Grizzly or Precision Mathew’s

[Edward Manning]

Good afternoon.

I order a PM-1440-2SM 14″x40″ Gunsmith Lathe. they keep pushing out the delivery date. I am thinking of cancel this and buying a Grizzly G0776. I have no experience using a lathe but want to learn.

Is the PM worth waiting for or will the Grizzly work. I mostly want to chamber my own barrels for 22 LR match rifles and 6 cal rifles.

Thank you

 

[Paul Hilgedick]

I am very pleased with my Precision Matthews machine. The only problem I have had was taken care of in a very timely manner and above my expectations.
I have also used the Grizzly machines but prefer the Precision Matthews.

Paul Hilgedick

 

[dnellans]

Have you checked with Grizzly on delivery? Unfortunately they might not be able to do significantly better

 

[Terry]

I have the PM 1440 GT. Looked at many others. Worth the wait!

 

[Judd]

I bought a G0709 a few years ago. Grizzly support has always been a person I could talk to and I definitely appreciate that. When I got it, you could get any part any time you called up there. That wasn’t the case with the PM, I’m sure things have changed.

I’ve been shopping mills and I really lean toward the Grizzly just because of the way they’ve treated me.

I’m not nor have I ever been a machinist so I have no experience to tell you one machine is worth or better than the other…but I’ve been happy with my purchase.

 

[Dusty Stevens]

Either one can be made to do anything you want to do.

 

[hogpatrol]

Go with the Grizzly. Advised a friend to buy the PM, Taiwan version. He did and it was a total clustermess. The machine has a few design flaws and it'll do a barrel ok but that's the end of it. His next buy was a Grizzly knee mill/ knockoff of a Bridgeport. Others MMV.

 

[AckleymanII]

China/Taiwan war is about to heat up.

 

[dnellans]

China/Taiwan war is about to heat up.

while may be true - can we keep one thread on topic lately please.

 

[dnellans]

One thing to note about the 1440GT (yes I have used one) is that the working height of it is very low. Take a look at the stand height dimension. As a "normal" 5'10" person I find the low working height of the 1440 lathes (grizzly or PM) a little wierd and/or uncomfortable.

That alone would make me look at other options.

I know almost everyone loves 14x40's but the reality is that you could chamber and crown 10,000 barrels and never need beyond a 2x12 inch lathe if something was made that had at through bore of 1.5 inches and acceptable precision in the spindle bearings.

I know a several professional gunsmiths (feeding their kids, not posting on accurate shooter) and none of them use the lauded 1440GT. As a hobbiest you can nerd out on nice lathes, I get it. But def consider other options that will have you enjoying a lathe and learning sooner. A "standard" 6mm barrel in the 22-30 in length isn't going to require anything particularly special in terms of equipment. Many 12x36 lathes would also suit the bill.

Be aware - 22 LR is going to require a mill and not just a lathe for the extractor slot.

 

[INTJ]

My advice is to buy a Taiwan built lathe over a Chinese.......and be willing to wait. As far as I know the PM 1440 Gunsmith lathe is built in China.

I use a PM 1440GT at work. It is Taiwan built. It does sit a little low. Knowing that, the simple solution is to buy some lift blocks. I will eventually do that to the one at work.

At home I have a PM 1340GT (also Taiwan built) that has a Mark Jacobs control board. I run it three phase via a Hitachi VFD. Dr Mark's upgrade gave it a variable speed controller and some other stuff. I just added a flush system. The 1340GT doesn't sit too low, and unless you really need to chamber a barrel that is over 1.5" OD, the PM 1340GT is hard to beat.

 

[gunnermhr]

I have a PM1340GT and have been very happy with it. I also know guys that have Grizzly lathes and are very happy with them. To answer the question, is it worth the wait, only you can determine that. If I had to wait a year, I'd be looking at other options. Although, I would wait a long time before buying Chinese built Lathe

If I had to do anything different. I would have gotten the 3 phase motor with a VFD. The VFD set up has a few things that make for nice upgrades. Maybe someday I'll do that upgrade, but for now, things are working good.

