Pricing to chamber barrel and install

[urbanrifleman]

Let's see
$140K for my shop 8 years ago
$35K for one of my lathes with basic tooling 14 years ago
$15K for my manual machine tooled up 25 years ago
$???? a drawer full of carbide inserts
$5K for my old mill
$???? for 3 roll around cabinets full of tooling
$30K for the 200 or so reamers I have
$5K for compressor, grinders, buffers, spray booth, oven etc.

When I look at all of it, maybe I need to go up on my price.

Maybe.

Maybe the guys who've been doing it a long time need to look at their pricing.

In 2002 I bought a Dodge Ram quad cab Lone star. That truck was $21k. You'd be lucky to buy that truck for $60k now.

A lot of things have doubled. At least. Shoot... primers are $80. Powder is $50.

 

[jimmymac]

It’s no wonder that more and more guys take the plunge and buy equipment to do their own barrel work. Equipment lists are littered with “self” as the gunsmith. With as many barrels that I go through, this option becomes more attractive all the time.

 

[urbanrifleman]

It’s no wonder that more and more guys take the plunge and buy equipment to do their own barrel work. Equipment lists are littered with “self” as the gunsmith. With as many barrels that I go through, this option becomes more attractive all the time.

I don't think that's new at all. I think that's been going on for decades. I would say there were probably more home gunsmiths doing work 30 years ago then there are now by a lot. The main complaint I hear is that there's so few.

And simply a matter of the fact that the baby boomers and their parents just did a lot more things with their hands than this next generation. The younger guys use computers and phones they're not machinists. At least not generationally.

 

[jimmymac]

I don't think that's new at all. I think that's been going on for decades. I would say there were probably more home gunsmiths doing work 30 years ago then there are now by a lot. The main complaint I hear is that there's so few.

And simply a matter of the fact that the baby boomers and their parents just did a lot more things with their hands than this next generation. The younger guys use computers and phones they're not machinists. At least not generationally.

All I can do is make observations based on the 6 years I’ve been messing with this. I know a number of guys who have bought lathes in that time frame.

 

[LVLAaron]

If you're a home gamer, I'd assume you need about 20k in equipment to get started. Maybe a little less. Lathe, mill, tooling for both.

At 400 bucks a barrel, it pays for itself in 50 barrels.

The ability to do what you need when you need it is what you pay for, if you're shooting at a semi-pro level.

 

[urbanrifleman]

If you're a home gamer, I'd assume you need about 20k in equipment to get started. Maybe a little less. Lathe, mill, tooling for both.

At 400 bucks a barrel, it pays for itself in 50 barrels.

The ability to do what you need when you need it is what you pay for, if you're shooting at a semi-pro level.

I would be very curious to know if there's guys posting on here that have made 50 barrels. Certainly not 50 barrels in any short time frame. There are of course the professionals that are doing huge numbers of barrels per year but I think that's a tiny little group.

When I started up my company making my own barrels I spent well over 20K probably double that was the actual realistic estimate by the time we were up and running.

You certainly could buy a Taiwanese lathe and a couple of reamers and some tools and do your own barrels and probably come in under 10K for doing onesies and twosies. Of course, when you're not using it it's going to sit in your garage and rust and if you don't drive that lathe on a nearly daily basis you will lose it pretty quickly. Least that's my experience.

I would say the reverse is true that the hassle of involving yourself into tooling up to make a barrel will never be paid for by an extra $100 being charged due to inflation. 99.9% of all shooters will gladly pay to have it done so they don't have to listen to their wife talk about that lathe being in the garage getting in the way of her car.

I've had more than one person tell me that I'm completely wasting my time unless I buy a CNC machine. And then learn how to run it and then pay to have it fixed if it breaks. Not to mention the machine probably weighs 7 tons? I spent $3,000 on machinery moving when I moved my shop because my machines had to be moved multiple times and I don't have equipment to do that and it's $350 an hour for machinery movers.

 

[Tim Singleton]

If you're a home gamer, I'd assume you need about 20k in equipment to get started. Maybe a little less. Lathe, mill, tooling for both.

At 400 bucks a barrel, it pays for itself in 50 barrels.

The ability to do what you need when you need it is what you pay for, if you're shooting at a semi-pro level.

You can get going tooling and all with a good used SB heavy10 for 10 grand or less
It may take a while to find one at the right price gotta be patient

 

[Kurz]

Let's see
$140K for my shop 8 years ago
$35K for one of my lathes with basic tooling 14 years ago
$15K for my manual machine tooled up 25 years ago
$???? a drawer full of carbide inserts
$5K for my old mill
$???? for 3 roll around cabinets full of tooling
$30K for the 200 or so reamers I have
$5K for compressor, grinders, buffers, spray booth, oven etc.

When I look at all of it, maybe I need to go up on my price.

And likely this doesn't include the cost of the insurances you have to have to be in and operate a business involving firearms. We have been in and are in a litigious society where insurance can save you from a mistake but the cost is high.

Others might be interested in the cost of a 55 gallon drum of lubricating oil for those machines. Then try to dispose of that oil legally...

