from the action end to try and keep chips and filings out of the action but the whole thing will get a thorough cleaning and brushing to be sure there is nothing in the bore,chamber or action before a range trip. The light was kinda iffy in the pics but everything I have checked is concentric and even. I have high hopes that my $6 lee case cutter has performed the duty of a $360 brownells crown kit or at least the $50 cutter.

[tobnpr]

You won't know until you shoot it...

I have used the 11 degree PTG cutter with excellent results...I felt it was $75 well spent.

If your pilot was absolutely tight you might end up with decent results. ANY deviation in the crown will result in uneven dispersion of the combustion gases and throw off the base of the bullet as it exits the muzzle. Good luck with it. A lot of guys insist that this work be done on a lathe, I know from my results, that just ain't so. I have a highly modified Mosin with a barrel I cut and crowned myself, and I can bang 10" steel with it at 600 yards, no problem...