I'm About to Chamber My First Barrel; Any Advice?

[Bully]

So...
I've trued up the action and bolt. Had the bolt fluted. Added a "tactical" bolt knob. Had the lug pinned. I think I've actually run out of ways to procrastinate any longer and it's time to put the barrel in the jig and have a go at it.
The particulars:
Remington 700 action
GreTan single shot adapter glued in
Tac knob, fluted bolt

Rock Creek 1:7 5R .243 barrel
JGS floating pilot reamer in 6BR/Norma
JGS go gauge

Any last words, thoughts, prayers? I can use all the encouragement I can get. I'm not a machinist, I'm a hairdresser. I did, however, take a weekend and work with a real gunsmith in February for a weekend building my .223. He taught me a lot however he was not (understandably) keen on me crashing...err.... using his machines so I did a lot of watching. Which is fine but it's not "doing" if you get my meaning.

My machine is a 14-40 Harrison and I'm using a GreTan fixture for the time being. The machine is up to the task and I have all the bits I need as well as the reamer. So I'm good to go except my nervousness is getting the best of me. I would love adult supervision but it's tough to come by around here. So, I'm gonna give it a go in the next couple of days. I have practiced cutting threads and I made a tenon out of scrap, to dimension, for the action.

Thanks for reading and hopefully for your understanding.

 

[Ggmac]

So...
I've trued up the action and bolt. Had the bolt fluted. Added a "tactical" bolt knob. Had the lug pinned. I think I've actually run out of ways to procrastinate any longer and it's time to put the barrel in the jig and have a go at it.
The particulars:
Remington 700 action
GreTan single shot adapter glued in
Tac knob, fluted bolt

Rock Creek 1:7 5R .243 barrel
JGS floating pilot reamer in 6BR/Norma
JGS go gauge

Any last words, thoughts, prayers? I can use all the encouragement I can get. I'm not a machinist, I'm a hairdresser. I did, however, take a weekend and work with a real gunsmith in February for a weekend building my .223. He taught me a lot however he was not (understandably) keen on me crashing...err.... using his machines so I did a lot of watching. Which is fine but it's not "doing" if you get my meaning.

My machine is a 14-40 Harrison and I'm using a GreTan fixture for the time being. The machine is up to the task and I have all the bits I need as well as the reamer. So I'm good to go except my nervousness is getting the best of me. I would love adult supervision but it's tough to come by around here. So, I'm gonna give it a go in the next couple of days. I have practiced cutting threads and I made a tenon out of scrap, to dimension, for the action.

Thanks for reading and hopefully for your understanding.

You'll do fine . Take it slow . DO NOT TALK OR BE INTERUPTED . Remove all jewelry, no long sleeves , no long hair or have it out of the way .
Practice on a piece of scrap if you haven't done that yet . Even if you take a piece of axle steel , round stock of any type, drill to aprx size then try boring and chambering .
Go slow . I still chamber at 60 . If your using a small bore to larger case , 22/250 for example , the chamber reamer DOESNT bend it snaps .
First or second student I was mentoring snapped one even before I knew he had started . And he'd been watching for weeks and even cut threads and ground a "D" reamer .
Just go slow and be safe . The last .010 to .015 can be done after installed and cut thru the action .

 

[Dusty Stevens]

Since youre a hairdresser, do you sport a man bun, ponytail, 80’s metal afro, or trump combover? (Gotta lighten the mood)
Best advice i can give you is get after it. Dial it in and go take a break and come check it. Leave plenty of barrel out so as not crash it if you have to redo half the tenon again. Stand back and look at it, go thru your steps in order, make sure you are thinking ahead on any issues. Most of all keep us informed.

 

[Bully]

You'll do fine . Take it slow . DO NOT TALK OR BE INTERUPTED . Remove all jewelry, no long sleeves , no long hair or have it out of the way .
Practice on a piece of scrap if you haven't done that yet . Even if you take a piece of axle steel , round stock of any type, drill to aprx size then try boring and chambering .
Go slow . I still chamber at 60 . If your using a small bore to larger case , 22/250 for example , the chamber reamer DOESNT bend it snaps .
First or second student I was mentoring snapped one even before I knew he had started . And he'd been watching for weeks and even cut threads and ground a "D" reamer .
Just go slow and be safe . The last .010 to .015 can be done after installed and cut thru the action .

