New Lathe ?

[Rw 7mm]

Looking to buy a new lathe soon .....What brand ? looking to spend 10-15k ...best bang for the buck .

south bend
Harrison
Sharp
Kent

 

[Dusty Stevens]

New best bang for the buck is grizzly, jet, enco, etc. used you can get a south bend tooled up real nice for half that and have a better machine. For that budget spend 5-6k on a new grizzly then more than the rest buying tooling

 

[STS]

If you get your name spread around in the right gun circles and are patient, you should be able to find a quality American made lathe for half of your budget. As Dusty pointed out you could spend like a drunken sailor on tooling.

 

[riflewoman]

I'll put up a Harrison M300 against any American iron.

IMO the best bang for the buck is the Grizzly. It is a MODERN lathe in that it has rolling element bearings in the headstock, and has a D-1 mounting chuck rather than threaded.

The South Bend 10 and Heavy 10 are relics. They're hard to work with and aren't accurate enough. Not anymore.

I would only consider lathes that have the following features:

D1 Camlock mounting
MT 5 in the spindle
12 inch swing
30 inch between centers
Free standing (not a bench lathe)
Geared head
Quick change feeds/threads
Foot brake for safety.

You won't find these on American iron that you can afford.

I'm as patriotic as the next person, but the reality is that in machine tools as in cars better values can be had with imports.

 

[tightneck]

I'll put up a Harrison M300 against any American iron.

IMO the best bang for the buck is the Grizzly. It is a MODERN lathe in that it has rolling element bearings in the headstock, and has a D-1 mounting chuck rather than threaded.

The South Bend 10 and Heavy 10 are relics. They're hard to work with and aren't accurate enough. Not anymore.

I would only consider lathes that have the following features:

D1 Camlock mounting
MT 5 in the spindle
12 inch swing
30 inch between centers
Free standing (not a bench lathe)
Geared head
Quick change feeds/threads
Foot brake for safety.

You won't find these on American iron that you can afford.

I'm as patriotic as the next person, but the reality is that in machine tools as in cars better values can be had with imports.

Ya know, when I was shopping for a lathe about 8 years ago, with a much smaller budget, I ignored all the "old American iron" posts that seemed to dominate the responses. I'm not a machinist, and couldn't see buying anything that was 70 years old!!! I went with a Grizzly for a fraction of the OP's budget, and was clambering match winning barrels within months of my acquisition. I'd love to have a $15k tool room lathe, and it may even hold tighter tolerances than my Griz, but is it necessary? Dozens of match winning barrels later tell me, not a chance in hell.

 

[Rw 7mm]

Very good points guys and thank you for the help.. the quality and the tight tolerances is what I am looking for... I would like to start this and work it into a business... so I would like to have a machine that can handle it . I definitely will buy new don't want someone's problem. I am no machinist so info from you folks helps a lot ..

 

[7mmmag]

I have a LeBlond 15 X 54 that works well , get a good chuck . The headstock is long is my only complaint .

 

[Hal]

South Bend "heavy 10's as well as other "Old American lathes" are more than accurate enough for gunsmithing

Barrel threads are roughly 1" long, and cut to .001 .

. The condition of the lathe is more
important than the age.

Hal

 

[steckmeyer]

I have a Grizzly G4003 12 X 36 lathe. I've had it since they first offered this model. I can not afford Starrett indicators or American made tooling. I use Fowler or Shars. The lathe is as good as these indicators and tools. I have had this lathe long enough to have a motor control relay fail. I'm not an electrician but the technicians at Grizzly work me through the analysis and had the parts I needed in stock and to me in two days regular shipping. Today I would buy the Grizzly G0776 13 x 40 Gunsmith Lathe with DRO if I had the space.