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Lathe for gunsmithing.

tthomp302

Gold $$ Contributor
Howdy!

I am looking for advice on which lathe to get for gunsmithing. I know this question has probably been discussed several times but I figured I would want current perspectives given the year and crazy events in recent history.

I am in the legal field as a profession but my passion is firearms and precision rifles. I want to work on my own barrels and build my own rifles with a possibility of opening up to more work in the future. I am willing to put down for a rather large investment in my training and equipment because I want to buy the best the first time around and learn on it as I go.

Any advice is appreciated and helpful. I have no real budget, I only want the best quality that I can get. I know size range I should be looking at a 14x40 but other than that I know nothing.

Thank you!
 
I think precision Matthew's has a lot to offer, I bought a 1340GT 5 years ago and think a lot of it and it's abilities to provide match winning barrels. What would I change? Maybe consider the 1440 but not a deL breaker. For sure, a 3 phase motor and a vfd, that's the only thing I wished I had but not enough to switch over to buying a 3 phase set up.

Get yourself a decent knee mill while your writing checks, lol
 
I bought a Precision Mathews 1440 GT several years ago. I am very happy with it. It does everything that I need, and does it well.
 
If I were to start from scratch with a manual machine, I would probably look at the 14” Standard Modern real hard.

I have a shop full of lathes from a 22”x198 Lodge and Shipley down to the PM 1340GT. With that being said, I do nearly all my rifle work on a 16” Victor. The little 1340 will do a great job on them as well, I use it on short barrels and small parts. It could use more mass, but I can cut just as good threads and chambers on it as I can with the other, but you just have to be in tune with it and know its quirks.
 
V35 said:
If I were to start from scratch with a manual machine, I would probably look at the 14” Standard Modern real hard.

I have a shop full of lathes from a 22”x198 Lodge and Shipley down to the PM 1340GT. With that being said, I do nearly all my rifle work on a 16” Victor. The little 1340 will do a great job on them as well, I use it on short barrels and small parts. It could use more mass, but I can cut just as good threads and chambers on it as I can with the other, but you just have to be in tune with it and know its quirks.
Click to expand...

My 1334 Standard Modern Military is my favorite. I do all my barrel work on that little girl.

My Acer 1440 is the same lathe as the precision Matthews. The gunsmith that I got it from told me that he wasn't sure that his decision to go to a larger heavier lathe was a good decision. He actually got the Acer from his childhood friend which is also another famous gunsmith in Oklahoma City. They had both gone to larger heavier lathes. Like I said he didn't know if he thought that was a good decision after doing it.

Doing chamber work requires a lathe that's easy to drive and going bigger does not necessarily equate into something that drives better.

A big heavy lathe is great for doing contouring though. In fact it's a requirement.
 
paperpuncher said:
If I could go back in time far enough to justify the investment I would get a Haas tl1 esp if cost was not a concern.
Click to expand...
Great machine. God knows I spend a lot of time on one but not versatile in the new configuration with no hand wheels. Mine a 2009 is a computer assisted manual machine. Nothing much manual about the current machines. Also you still need the experience you get from working on a manual machine.
 

TRAK Toolroom Lathes | Precision CNC Lathes with the ProtoTRAK RLX

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I am considering a Trak CNC/Manual. Full CNC with easy teach and also functions as a manual.

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Last edited:
LVLAaron said:
That's really nifty.

The chip tray, or lack there of looks kind of annoying.
Click to expand...

Not sure what's going on there. Says
"Complete One Piece Base with Built In Chip Tray (Your choice of heavy duty steel, or upgrade to cast iron, please choose appropriate model)" and it comes with coolant system so must have something fluid tight.
Might have to make a removable tray but couldn't put right up against the wall.
 
xr650rRider said:
Not sure what's going on there. Says
"Complete One Piece Base with Built In Chip Tray (Your choice of heavy duty steel, or upgrade to cast iron, please choose appropriate model)" and it comes with coolant system so must have something fluid tight.
Might have to make a removable tray but couldn't put right up against the wall.
Click to expand...
Yeah, looks like it's water tight on the back side... but that low wall on the back seems silly. I can see making a huge mess behind it... then again, there's a huge mess behind my lathe anyway.
 
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