This list can get to be overwhelming when you try to include all of your overhead involved in running this form of business and $65.00/hour ain't getting it covered!

 

[martin22250]

What's the going price to chamber a barrel and install in action.I have my reamer and headspace gauges ,just don't have the means to do the work myself.

Dang after reading these posts im going to have to raise my prices, ive been charging $150 for 6mm ppc chamber jobs, I don't have a ffl though, im going to have to try and get my ffl i guess

 

[jkohler]

Dang after reading these posts im going to have to raise my prices, ive been charging $150 for 6mm ppc chamber jobs, I don't have a ffl though, im going to have to try and get my ffl i guess

The headaches start there. Get all of your other Business licenses and tax numbers done before you apply For your FFL.

 

[Walt Krafft]

Spending money to buy machines and tooling sounds easy. Knowing how to use it is going to take time. Many of us have years and years invested in the trade to gain that knowledge. Put a price on that.

 

[jkohler]

Spending money to buy machines and tooling sounds easy. Knowing how to use it is going to take time. Many of us have years and years invested in the trade to gain that knowledge. Put a price on that.

Sorry you can’t. One of those can’t buy deals have to be earned.

 

[Tim Singleton]

Agree it would take quite a bit of time for someone with zero time on a lathe
Im old enough to have had machin shop in high school in the 1980s on southbend lathes
If you have some basic experience on a manual lathe it wouldn’t take you too long.

 

[LVLAaron]

Spending money to buy machines and tooling sounds easy. Knowing how to use it is going to take time. Many of us have years and years invested in the trade to gain that knowledge. Put a price on that.

400 a barrel.

 

[1lessdog]

If your just looking for someone to thread and install and chamber a barrel. I will take a machinist any day of the week before a gunsmith. A machinist works on a lathe everyday and know the tolerance. And can keep them by moving in .0005 or what ever he needs.

Skeetlee is very good and is one here.

 

[shortgrass]

If your just looking for someone to thread and install and chamber a barrel. I will take a machinist any day of the week before a gunsmith. A machinist works on a lathe everyday and know the tolerance. And can keep them by moving in .0005 or what ever he needs.

Skeetlee is very good and is one here.

A "trained" gunsmith can. Someone who just hangs out a shingle, maybe not. I've been around countless 'machinists' in my 50yr full time working life, and many of those would need to be lead by the hand to do a chamber. Job shop machinists, that can go from manual to CNC , and are well versed, are few and far between these days. Those that are CNC 'production' can get lost rather quickly. In todays world few 'machinists' work on a lathe every day, unless it's a CNC lathe. "Gunsmith" covers a lot these days, with varying capabilities.

 

[shortgrass]

He!!, there's a wide variation in what's called a "machinist" these days! That 0.0005" mentioned is precision grinding stuff. The reamer makers give themselves that much tolerance.

 

[Alex Wheeler]

To answer the OP first. I am $400 for standard chamber and crown.
I probably should not comment on this, but "gunsmithing" is one of the weird businesses that is dominated by hobbyists, not professionals. In my previous career as a mechanic, you would call them shade tree mechanics. They had limited experience and knowledge. But could do some things. In some cases it saved you money, in others you ended up at a professionals to fix it right and it cost you more. Im not interested in doing the work the hobby or barrel guys cant or wont do. I will do all your work or none at all. I think Im not alone there. One of my best friends took over my position at the Chevy dealer I worked at as lead tech. He will out earn me this year by a large margin. I love the accuracy game and encourage all to get into the business if its your passion. Just seek out someone actually doing it for a living for advice. The people speculating are really so far off base its not funny.

 

[tikkaman308]

To answer the OP first. I am $400 for standard chamber and crown.
I probably should not comment on this, but "gunsmithing" is one of the weird businesses that is dominated by hobbyists, not professionals. In my previous career as a mechanic, you would call them shade tree mechanics. They had limited experience and knowledge. But could do some things. In some cases it saved you money, in others you ended up at a professionals to fix it right and it cost you more. Im not interested in doing the work the hobby or barrel guys cant or wont do. I will do all your work or none at all. I think Im not alone there. One of my best friends took over my position at the Chevy dealer I worked at as lead tech. He will out earn me this year by a large margin. I love the accuracy game and encourage all to get into the business if its your passion. Just seek out someone actually doing it for a living for advice. The people speculating are really so far off base its not funny.

Well the guy I'm having do my work is a full time gunsmith and does mostly long-range builds for his customers. I know him personally, he has done some work for me in the past.This will be my first custom build and first time having a barrel chambered and installed in an action. Thanks for everyone's input,but didn't expect this topic to be this involved. I was just seeking advice and opinions. Understand this, the money spent to have this work done isn't the issue. If he charged more then I would pay him more...personally I thought he was a little on the low side and just wanted to see what others thought.

 

[Ccrider]

Spending money to buy machines and tooling sounds easy. Knowing how to use it is going to take time. Many of us have years and years invested in the trade to gain that knowledge. Put a price on that.

This is gospel!