What is the least expensive barrel blank I can buy?

[hoz53]

hello everybody. Well I want to buy a few cheap rifle barrel blanks 1.25 dia. strait for chambering practice. I see the green mountain available for 50 bucks or so. Are there any others in that price range or less? Thank You. Hoz​

 

[hunter243sgk]

If I was you I would buy used shot out barrels to practice on. I sure wished I had a lathe.

 

[LHSmith]

Beware- those $50 GM blanks are usually 1-1/16 OD which may not fit your needs depending what your action requires for barrel threads. I have heard that GM barrels often shoot very well, but you must also factor in the cost of contouring - I believe all their .barrels are sold "straight" contour.

 

[hoz53]

If I was you I would buy used shot out barrels to practice on. I sure wished I had a lathe.

Thanks Hunter. I was thinking of doing that and I may yet. It took me quite a while to get a lathe. You'll get there sometime if it's what you want.

 

[hoz53]

Beware- those $50 GM blanks are usually 1-1/16 OD which may not fit your needs depending what your action requires for barrel threads. I have heard that GM barrels often shoot very well, but you must also factor in the cost of contouring - I believe all their .barrels are sold "straight" contour.

Thanks LH for the heads up on the dia. That might be a deal breaker as I want some 1.25 strait blanks. I will check. As far as the taper I was planning on setting these back several times for practice. Once I get to 18 I might taper one sometime. That would be a good reason to get some use out of the taper attachment. I'll edit my original post.

 

[Riesel]

It sounds to me that what you are wanting to do is thread and chamber barrels, get a good fit between barrel and action, chop it off and do it again. A 50.00 dollar barrel is a good place to start as you can chamber a lot out of a 26" stick of metal. You don't really care if it shoots however that's a lot of wear on your reamers. I've used GM barrels and they can be pretty darn good shooters, hunting rifle accuracy for sure, but require a lot of cleaning. Just me, but I do a heavy varmint taper on a barrel and leave about 5- 5 and a half inch of barrel shank, put it in a Boyd's stock that I have inletted for the oversize shank and test the barrel and my ability at the range. Chop off the threads and re-chamber to something longer. Just kicking the can down the road.

 

[msalm]

Cast a lap in one of those Green Mountain barrels after you contour it. Lap it out, maybe 5-10 minutes of work, then clean it up and chamber.... Borescope will show very similar to any shilen, better than douglas, etc... May be a tad oversize as GM barrels seem to run larger in groove diameter, but they still shoot well for what they are.

 

[akajun]

the GM gunsmith specials are $50, but it will tell you in the description if they are 1", ! 1/6" or 1.25" blanks.
BTW I buy the .223 1/7 for most of my NRA/CMP Service rifle barrels to put on AR's. THey shoot very well.

 

[Pablo]

You should be able to pick up a chunk of 4130 cold roll at your local metal supply to practice on. Should be cheap and easy.

 

[DennisH]

Somebody ought to have plenty of "stubs" leftover which would work great for practice. What caliber are your looking for?

Dennis

 

[hunter243sgk]

Or you could get a x-caliber unturned blank for $150 I think it was. And they are hand lapped! I have never had one but I sure do hear they are a good barrel.

 

[Dusty Stevens]

A 1.250 chunk of aluminum bar off ebay is what is be using. Get it all fit then chop it and do it again. Dont ruin your reamer on a junk barrel fitting the tenon is the first step then do a real barrel you can actually evaluate instead of one you know wont shoot

 

[hpshooter]

Don't know how strict the scrap metal dealers are in your area but here some will let you "roam" certain parts of the yard and purchase material drops for a nominal price.

Insurance regs and liability risk tend to make it increasingly difficult. Small machine, fab and welding shops are also good sources for practice stock.

Just a thought. Still not as good as it was in the late 60's when the foundry I worked in brought in rail cars of of complete engines and disassembled them to get the the cast heads, blocks and steel cranks and rods. Wish I had kept all the 413's 348's, 409's T-10's and on and on I could have bought for three cents a pound. Best ever was the two gondola cars of de-milled S&W Victory models that rolled in one night.

So much from a rambling old guy.

 

[hoz53]

It sounds to me that what you are wanting to do is thread and chamber barrels, get a good fit between barrel and action, chop it off and do it again. A 50.00 dollar barrel is a good place to start as you can chamber a lot out of a 26" stick of metal. You don't really care if it shoots however that's a lot of wear on your reamers. I've used GM barrels and they can be pretty darn good shooters, hunting rifle accuracy for sure, but require a lot of cleaning. Just me, but I do a heavy varmint taper on a barrel and leave about 5- 5 and a half inch of barrel shank, put it in a Boyd's stock that I have inletted for the oversize shank and test the barrel and my ability at the range. Chop off the threads and re-chamber to something longer. Just kicking the can down the road.

Hi Riesel. Yes that's just what I want to do -chamber a cheap barrel and keep cutting it off and re chambering. I will probably do the heavy varmint chamber later -a good idea. I will need a stock with a barrel Channel to fit the blanks. Thanks

 

[hoz53]

Cast a lap in one of those Green Mountain barrels after you contour it. Lap it out, maybe 5-10 minutes of work, then clean it up and chamber.... Borescope will show very similar to any shilen, better than douglas, etc... May be a tad oversize as GM barrels seem to run larger in groove diameter, but they still shoot well for what they are.

Hi msalm. Well I hadn't thought of trying to lap one so thanks for the idea- I will try that - I have a borescope so I will be able to see in there.

 

[hoz53]

the GM gunsmith specials are $50, but it will tell you in the description if they are 1", ! 1/6" or 1.25" blanks.
BTW I buy the .223 1/7 for most of my NRA/CMP Service rifle barrels to put on AR's. THey shoot very well.

Thanks akajun for the info. I was planning on buying .223 blanks for this. I will watch the diameters. A post of yours on bench rest central got me thinking about the GM barrels to start with. I definitely want to try making an ar-15 barrel from a blank one of these days. Thanks hoz

 

[hoz53]

You should be able to pick up a chunk of 4130 cold roll at your local metal supply to practice on. Should be cheap and easy.

Hi Pablo. I'm lucky a local company where I can buy steel ( low carbon)is a few blocks from my shop. I have some 11/4 bar stock from them now and will probably get some more. Thanks

 

[hoz53]

Somebody ought to have plenty of "stubs" leftover which would work great for practice. What caliber are your looking for?

Dennis

Hi Dennis. Stubs would work good, especially SS ones before I buy a SS barrel. 1st choice caliber would be 6mm. Then mabie 22-6.5-7mm-30
Thanks

 

[hoz53]

Or you could get a x-caliber unturned blank for $150 I think it was. And they are hand lapped! I have never had one but I sure do hear they are a good barrel.

I have heard good things about Xcaliber to. 150 sounds good but I would want to save one of them until I have a few chambers under my belt if I can. Thanks

 

[hoz53]

A 1.250 chunk of aluminum bar off ebay is what is be using. Get it all fit then chop it and do it again. Dont ruin your reamer on a junk barrel fitting the tenon is the first step then do a real barrel you can actually evaluate instead of one you know wont shoot

Hi Dusty. That aluminum is a good idea.- I will do that. My idea using the GM barrels instead of used ones was that I could see how they shoot-like you say. It is tempting to get a 30" Kreiger-Bartlein ect for the first rifle so I could cut it off if I mess up. Thanks