Cutting and crowning rifle barrels-good tools from Brownells

[onlybrowning]

I have started venturing into my own gunsmithing practices over the years, because in my area, real gunsmiths exist, but they won’t for long, and their lead times don’t lend themselves to my busy schedule.

This first happened with archery, and I found myself with a press, draw board, and other archery tools that let me perform the tasks of the local bow shops on my schedule. With YouTube and forums, the learning curve is much less steep.

On guns, I have now done basic things like grind to fit recoil pads, wood stock refinishing, bedding, and now cutting and crowning my own barrels.

I am sharing to report that the Brownells 90 degree facing tool and 11 degree (they call it 79 degree) crowning tool, make easy work of shortening a barrel and provide gunsmith quality results.

If you are at all mechanically inclined, I recommend these tools. It was simple and straightforward to get really good results cutting and crowning two barrels. One is a Kimber 84m 6.5 cm cut to 20” and one is a Browning A Bolt Mountain Ti in a browning A Bolt .243 win in a digital camo stalker stock (lighter weight) that I bedded and cut to 20.”

I can’t wait to shoot them both and see how they fare after the work.

I haven’t tackled threading (my state doesn’t allow suppressors), so I can’t speak to that, but the Brownells tools are legit.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[displacedtexan]

Interesting, I'd been curious!

 

[Wrench]

If you thread without a lathe.....expect to have a baffle strike eventually.

 

[hereinaz]

If you thread without a lathe.....expect to have a baffle strike eventually.

What if it is a 223 through a 30 cal can?

if it did happen to be threaded straight, how would it eventually get a strike? Or, are you saying eventually if you do enough of them you’ll screw up and get a strike?

I agree, just pay to have it threaded. Just curious what you know about them.

 

[Slickhill]

Threading dies are for plumbing pipe and machinery bolts and usually only when you can’t wait on a new bolt to get something up and running. There’s no way to consistently start them straight, by straight I’m talking dial indicator not tape measure and speed square. Plus you can’t cut them concentric to the bore and it is quite common for the OD and the ID of rifle barrels to be considerably nonconcentric.

Threading a rifle barrel any way but in a lathe is not a good idea.

 

[BigDog00]

Threading would be dicey without a lathe like already mentioned. I haven't yet but have considered cutting and crowning a barrel. Reamers4Rent has the necessary tools.

I've also seen some blueprinting tools (for rem700) available that could be used without a lathe. I've also considered those, but hesitant to go down that road. The cost of entry is pretty steep there and I wouldn't be able to recoup my costs. Plus, if something bad happens the action is probably toast. I don't see the reward being worth it in this case.

 

[wapitibob]

The issue without a lathe is the thread tolerance between the mating parts. It'll work if you have the suppressor and muzzle locking up on a taper but that won't be the case with hand tools.

 

[eLightfoot]

There are piloted threading tools to help start your die straight. Definitely not lathe accuracy but I know a guy who was threading his own barrels with them. And using an annular cutter with a pilot to cut the shank to size before threading.

 

[Wrench]

There are piloted threading tools to help start your die straight. Definitely not lathe accuracy but I know a guy who was threading his own barrels with them. And using an annular cutter with a pilot to cut the shank to size before threading.

If your guy was from west of spokane...it finally bit him.

 

[Wrench]

What if it is a 223 through a 30 cal can?

if it did happen to be threaded straight, how would it eventually get a strike? Or, are you saying eventually if you do enough of them you’ll screw up and get a strike?

I agree, just pay to have it threaded. Just curious what you know about them.

The setup takes more time than the work does. The clearance in the pilot plus any angular errors in the die start add up fast. When you take that tangent through the can, the likelihood of strikes increases as the can length increases.


.....and I won't even get started on thread class fits.

 

[TaperPin]

What if it is a 223 through a 30 cal can?

if it did happen to be threaded straight, how would it eventually get a strike? Or, are you saying eventually if you do enough of them you’ll screw up and get a strike?

I agree, just pay to have it threaded. Just curious what you know about them.

If you have wanted to try it, it would be a fun project. As others have said, the results on a lathe are much better in every way.

However, if someone is detail oriented and has the time to spend it can be done with acceptable results. In my 20’s the muzzle brake craze was taking off so way too much time and effort was put into figuring out how to get a good barrel thread.

There are die guides available that consist of a tightly fitted rod into the bore and a threaded plug the same size as the thread to be cut. The die is started on the plug, which is aligned with the bore, and as it cuts, works it way onto the barrel.

You need an accurate outside diameter appropriate for the thread so that means accurate filing. A dial indicator attached to the precision rod down the bore is rotated around and will show high spots which need to be filed down. Having a smaller diameter step in the barrel will allow the die to get started easier, and can be cut back if everything goes to plan.

As important, and more important to long cans, is an accurate shoulder for the can to bottom up against. Again, the bore rod with an accurate collar to ride on the muzzle can be used to spin around with a makeshift scribe and lightly touch the hand filed shoulder. A sharpie applied to the shoulder shows the high points that are touched with the scribe and are filed down. Test fitting the can and checking alignment with the bore rod confirms alignment, which can be fine tuned by adjusting the shoulder.

I never realized the difference in quality between Home Depot dies and the best quality industrial dies - normal thread clearance is rather sloppy, but different classes of thread fit are available, as are adjustable die’s. Stainless is hard to cut so I would use a new fresh new die. The best lubricant for carbon steel is dark cutting oil - the smelly stuff used by plumbers - it’s probably also good for stainless.

Diameter of the barrel will make or break the project - full contact threads in stainless with hand dies are not possible. The smaller the diameter, and more shallow the threads, the easier it will be. Someone should practice on the full length barrel before cutting it down.

As for the muzzle, there’s some great articles floating around about hand cutting and crowning barrels - as long as there are no burrs simply cutting the barrel, filing it smooth or using the Brownells set up works great. We had zero difference in accuracy after hand crowning. Instead of a lapping cone made for the purpose to eliminate burrs, we used the pointed tip of a round diamond sharpening stick.

When I feel like a project is just too complicated to file by hand, watching Clickspring on YouTube is motivational.

If a barrel is being cut down anyway, there’s little risk of damage as long as a good straight bore rod is used to confirm alignment.

In the end I spent more on the parts to make it work than to have it threaded by a gunsmith, but the experience has stuck with me all these years.

I’m surprised there aren’t threaded sleeves to fit over barrels that are soldered or epoxied on.