Barrel profiling

[Dusty Stevens]

Go and have a look on practical machinist gunsmithing forum there is a thread on profiling barrels. A lot of BS but some good info and photo of a follower in amongst it.

Be prepared that you might need to do some linishing, sanding while the barrel is in your lathe as that's what a lot of barrel makers do. If you don't want sanding grit on or around your lathe then send it out.

This and a 2x72” knife grinder is the answer to finish sanding. Financing is available by the way.

BARREL SPINNER | Brownells

For many years gunmakers have been polishing barrels using a barrel spinner made from cast aluminum. These work great, but with commercial use the brittle castings are prone to cracking. These cassettes are 100% CNC machined from billet 6061 T6 ba...

www.brownells.com

 

[LVLAaron]

This and a 2x72” knife grinder is the answer to finish sanding. Financing is available by the way.

BARREL SPINNER | Brownells

For many years gunmakers have been polishing barrels using a barrel spinner made from cast aluminum. These work great, but with commercial use the brittle castings are prone to cracking. These cassettes are 100% CNC machined from billet 6061 T6 ba...

www.brownells.com

Exactly what I do. Got that kit and a 1 inch tube on amazon. 220/400 grit belts seems to work. I don't get that Cigarcop shine but they look great.

Once you have a knife grinder, it's one of those things you ask yourself "How did I ever not have a knife grinder?"

 

[Dusty Stevens]

Exactly what I do. Got that kit and a 1 inch tube on amazon. 220/400 grit belts seems to work. I don't get that Cigarcop shine but they look great.

Once you have a knife grinder, it's one of those things you ask yourself "How did I ever not have a knife grinder?"

Get on up there at 1500 plus and youll get that good finish

 

[LVLAaron]

Ain't nobody got time or belts for that.

 

[Dusty Stevens]

Ain't nobody got time or belts for that.

Youll be surprised. You can take a 320 finish like a barrel blank comes and itll look like a mirror in a couple minutes at the most. Its not like sanding out scratches in wood. 1500 is the coarsest grit i touch a barrel with in a spinner

 

[shortgrass]

I made one, very similar to what they sell now, 30+ yrs ago. Nobody in their right mind would do their abrasive 'polishing' on the lathe they intend to keep 'precision' for chambering.

 

[Dusty Stevens]

Ain't nobody got time or belts for that.

Heres one im getting ready to swap. It was polished with a worn 1500 years ago. Bottom is the factory lilja 320 grit finish

 

[Will Henry]

Is this what you mean by "etch-a-sketch" method:

The etch-a-sketch method entails feeding the tool out, by hand, to produce the desired taper. When cutting the transition, generally a concave radius, the tool is fed with the left hand while backing out with the right. Just like using the old etch-a-sketch toys we had as kids! Tom used the description, and I liked it. A CNC machine does the same thing; it just does it better!
The last barrel I profiled was a 28 inch barrel for an 1895 Winchester. The barrel was contoured to fit the forearm and made with an integral front sight base to hold the silver (actually, stainless steel) blade. The barrel was turned from a 1 3/8 inch 4150 blank. I profiled the barrel by offsetting the tailstock and left a knot on the muzzle end. The knot was the whittled away in the mill to leave the front sight base, which was split to take the blade. WH

 

[JASON50CAL]

Thanks for all the info guys. I’m thinking I may go a different direction with this. I kinda waited too long to put it together and think I may put off building it for now and just buy one to use this season and get mine built between now and next season. Don’t wanna have to rush and end up with something I’m not happy with.

 

[AccelR8]

Barrel spinner, 2X72 Belt grinder...good stuff. I've had a WIlton Square Wheel for something like 35 years now. I put a slow -down pulley on it so it's not going 4800 sfpm. I've been saying for about 34 years I'm going to convert it to variable speed. Just haven't gotten a round tuit yet.

I have a modified 1X30 belt sander I use while the barrel is still in the lathe. I have big cotton cloth shop towels I cover the lathe with entirely...bed, saddle, lead screws.

Here's another tool that can come in handy. Don't let it get oily, scrape chalk into the teeth to help prevent metal chips and filings from sticking. Clean it more frequently than you think you need to. Use a piece of hardwood to push/scrape filings out of the teeth, don't use a file card.

Crescent Nicholson 07719N 14" Flat Single Cut Long Angle Lathe Bastard File - - Amazon.com

Crescent Nicholson 07719N 14" Flat Single Cut Long Angle Lathe Bastard File - - Amazon.com

www.amazon.com

 

[jackieschmidt]

A while back, I had an old heavy Varmint profile Krieger that was always a great barrel.

Since I really didn’t shoot a HV 6PPC anymore, I decided to set it back and turn it in steps, (using a steady rest), to make Light Varmint weight.

It still shoots great.

I used positive rake tools with almost no nose radius and a rather slow RPM. It took a while, but it came out pretty good.

 

[tobnpr]

Turning a blank is somewhere between watching paint dry and playing with a cactus.

Hours of standing over the machine watching chips fly. Did it once and will never do it again.
With flood coolant it would be less painful, at least you wouldn't have to shut down every few passes to allow the barrel to cool.

 

[Will Henry]

It doesn't take that long, depending on where you start and where you finish. Turning a Winchester featherweight contour from a 1 1/4 blank will take a couple of hours. The barrel will get hot. Big Deal. It will cool down. A barrel is more likely to chatter when you offset the tailstock. The heavier the machine, the better.
This being said, I knew one guy, an auto mechanic at the time, who started with a 1 1/4 inch Shilen blank and turned it to match the contour of an 1886 Winchester lightweight. A pretty good feat, for a hobbyist. What made it mor impressive was that he did it on a 6x18 Atlas lathe. He set the tailstock up on a block on the bench so he could hold the 22 inch barrel. Then he turned down half, then turned it around and, after setting the tailstock over to taper the other way, turned the other end. So, a heavy machine while nice, isn't always necessary.
The man's name was Mick McPhee and, years later, he would begin making some truly excellent cut-rifled barrels. Sadly, we lost Mick to cancer way too early. He was a gifted craftsman and a good friend. WH

 

[MClark]

We have a tracer lathe, it’s enormous maybe a 8’ bed. I believe it was made in the 1950’s.
Classic case of the proper tool makes the job easy.
Absolutely useless for anything else.