Cutting and Crowning a short barrel

[WindSurgeon]

I have a 1903 Mannlicher Shoenaur that has a barrel that is about a half inch too long. It is at 19 inches long from the bolt face to the muzzle and needs about a half inch taken off to make it correct for the stock's fore end. I was told by a gunsmith that this would not work in their lathe since it is so short. I'd think shorter is better in a lathe, but I'm not a machinist. Also, if there is anyone in the upper Midwest you all could recommend to do the work on such a rifle. Here's what it should look like. Thanks in advance.

 

[Doug Beach]

Not to throw stones, but your guy isn’t very well equipped, if the size of his lathe prevents him from working on short barrels. There’s more than one way to skin that cat.

 

[LVLAaron]

Not familiar with the gun, but does it have a front sight that would need to be moved?

Like doug said, lots of ways to handle short barrels...

 

[swd]

Shorter isn’t better when there is nothing to support the other end of the barrel. Sounds like a small shop that doesn’t have the tooling to do the job in a different way. Really small shops are sometimes busy enough that they don’t want invest in tooling for jobs they rarely do. But I understand your frustration..

 

[WindSurgeon]

Not to throw stones, but your guy isn’t very well equipped, if the size of his lathe prevents him from working on short barrels. There’s more than one way to skin that cat.

I thought it was strange as well. He's a well known guy up here. I'm going to let him take a look and see if he changes his opinion. He is very good and has done several custom hunting rifles and a restoration project for me. Turns a lot of competition barrels, which are all long. He might be trying to avoid taking the front sight ramp off and removing the barrel to accommodate. Which is okay with me. I also found a guy closer that works with my engraver who did not seem to think it was a big deal. Never feel very comfortable trying out a new to me gunsmith though on a project like this. A new barrel for the gun would be $$$.

 

[WindSurgeon]

Shorter isn’t better when there is nothing to support the other end of the barrel. Sounds like a small shop that doesn’t have the tooling to do the job in a different way. Really small shops are sometimes busy enough that they don’t want invest in tooling for jobs they rarely do. But I understand your frustration..

It just needs a half inch off the end to make it flush with the full stock like this image.

 

[swd]

It just needs a half inch off the end to make it flush with the full stock like this image.

Not a problem for a guy who has a lathe with a short enough headstock or a fixture like Aaron posted. Long headstocks are a problem for a lot of gunsmiths which is why they make that fixture, which also has plenty of other uses. If he has a hand crowning tool he could cut it off with a saw and re crown it by hand. But If your gunsmith doesn’t have have any of that then he honestly probably isn’t equipped to do the job. Not all are. Also even if he has the fixture but a long tail stock he would probably have to take the barrel off which on a MS takes some special tooling in itself to hold the action because the way the recoil lug is integrated in to the action. But if you like the guy it might be worth asking again just to make sure..

 

[LVLAaron]

I could cut and crown a short barrel in 30 minutes. But that one looks like the sight would need to be moved, the collar/shrouds around the end of the barrel recreated and or moved, stock inlet, sealed, and steel blued.

 

[spitfire_er]

maybe he just didn't' want to mess with it. Rounded crowns seem to take me a little longer than any other crown.

 

[WindSurgeon]

I could cut and crown a short barrel in 30 minutes. But that one looks like the sight would need to be moved, the collar/shrouds around the end of the barrel recreated and or moved, stock inlet, sealed, and steel blued.

The sight ramp might need to be removed so the barrel could go into the lathe without issue, but it would go back at the same location. Its an annoyingly small amount of material that needs to be removed. That photo is of a correct muzzle end, not my rifle. Just add a half inch to the protruding barrel in that photo and lop it off to meet the End Cap, and you have my project.

 

[LVLAaron]

Well, lets see yours.

 

[akajun]

If he needs to remove and re solder the sight ramp that may be is issue
But from what your telling me it seems like he only knows how to chamber through the headstock with an outboard spider
There’s lots of ways to simply trim a barrel back like that and are pretty quick
Turn between centers and run in a stready rest
Viper fixture shown above
Tru bore system
Hell even the hand tools sold by Brownells work pretty good
As far a cutting the curved crown
Again the hand tools from Brownells or a round lathe bit from them
Even grind your own

Find another smith it’s a simple job

 

[Dusty Stevens]

I think you, a hacksaw, a bottle of oxpho blue, and a piloted crowning tool from brownells is the winning combination. Bonus points for selling the crowning tool here in the classifieds when youre done

 

[Ksracer]

I could cut and crown a short barrel in 30 minutes. But that one looks like the sight would need to be moved, the collar/shrouds around the end of the barrel recreated and or moved, stock inlet, sealed, and steel blued.

How do you deal with something that still has an action on it? I don't mind popping one loose if I know it's been off recently, but other times it's more added work than the actual job, with the possibility of it turning into a major headache.

 

[LVLAaron]

How do you deal with something that still has an action on it? I don't mind popping one loose if I know it's been off recently, but other times it's more added work than the actual job, with the possibility of it turning into a major headache.

Well... Don't tell anyone... but it's a 2 inch bore... who says you have to remove the action?

 

[joshb]

Given that I’m a stock maker, I’d solve it by adding some ebony to the stock to make the stock longer. I stopped this one at the threads for a can, but you get the idea.

 

[xr650rRider]

Well... Don't tell anyone... but it's a 2 inch bore... who says you have to remove the action?

You'll have to grind the recoil lug off where it'll fit.

 

[Ksracer]

Well... Don't tell anyone... but it's a 2 inch bore... who says you have to remove the action?

Pretty sure a 2" bore won't clear a factory Remington recoil lug, and there's bigger stuff out there.

It'd be easy enough to build one with a 3.5" bore, but what are you going to do with a 16" barrel? Hang it 12" out of the front? Maybe your lathe is short enough to get a 16" out the back, but I think it's pushing it for most.

I'm not trying to be critical. Just looking for practical solutions. A steady rest seems like an obvious answer until somebody brings in something cerakoted that they don't want marked up.

 

[Walt Krafft]

Anybody ever heard of a steady rest? Lots of ways to do this job.

 

[jackieschmidt]

Saw it about 1/16 long, then use a tool such as the Brownell Crowning Tool to finish it.

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