Reply With QuoteHas he ever chambered a barrel before? If the answer is no then look else where. You have a good chance of throwing a $350 blank away.
I'd like a bit of a sanity check... a neighbor of mine is a life-long machinist, and does a portion of his work manufacturing AR15 parts and profiling barrels. Hasn't worked with bolt-action stuff, but all around, is a great machinist, and has a lot of top-rate machinery.
Grizzly has a nice Bartlein barrel blank in stock that is what I want, and he's offered to help me. I would need to rent a reamer and a gauge. We'd chuck the barrel up in one of his CNC lathes, center it, take a light pass or two along the length to ensure that the outside is concentric to the bore, and if needed, do a small bit of profiling. Then we would face off the chamber end, and cut the outside threads. Then, run the reamer in and out, clearing chips often, until the chamber is to correct depth(*). Then, throat it to fit a dummy cartridge. Then, on the opposite side of the barrel, cut off an inch or so, face it, and crown it. Maybe have him thread the muzzle end while it's there.
From what I've seen, that seems to be all there really is to finishing a Savage barrel, is that correct? Am I crazy to consider doing this? It seems like it would be fairly straight-forward for him, but hey, I've been known to be over-confident before.
(*) From what I read, the chamber needs to be cut until the go gauge protrudes by (depth of bolt face + 0.004"). Is that correct?
The reason for this is that I can't find a prefit anywhere that fits exactly what I want, and I have a hard time finding a gunsmith to even call me back, let alone get this done in time to shoot this summer.
Has he ever chambered a barrel before? If the answer is no then look else where. You have a good chance of throwing a $350 blank away.
What are you looking for in a pre-fit, with all the options out there it seems like someone would probably have it/ be willing to make it.
Let him watch some YouTube videos and then ask him if he can do it. You probably need a throating reamer set up as well. I recommend watching suar08161991 on YouTube for doing it in a steady rest. He does Remington and Remington clones mostly. The Savage is easier because of the tenon design.
In a Steadyrest.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epiGY0qFT3Q
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnFJl-xSWhA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_MhBOFzoqc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OW18sYyfjc
There are a lot of videos showing it done with the muzzle close to the chuck with the barrel passing trough the spindle. I think if he watches these and the others he can do it.
What he said.
Dean
RUMs are like woman in Stiletto heals, you know they are going to put you in the poor house, but that has never stopped anyone from pursuing them.
Thank you to everyone for the replies. Gives me a good bit to think about.
Thanks for posting the linksOriginally Posted by Robinhood
Yeah, I would not let someone practice on a new blank either. Practice re chambering barrels. I learned to chamber barrels from getting some old benchrest bull barrels and setting them back or cutting the whole chamber off and starting over. I have to work on the steady rest as my lathe is 35" through the headstock.
Who ever does it make sure he parts off the stamped imfo in the back. You would need that ring if the barrel turns out to be defective. Yes even the master barrel makers sell a couple that are no good and copper like crazy.
Willing to give back for what the sport has done for me!
Members who have read this thread in the last 1 days: 0
Posting Permissions
Bookmarks