Thanks.
I thread and plan to chamber at 50. I'm in no hurry. I have watched the Richard Franklin videos about 5 times and will re-watch it again before I start. Between the videos by him, The Viper, and the advice of my buddy, I'm sure I'll be ok. I'm just dealing with butterfly stomach. I don't want to screw it up. It's an expensive piece of pipe.

 

[Bully]

Since youre a hairdresser, do you sport a man bun, ponytail, 80’s metal afro, or trump combover? (Gotta lighten the mood)
Best advice i can give you is get after it. Dial it in and go take a break and come check it. Leave plenty of barrel out so as not crash it if you have to redo half the tenon again. Stand back and look at it, go thru your steps in order, make sure you are thinking ahead on any issues. Most of all keep us informed.

I'm bald...

 

[Dusty Stevens]

Oh and another piece of advice- if you cant afford to just throw that barrel in the trash youre doing it wrong. Get a green mountain barrel and actually go shoot it. Youre going to screw stuff up so never let it be something you cant walk away from. I didnt mean actually having the money to just burn i meant if youll get butthurt over a $325 blank going to scrap get a cheaper one til you can safely say you aint gonna mess it up. Those fixtures like to slip pretty easy so dont grab a big bite

 

[STS]

If you have a question about something, or are unsure what to do, STOP and ask for advise or a solution to the problem. A sizable dose of common sense will take you a long way. If you haven't mastered pulling away from the thread as opposed to stopping in a "chicken slot", practice on a scrap piece of barrel steel until you can do that well. You will need to pick up and run the threads forward at some point so you may as well learn that skill right up front.

 

[Cloudrepair]

A low cost barrel for the first one is the way to go.
just be safe and jumpin with both feet

 

[mr45man]

I don't think there is a cheap 50 cal Barrel.

 

[PWS]

For my first barrel, I sat down and wrote out a detailed check list and numbered each step of the process. That allowed me to focus on each particular aspect before moving on to the next. Heck, I used the checklist for the next twenty.

There is plenty of time to pause between the steps but it can be a PITA to go back and fix something if it’s done incorrectly.

 

[Shawnba67]

Dont forget to have fun! Relax, take a step back if you need one.
I recomend leaving it in the lathe when you think your done. If you still think your done in the morning, you may be!
Reindicating sucks!
Did i mention have fun? Good luck

 

[Bully]

The guy means 50 rpm not 50caliber.

Ding ding ding!!!

 

[STS]

If you don't have one of these you might consider making one prior to chambering your barrel. Makes the job considerably easier. You can check your headspace with the gauge right in the lathe. You don't need the window in the side of the thing.

 

[Dusty Stevens]

If you don't have one of these you might consider making one prior to chambering your barrel. Makes the job considerably easier. You can check your headspace with the gauge right in the lathe. You don't need the window in the side of the thing.

Thats why everybody needs 2 lathes. Always something needing to be made after you get one indicated

 

[mr45man]

The guy means 50 rpm not 50caliber.

Oh my bad after reread. Now that makes perfectly good sense.

 

[alinwa]

So...
I've trued up the action and bolt. Had the bolt fluted. Added a "tactical" bolt knob. Had the lug pinned. I think I've actually run out of ways to procrastinate any longer and it's time to put the barrel in the jig and have a go at it.
The particulars:
Remington 700 action
GreTan single shot adapter glued in
Tac knob, fluted bolt

Rock Creek 1:7 5R .243 barrel
JGS floating pilot reamer in 6BR/Norma
JGS go gauge

Any last words, thoughts, prayers? I can use all the encouragement I can get. I'm not a machinist, I'm a hairdresser. I did, however, take a weekend and work with a real gunsmith in February for a weekend building my .223. He taught me a lot however he was not (understandably) keen on me crashing...err.... using his machines so I did a lot of watching. Which is fine but it's not "doing" if you get my meaning.

My machine is a 14-40 Harrison and I'm using a GreTan fixture for the time being. The machine is up to the task and I have all the bits I need as well as the reamer. So I'm good to go except my nervousness is getting the best of me. I would love adult supervision but it's tough to come by around here. So, I'm gonna give it a go in the next couple of days. I have practiced cutting threads and I made a tenon out of scrap, to dimension, for the action.

Thanks for reading and hopefully for your understanding.

OK, some thoughts from one who remembers every mistake he's ever made, vividly

And paid for them.

And more importantly learned from them.

I'm not into "encouragement"...... I'm into analysis.

#1- as Dusty said "can I afford to WRECK this barrel?"
Answer=YES, honestly, you can BUT...

What exactly constitutes "wrecking" a barrel? I'll list some of the mistakes I've made and how I've fixed them.

