What do you do with your old barrels?

[Keith Glasscock]

Here I have come to an impasse. I have several barrels that have reached the end of their useful life for Fclass. With the cartridges I am now using, and the taper I like for my rifles, rechambering for a shouldered mounting is unlikely. Paying someone to mess with them sounds like a poor investment.

I have always wanted to get a lathe, but now is not the time to spend that kind of money. I'm thinking that I could store them and use them for practice when I get a lathe. Once they get down to the right length from practicing, I think there is enough good, clean rifling to make AR barrels with, or, in some cases, there is enough to make a fun caliber for the Savage.

Has anyone tried shortening a shot-out 30" down to 20" with success? What about turning down the diameter for an AR? I can see how a stress problem could develop.

 

[savagedasher]

Here I have come to an impasse. I have several barrels that have reached the end of their useful life for Fclass. With the cartridges I am now using, and the taper I like for my rifles, rechambering for a shouldered mounting is unlikely. Paying someone to mess with them sounds like a poor investment.

I have always wanted to get a lathe, but now is not the time to spend that kind of money. I'm thinking that I could store them and use them for practice when I get a lathe. Once they get down to the right length from practicing, I think there is enough good, clean rifling to make AR barrels with, or, in some cases, there is enough to make a fun caliber for the Savage.

Has anyone tried shortening a shot-out 30" down to 20" with success? What about turning down the diameter for an AR? I can see how a stress problem could develop.

Turning a barrel down to aAR size is time consuming. They make good die blanks. Larry

 

[mac86951]

Chamber gauges too. Lathe practice

 

[savagedasher]

Chamber gauges too. Lathe practice

 

[savagedasher]

Many of shooters would like a chamber gauge their great for checking case head expansion . Larry

 

[Joe Salt]

+1 on good dies and seating dies.

Joe Salt

 

[swd]

Mine get turned into muzzle brakes, bedding pillars and chamber gages.

 

[SWRichmond]

tomato stakes

 

[Immike]

I had a pile, traded them to a smith for some mill work. I put them up for sale on this forum and he intercepted them pretty quick.

 

[dkhunt14]

Don't know if this is what you are asking. I have seen several barrels that have rechambered a few times and were 20 inches after 3 or 4 new chambers. Most of these were Dasher's for 1000 yard BR. Matt

 

[DBailey]

They make great rollers to aid in moving large mills.

 

[ab_bentley]

Here I have come to an impasse. I have several barrels that have reached the end of their useful life for Fclass. With the cartridges I am now using, and the taper I like for my rifles, rechambering for a shouldered mounting is unlikely. Paying someone to mess with them sounds like a poor investment.

I have always wanted to get a lathe, but now is not the time to spend that kind of money. I'm thinking that I could store them and use them for practice when I get a lathe. Once they get down to the right length from practicing, I think there is enough good, clean rifling to make AR barrels with, or, in some cases, there is enough to make a fun caliber for the Savage.

Has anyone tried shortening a shot-out 30" down to 20" with success? What about turning down the diameter for an AR? I can see how a stress problem could develop.

I frequently use the light barrels for AR barrels. It's not a glorious process, but it's not hard. Most if not all shoot incredibly well. I pop the tennon off and rechamber in the throat area, then turn the barrel to specs. Easy and cheap.

Adam
http://www.predatormastersforums.co...owflat&Main=282201&Number=2668431#Post2668431

 

[STS]

I've shot lots and lots of predators and prairie dogs with take off benchrest barrels both .22 and 6mm. Some I've tapered and some not. All you F class guys that shoot those cannons don't have as much flexibility and the smaller caliber guys. That's the nature of the beast.

 

[therifler]

I've shot lots and lots of predators and prairie dogs with take off benchrest barrels both .22 and 6mm. Some I've tapered and some not. All you F class guys that shoot those cannons don't have as much flexibility and the smaller caliber guys. That's the nature of the beast.

you know i am sure someone is probably doing this. i was thinking if you had a super shooter could you bore that barrel out to a larger cal.?
the reason being perhaps the harmonics is the reason it shot so good. using the same blank wonder if it would carry over ? just a thought .

 

[spclark]

Barrel steel's not cheap & lathe practice with anything else isn't going to give you the same feedback as working with the 'real thing.'

Being cautious of work-hardened CR steel I'd tend to prefer working instead with stainless were I in a similar position. First thing I'd be making would be chamber 'proxies' to be used for fire-forming!

Not sure of the legalities if they were made say, 6" or 8" long then attached to a rifle action specifically for this use, rather than 16.1" so as to avoid undue risk.

Even with that what's left over would make fine custom dies & other useful accessories.

One 'smith I know uses 1/4" sections for iron-sight (Warner type) mounting screws. He presses them onto socket head cap screws, also knurls the outer rim for good 'stiction'.

 

[Chappy]

lathe practice with anything else isn't going to give you the same feedback as working with the 'real thing.'

This isn't entirely untrue. Working with used barrel steels can help you really dial in your spindle speeds and feed rates so you don't have the risk on a new blank and save time.

 

[Keith Glasscock]

Thanks for all the replies. I'm going to hang onto them for lathe practice in the future.

 

[dkhunt14]

Thanks for all the replies. I'm going to hang onto them for lathe practice in the future.

One of my buddies sells them on EBAY. Sometimes he gets pretty good money for them. I believe prairie dog and groundhog hunters buy them. Matt

 

[msalm]

If they are 6.5mm barrels, they make excellent 6.5 Grendel AR barrels. I've turned down quite a few of them. Only need 1" at the breech end so most of the 1000 yard barrels work extremely well. After cutting 4-6" off the breech end and thread/chamber it will borescope like a new barrel. Every one of those barrels shot 1/2 MOA in the Grendel and worked great. It's really not that much work to profile after the chambering, maybe 10 minutes of turning at most. I did quite a few for friends that knew what they were getting and with no exception they were all pleased.

 

[Keith Glasscock]

If they are 6.5mm barrels, they make excellent 6.5 Grendel AR barrels. I've turned down quite a few of them. Only need 1" at the breech end so most of the 1000 yard barrels work extremely well. After cutting 4-6" off the breech end and thread/chamber it will borescope like a new barrel. Every one of those barrels shot 1/2 MOA in the Grendel and worked great. It's really not that much work to profile after the chambering, maybe 10 minutes of turning at most. I did quite a few for friends that knew what they were getting and with no exception they were all pleased.

I have 2 30 cals, one 7mm and one 6 mm that I'm going to retain for making AR barrels once I get done practicing. I'm thinking that Grendel wildcats sound fun. I'll have to dream about it until I get my own lathe setup.