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

[shortgrass]

yep its all in a persons point of view. more interesting to me is the lathe you describe. would be interesting to know where it was used and for what. where did you ever see that.

I saw it in an acquaintances machine shop. It was in the back and looked like it hadn't been used in quit awhile. There was a good sized shaper next to it. The rest of the shop was strictly modern. It wore a war production tag, so it had obviously been built with a specific purpose in mind. I didn't measure the spindle bore, but it looked to be about 2" in diameter. That machine had probably chambered thousands of M1 and o3/a3 barrels in its day. REAL American iron. Probably couldn't scratch the ways with a new file. Looked to be sound and ready to work. Had a 20-25gal coolant tank with a Grays Mills pump. It was under power, and sounded OK when he pushed the "Start" switch. He was ready to part with it. A 'production' machine. Had a 3 jaw, Cushman scroll chuck of about 10" diameter on it. Motor looked to be about 7.5hp, but hard to tell. Those old motors are large in size compared to newer made. Like I said, a "beast of a machine". Lots of fine grained cast iron. Kinda' like some of the old P&W Jig Boring machines I've been around. Hell for stout. The owner must have used it for some job in the past. Otherwise, he wouldn't have bothered to run power to it, or even had it taking up space in his shop. The machines in that shop had a purpose, to make money doing precision machine work.

 

[hoz53]

I saw it in an acquaintances machine shop. It was in the back and looked like it hadn't been used in quit awhile. There was a good sized shaper next to it. The rest of the shop was strictly modern. It wore a war production tag, so it had obviously been built with a specific purpose in mind. I didn't measure the spindle bore, but it looked to be about 2" in diameter. That machine had probably chambered thousands of M1 and o3/a3 barrels in its day. REAL American iron. Probably couldn't scratch the ways with a new file. Looked to be sound and ready to work. Had a 20-25gal coolant tank with a Grays Mills pump. It was under power, and sounded OK when he pushed the "Start" switch. He was ready to part with it. A 'production' machine. Had a 3 jaw, Cushman scroll chuck of about 10" diameter on it. Motor looked to be about 7.5hp, but hard to tell. Those old motors are large in size compared to newer made. Like I said, a "beast of a machine". Lots of fine grained cast iron. Kinda' like some of the old P&W Jig Boring machines I've been around. Hell for stout. The owner must have used it for some job in the past. Otherwise, he wouldn't have bothered to run power to it, or even had it taking up space in his shop. The machines in that shop had a purpose, to make money doing precision machine work.

Thanks for that info. I would have enjoyed seeing that lathe- hopefully it didn’t end up in the scrap yard.

 

[shortgrass]

I would bet that it did!

 

[hoz53]

I would bet that it did!

Yeah that’s a shame isn’t it.

 

[shortgrass]

Lots of good American made machine tools have been scraped over time. Well built, but no longer 'state of the art'. What that P&W could do in 20 minutes is now done in 5 minutes and at a greater degree of accuracy, and the machine doing that is far more versatile, overall.

 

[boltman223]

Several years ago I stumbled upon a Pratt & Whitney dedicated chambering machine. It had a single spindle and was a turret lathe of sorts. Instead of the turret in the position we are accustom to seeing, it was on end and had 8 stations. All 8 sockets faced the spindle but it would index to the next station just like you'd expect a turret lathe to do, by operating the manual feed wheel . The machine was equipped with a muzzle flush system which appeared to be original to the machine. It was built on the same frame as the P&W single station rifling machine. It was a real 'beast' of a lathe. It had no cross slide. It was obvious, looking at the machine, that the barrel was "thru the spindle". The machine was of WW2 vintage. So, thru the spindle ain't all that new!

There's actually one of the current barrel manufacturer using one of these to chamber barrels.

I don't know if I'd ever use it, but it would cool to have one.

 

[Bully]

Round 2.

 

[Ggmac]

Successful ?

 

[Bully]

I have the "shelf" for the recoil lug, tenon, threads, counterbore and chamfers all cut. All that's left is the chamber. I'll take it up tomorrow morning.

Sundays I cook dinner. So I had to step away.

 

[butchlambert]

I have the "shelf" for the recoil lug, tenon, threads, counterbore and chamfers all cut. All that's left is the chamber. I'll take it up tomorrow morning.

Sundays I cook dinner. So I had to step away.

I had to buy dinner also.

 

[alinwa]

I had to buy dinner also.

Dude, you cook like me!

I can make a mean hut dog in the microwave by wrapping it in a paper towel...... And I had to fry my own eggs for breakfast once........ and I ate 'em...... but they weren't the way I like them.

 

[butchlambert]

Dude, you cook like me!

I can make a mean hut dog in the microwave by wrapping it in a paper towel...... And I had to fry my own eggs for breakfast once........ and I ate 'em...... but they weren't the way I like them.

I hear you! My bud was the problem, he told my wife all he did when he was temporarily unemployed. He cleaned house, cooked, and took their kids to school. I know that he really did this, but he didn't need to tell Charlotte this!

 

[Bully]

Roasted chicken with Za'Tar
Roasted broccoli with cajun seasoning
Tots

Went well.

 

[Bully]

I got inspired and went for it.

Chamber is cut. Headspace is dead nuts. I have a throating reamer on the way and as soon as I can cut that, I'll flip the barrel around and cut the crown. That'll do it for metal work.

Then onto bedding. THAT's gonna be interesting.

 

[Hal]

I got inspired and went for it.

Chamber is cut. Headspace is dead nuts. I have a throating reamer on the way and as soon as I can cut that, I'll flip the barrel around and cut the crown. That'll do it for metal work.

Then onto bedding. THAT's gonna be interesting.

Be very careful cutting the throat , they cut like a hot knife through butter.

Hal

 

[Bully]

Be very careful cutting the throat , they cut like a hot knife through butter.

Hal

So I hear. Thank you.

 

[hoz53]

So I hear. Thank you.

So now do Josh’s stock making school and you can have the first barrel you chambered in the first stock you built from a blank. Cool Right???

 

[Bully]

So now do Josh’s stock making school and you can have the first barrel you chambered in the first stock you built from a blank. Cool Right???

That would be amazing however completely un-realistic for me. I have enough on my plate learning metal work. I'll leave the wood working to those with a passion for it.
This barreled action is going into an older 40X stock that I stripped and re-did. As soon as I get the metal work all settled, I'll send it out for paint and then get it all together.
It will be topped with a Leupy VX5HD 3-15. Should be a good pairing with the rifle and its intended use.

 

[Bully]

I so don’t want to post this pic.

The finish work I see on here blows me away. Additionally I know a couple of guys will be busting my chops via text when they see this.
I know it’s not perfect. But it’s as good as I can get it at this time.

Go easy please!

 

[Ggmac]

Congrats! It'll only get easier from now on . Just remember to be safe .
It came out fine , once it's assembled the proof will be in the empty fired case .
You did it ! Be proud , now shoot, and enjoy .