 

[akajun]

For less than you’ll pay for either and you can get it right now there’s two nice sb heavy 10’s on practical machinist

Perfect, Late Heavy 10 South Bend with loads of accessories in 46311

My dad bought this lathe new in 1980 including the serialized collet closer, lever cross slide, and bed turret. Note the D1-4 Camlock spindle with nearly new Buck 6 jaw with both sets of jaws. It comes with a real Aloris AXA toolpost with 10 holders, drill chuck, live center, steady rest...

www.practicalmachinist.com

south bend heavy 10 tool room lathe

south bend heavy 10 with the cam lock for the chucks, 3jaw and 4jaw chucks, 2 face plates, 1/8 and 1/32 collets, tool holder, tool center finder and some new metal badges - $3500. Pictures upon request

www.practicalmachinist.com

 

[shortgrass]

Parts can be a problem for any break-down these days, no matter what machine or device. Buy either a Griz or PM and have a problem requiring a new 'part' and you may find yourself waiting. The worlds a changing, and it may never return to what we knew. The same might be said for a used piece of "old American iron". In the end, when it comes to machine tools and machining, "its the Indian, not the arrow". Unless you're buying 'industrial quality' (which is not what your are looking at) it makes little difference between the two. AN added note: parts for those Heavy 10s, that akajun posted, abound,,,,,, but you probably won't need any! The SB Heavy 10 is an excellent lathe for chambering. Accurate and easy to use. I cut my first chambers on a Heavy 10 over 30yrs ago. If I was in need of a lathe for cutting chambers, I'd be lookin' into one of those....

 

[AlNyhus]

.......the reality is that you could chamber and crown 10,000 barrels and never need beyond a 2x12 inch lathe if something was made that had at through bore of 1.5 inches and acceptable precision in the spindle bearings.

This ^^^^^^

There's certainly a market for high quality, stripped down, 'heat and keys only' lathes like this. Good bearings, a large spindle bore, short head stock, an outboard spider, a good 4 jaw chuck, a decent clutch for the drive rod and basic threading options would do it.

Good shootin' -Al

 

[Machinist John]

Hmm. Working height? A couple of chunks of 4 inch channel and some 1/2" plate will cure that problem. Add a little welding and drill press work.

Note the shims. Leveling the lathe is an OK thing to do but you gotta get that twist out of the bed.

Both of the lathes below are Taiwan built Jets. Work fine all the time. Quality of the job is the machinist, not the machines.

For the young guys, P.O. Ackley did it this way:

I chambered my first barrel on this little 9x24 South Bend, way back in the 1960's, still use it.

 

[Dusty Stevens]

Be aware - 22 LR is going to require a mill and not just a lathe for the extractor slot.

i use a lathe for the extractor cut. A lot use the same method

 

[TrxR]

Parts can be a problem for any break-down these days, no matter what machine or device. Buy either a Griz or PM and have a problem requiring a new 'part' and you may find yourself waiting. The worlds a changing, and it may never return to what we knew. The same might be said for a used piece of "old American iron". In the end, when it comes to machine tools and machining, "its the Indian, not the arrow". Unless you're buying 'industrial quality' (which is not what your are looking at) it makes little difference between the two. AN added note: parts for those Heavy 10s, that akajun posted, abound,,,,,, but you probably won't need any! The SB Heavy 10 is an excellent lathe for chambering. Accurate and easy to use. I cut my first chambers on a Heavy 10 over 30yrs ago. If I was in need of a lathe for cutting chambers, I'd be lookin' into one of those....

What's the spindle bore size on a SB Heavy 10?

 

[Walt Krafft]

I chamber several hundred barrels a year in a lathe with a 1.250 bore. I order my straight barrels at 1.245 +0-.005. Pre-contoured barrel are no problem.

 

[shortgrass]

What's the spindle bore size on a SB Heavy 10?

I think it's 1 3/8", but I could be wrong. Someone here that has 1 can correct me if needed. I had no problem doing 1.25" barrels in the H10 I used so many years ago. These little machines were found in tool rooms, not usually out in the production part of a shop.