If you plan properly it's actually hard to wreck a barrel first go-round.

Let's imagine some screwups
-Breaking the reamer off in the chamber. Or jamming it, or getting chatter........ STOP and ask for help. This isn't a BIG screwup
-Cutting the tenon too small........ this is perty big but not a writeoff, just make sure you chamber your first on clear out at the end and you'll have room to cut it off and start over, twice.
-Buggering up the math...... most of the time you find this out just after popping the 4-jaw loose.....some tricks to salvage bad math include; order a thicker recoil lug,

 

[alinwa]

ooops...... I just done DID one of my famous buggerups.

I hit SEND instead of the spacebar.....

 

[alinwa]

So, back to some screwups. YES, as has been said you might have to re-chuck. But make lemonade and move on.

You might even have to learn to re-find a set of threads....I've buggered THIS up 5 different ways in my time and salvaged all but one without cutting the tenon off and even then, when I completely double-cut a set of threads I didn't lose the barrel, just shortened the tenon and moved on.

Chamber too deep..... this one requires a re-chuck but all in all not huge, bigger if you're timing or clocking.
Chamber too shallow..... NOT huge, and I've learned it's wikkid easy to hand-crank a few thou deeper. I wouldn't want to cut the whole chamber this way, unless I was in prison for many yrs.... but a couple thou??? Minutes at most.
Chamber wallowed or eccentric..... I've actually never produced an eccentric chamber because I pre-drill. I CAN'T get one eccentric, but I have wallowed them over-sized trying different reamer holding methods. No pain, freaking shoot it. Maybe learn to make a sizing die.... it's only TIME in your case
End of tenon hitting boltface, tenon too long..... re-chuck and fix it.
Slipping the barrel in the chuck..... this is perty big and might result in some gouges BUT, again make lemonade. Learn to re-chuck, to find the threads if need be. It'll still be MILES more better than a factory job.
Sticking a bushing and/or scoring the rifling...... first of all, finish the job and SHOOT IT.....and remember, there's room to cut off the tenon and redo.
Wrong chamber.... this sounds stupid but let's say you ordered a sizing reamer and a chambering reamer.... STOP and assess, it's fixable.
Wrong thread pitch..... this one generally requires a cutoff and re-do.
Wrong thread angle, fergot to square the tool, set to wrong side of 30*.... again, cut off and redo is worst case but first TRY IT!! Threads don't have to be perty!
Cut threads too deep, sloppy fit..... definitely don't just panic if you find you've over-shot your mark on depth. Too loose is much safer than too tight and it's seriously doubtful it's actually too loose.
Somebody or something makes you jump or you fall asleep on the switch......GOUGE!!....... STOP and assess, most often even a busted tool-bit crash is salvageable.

I could go on..... but what I'm saying is, I really doubt you'll WRECK a barrel.

And most of the real screwups actually happen on barrels 3 through 15 IME. I call 'em "comfort zone screwups".... and example is, wrong thread pitch. Like threading a Rem700 for a Savage.....

What I'm really trying to say it, GO FOR IT!

 

[alinwa]

IME your hardest thing is "what order to do the steps"

And as a hobbyist, you're doing it very differently than a pro on a NC lathe.

You're doing a 700

I normally;
-dial the barrel in and cut the tenon to diameter and length
-check it, check it, check it again...REMEMBER the recoil lug
-thread tenon using a cutout slot or stop slot, I suggest keep it BACK from the shoulder a couple hunnerd thou...REMEMBER, the recoil lug doesn't need to set on threads, in fact I hate the lug to be on threads so make your chikkinout slot safely BACK .200
-screw the nekkid action on and check stuff out.
-cut the recess for the boltface
-stuff the bolt in and check stuff out
-chamber last (there's a ton of reasons for this)

Remember that I probably missed a step. Take your time, CHECK your math

 

[alinwa]

One of the best tips I ever got???

"chamber last" and here's a HUGE reason why. (one of many)

Once the action is fitting nicely and your chamber is 98% done and you're creeping in to headspace you can start using feeler gages to watch your progress. Fuh'GEDDABOUT fancy tooling, just screw your action on with your headspacing gage in place and check the gap at the action face with a feeler gage(s)

Play with this.....

-Slip in after
-tighten onto the feeler gage stack
-try different tightnesses altho they're all going to be only hand tight.....
-check different spots around the action, are they all the same???

But mainly it's an easy way to creep up on headspace while monitoring with tools you already have