Pricing to chamber barrel and install

[Edd]

I have seen some discussions started by Bartlein warning about counterfeit barrels being sold.

 

[Jonnyofalltrades]

I will die with a lot more tools than toys.

Tools ARE toys!

 

[Old Navy]

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.

Outstanding! My son is an ME with 30+ years experience and was a hands on shadetree mechanic before that. Three years ago he decided to wanted to be a gunsmith when he retires in a couple more years. He and his wife both took several machinist classes at the local trade tech school. He does have all the machines and a good mentor to help him along.

 

[Turpentine]

Marketing at its finest

Kind of like Herter's. World's Finest products

 

[Alex Wheeler]

Tools ARE toys!

For some guys thats true. My 2 main careers both require buying a lot of tools so I accept it. But Id rather have a boat!

 

[Kurz]

Tools ARE toys!

For some guys thats true. My 2 main careers both require buying a lot of tools so I accept it. But Id rather have a boat!

I feel the same way but I've already had a boat and I'll never do that again!

My tools for both of my professions have been tools, never toys. The current tools just got much more expensive than the ones for the first profession. And don't get me started on insurance and ATFE!

Merriest Christmas and a Joyous New Year!

 

[dustin_drews]

I charge 650.00 for a stainless steel Wilson arms barrel contoured to your choice with muzzle threads installed onto your action. This includes the barrel. I can do this because i invested into the equipment to contour my own barrels from blanks.

If someone sends me a barrel to install and headspace and thread it to their action it is 400.00

I can do this because I set up my shop to keep my overhead extremely low and my equipment is extremely expensive and my workflow is built solely to do chambering and muzzle work.

Currently I only do chamber and barrel work. This helps keep me more efficient and productive for my customers.

The machine work required to install a barrel is about as basic as it gets in the big scheme of machining. Tolerance is tolerance. No matter who is making the chips. That being said, I have a huge amount of respect for guys that have built up their reputation/business to be able to charge what they charge and have people wait as long as they wait for them to do their work. It is truly what makes American great!

Thanks to all who have trusted us with their business so far!

God Bless,
Dustin

Drews Precision

 

[jackieschmidt]

For some guys thats true. My 2 main careers both require buying a lot of tools so I accept it. But Id rather have a boat!

Al, if you do get a boat, you will be looking forward to the happiest day of your life………

the day you get rid of it

 

[xr650rRider]

Boat
Break-out-another-thousand

 

[JB10]

Just got a rifle built. Chambering and installing the barrel, blended thread protector at muzzle, bolt knob, trigger install, fitting stock to action and barrel with bedding. All came to $450

 

[DR_2297]

I’ve had a number of boats over the years. The money was never the issue - they were hobbies. I grew bored of them. I currently have a center console fishing boat. Low maintenance, not fast, sips fuel and will idle all day long. I thoroughly enjoy slaying the Lake Erie walleye and my friends @ Camp Perry seem to really enjoy the annual fish fry I host during the National Matches.

 

[Radar]

I was thinking the shooting sports costs have gotten carried away until I hit a rock in October with my Mercury 250sx, that lower unit cost $9,7XX.XX. The bill for labor,lower unit and prop was $10,9XX.XX.

 

[Alex Wheeler]

Al, if you do get a boat, you will be looking forward to the happiest day of your life………

the day you get rid of it

I was just using the boat as an example. I have had multiple boats. All bought cheap and nothing but work. I would like a nice boat that doesnt quit running all the time, or almost sink 20 miles offshore one day.

 

[xr650rRider]

You might need something with some redundancy. 3 or 4 chambering jobs per hour at half-throttle.

 

[Pete Wass]

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.

Schools took metal shops out of schools for computer labs not realizing smart phones were coming along and kids would be way ahead. If the metal; shops had stayed at least kids' would have been able to learn how to use their hands , not just their thumbs! Of course, history hasn't been taught for two decades or civics. We let this all happen right before our faces and eyes and did nothing about it!

 

[Xerothermic]

I’ve had a number of boats over the years. The money was never the issue - they were hobbies. I grew bored of them. I currently have a center console fishing boat. Low maintenance, not fast, sips fuel and will idle all day long. I thoroughly enjoy slaying the Lake Erie walleye and my friends @ Camp Perry seem to really enjoy the annual fish fry I host during the National Matches.

Yellow perch, I can almost taste it.

 

[dgeesaman]

Adaptive Target Rifle.
It's not cool unless you give it an acronym.

Always use TLAs.

(Three Letter Acronyms)

My ‘local’ benchrest gunsmith is semi retired and a couple years ago he chambered a barrel using his reamer for 300 or 350. I know he does very precise work and is professional and I’ll gladly pay it. I did have to wait until he was done spending a few months in his hunting cabin.

Next barrel chambering I need I’ll call him again. Hopefully we can do business again but if his lathes are no longer turning I’ll seek out someone else who does good work, is professional to deal with, has reasonable lead times, and pay whatever it costs. (I think there’s a fourth element to the cheap/fast/right triangle, which is handling customers well).

 

[wildcatter]

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.

That's on a easy easy no issue job where the cutter runs like a hummer barrel shoots. But till years and decades of WTF's peer their nasty heads, does one gain the knowledge to make the needed adjustments to maintain perfection.

It's like anything else, I've seen some that make every barrel shoot good, and most that use them (since they're the only ones they ever used) be satisfied. A couple local I know have convinced many how great they are. But have talked one guy into sending the same barrel to the Smith I use, after I did some brass measuring, and convinced him it wasn't right!

Needless to say when it came back and he run some of the same loads as before it not only shot ever so slightly better, but that same barrel became much less picky!

Was it the 1/2" shorter barrel??? Maybe, but the fact is, it cleaned better as well according to him. Yes again maybe it had smoothed out a little more with a few more rounds in it.

But, until I find a Smith, that has built barrels for more than a couple shooters that have proven to be winners in BR competition, do I spend the kind of money we're talking here, 350 to 400 bucks only works for perfection in my world.

I won't pay these prices to a guy wanting to be one of those Smiths, but once he shows he is one of those, has my recamendations. Those are the ones that tell me it's worth what it takes to prove themselves.

I'm fortunate and won't post what it cost me, but I bring a lot to my Smiths table as well as all my business. I send many to him, but I do that by them witnessing what he has done for me!

 

[wildcatter]

For what its worth you do not have a very high regard of a machinist/ toolmaker.
For someone who spent decades in a manufacturing environment being a machinist/toolmaker using a reamer to achieve high tolerance details in metal is not a particularly difficult operation.

It is important to understand that most gunsmiths do rely on a machinist who is specializing, making, grinding reamers to to very high precision( hopefully)that a gunsmith uses to chamber a barrel.
So really the chamber will not be more accurate than the reamer the machinist made.

Also based on my experience prices do not always reflect the the quality of work you get.
I have barrels chambered by top gunsmiths that shoot well ( high price), I have barrel where cambering costs were lower but the barrel shoots awesome .1-.2 , I also have a factory criterion remage barrel $375.00 delivered that shoots 3 inches at 500 meters with factory Berger ammo.

Just my 2 cents....

That won't get ya much at 600 yard local match from a bunch of old local shooters where I shoot. But they spend the money on Smiths that have proven their worth.

We have many here, but ive seen we have some that think a machinist is a gun smith too,,,,

 

[long40shot]

I just had a Rem 700 trued up, barrel chambered and the muzzle threaded. $650