Inletting the barrel question

I am down to the final shaving, and scraping of my barrel channel. My question is how much black do you have transferred to the channel when you say this is good?

I am trying to get as much black as I can in the breech area of the barrel channel on all flats. Also I am working toward a solid black mark left on the breech face of the inlet.

I have a lot of areas in the channel with about a 1/2" to 3/4" space between my black spots, with the black spots being at least that long or more.

Good enough is good enough. :wink: This is about how mine are usually done, though I do remember fitting the breechface a little better after taking this photo.



You can spend FOREVER scraping down all these itty bitty high spots (all the while, creating new ones) trying to get it fitted perfectly, when that is not the least bit necessary.

by the way, obviously I'm not using inlet black (the nastiest substance known to man), but a burnt umber pigment with a little paint thinner smeared on the barrel. Much less mess. It's also "finer" than inlet black, if that makes any sense... inlet black would show much more contact in this barrel channel than my "inlet brown" does. :wink:

True story, I still use the inletting black and look like a coal miner after an evening of barrel inletting. I also like and use the Fisher scrapers along with the many specialty ones I make on my grinder from worn out sawzall blades.
I do need to make a couple of width and depth adjustable groove/channel planes though for my barrel inletting jobs.
I once saw some old hardwood bodied, trim mold planes for the old fashion wood trim that went around interior windows and doors. One look and I thought Ah-ha, with a bit of modification that would make a sensational barrel channel plane for octagon barrels.MD
PS. Your bench looks like mine, used, and one could loose a VW bus up there if he wasn't careful. :rotf:

Has anyone here, ever set the butt against something immovable, and took a large soft mallet to the muzzle of the barrel to seat the breech face? :shocked2: It seems that would prevent the inevitable compression of the breech face in the first 20 or so rounds. :idunno: I don't know, is that feasible, or would it damage the barrel or something else?? Just thinking out loud!

When I was inletting bbls, the only flats that "spotted" were the sides and bottom. The oblique flats were slightly relieved so they didn't "spot". The reason....if the oblique flats took too much of the bearing, they acted like a wedge.

Now have the bbl work done and because of the excellent accuracy of the inlet, no longer relieve the oblique flats.

For "spotting" I use Permatex {blue} mixed w/ blue bearing grease....minimal absorption and not messy like the "black stuff".

For those who use "soot, either from a lamp or candle...how long does it take to coat the component? Just curious....Fred

sweed4570 said:

Has anyone here, ever set the butt against something immovable, and took a large soft mallet to the muzzle of the barrel to seat the breech face?

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All the time. I don't want to lower the barrel in with the breech face sliding down the inlet as the inletting black will give false readings.

I lower it in with it a hair forward of the back of the inlet and slide it back and then, while holding the barrel in with one hand, I will give it a rap on the muzzle with a wooden mallet to see how much the black is really printing at the breech.

Enjoy, J.D.

tap yes...hammer no~ the hard woods we use don't really compress if breach is inletted flat, then the barrel screws and pins and wedges spread the firing pressure all over......
besides....to heavy of a blow may just shatter/ or split the wood :shocked2:
i try to make all the wood fit the metal...but i still use a thin layer of accuglass in the barrel channel to 'stabilize" the wood against moisture and time~
just my 2 cents~

Stophel, judging by your picture I am in excellent shape then. This being my first build I didn't want to get carried away, but wanted a good inletting job.

flehto said:

For those who use "soot, either from a lamp or candle...how long does it take to coat the component? Just curious....Fred

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I am using an oil lamp, and not inletting black. I can coat the entire bottom three flats, and the breech end of a 44" 13/16" barrel in less than 1 minute. What I have been doing is I coat the barrel and leave the wick on the lamp running high on another bench. I then tap the barrel into the channel with a mallet. Then tap the muzzle of the barrel to set the barrel against the breech face. I remove the barrel run it over the lamp again and set it down. Then turn the lamp down. Now my barrel is ready to go again as soon as I finish this round of scraping.

Melsdad, in my early building days, I would go a little crazy about making the entire barrel bed black. But, not long afterward I would notice that I would lose that perfect fit, due to stress relief and shrinking/swelling. That stockwood will spend its whole life breathing in and out from relative humidity and temperature and such.

Nowadays, I get the bottom three flats of the barrel channel 80%-90% black, then sand it with a stick, then never look back. I know it's going to change slightly in the end. Mostly I shoot for a solid fit near the breech, and a tight fit at the forearm end for halfstocks. Good luck. Bill

Like snowdragon I use to try for tight a fit end to end, and now go for about eighty-ninety percent, with accent on the breech and muzzle. On many original guns it appears that the maker used a roundish shaped scraper, having just the corners of the barrel bottoming out for much of its length, and a good fit at the breech and muzzle. Why I am still so fussy about this, I do not know. :grin:
Robby

Yep, many original longrifles had round barrel channels. Was it just for speed of production, did they feel it a waste of time and effort to get consistant barrel contact, or did they know something we don't? :hmm:

Same goes for lock mortises. Many go to great lengths to duplicate fine English work, removing only the wood necessary from their mortises, paring away only enough to fit each part. Most American work was not that anal and the mortises are more or less one big cavity.

Enjoy, J.D.

that certainly would help my tired ol arms on the long barrels!....so, we can kinda have the ends fit well, and the in-be-tweens just ruff fit?
lemmie try that on the next one.....sounds good!

melsdad: if I understand your question correctly you are wondering if you ever get to the point on an inletting job where the fit is so good that you put in the barrel and ALL the channel is black- a perfect fit.
Not with me....I think if you get to about a 50% black scattered throughout the channel- that is about as good as can be done.
I also sort of cheat but what I do doesn't work with a swamped barrel. You can use the barrel as a sanding block and Use Elmer's glue to glue on some strips of sand paper the the bottom and slower sides and very briefly sand back and forth to eliminate any unseen high spots. You don't want to create a sloppy fit so the sandpaper needs to go to the edge but never beyond the edge of a flat. Elmer's isn't water proof so you wet the sandpaper after the job and it comes off. You can over do this sanding so limit it to only the idea of taking off any unseen high spots as a final touch.

I have seen at least one where the barrel inlet was round channeled all the way to the muzzle, it was just covered with the nose cap.

Of couse there are a lot of surviving originals with their forend shortened, or new wood sliced on to repair an old break. How many of them had ill fitting barrel channels??? Would it have made a difference???

I think I will still strive for the best fit to leave as much wood as I can on the stock. :wink: Enjoy, J.D.

I use a router and need no fitting. Scraping off
the black isn't necessary and I can hear the air
excaping when I press the barrel in place. Not
easy to get back out.Also use a router to inlay
the lock and only remove what is necessary for
clearance because that is such a weak area it
needs all the wood/strength it can get. I know
the mere mention of a router can scare some but
I worked with them for over 40 years and know just
about ever trick...They are good and save a lot of
time. I can inlay a barrel,ramrod groove and drill
the hole in about an hour and a half, finished...
Wulf

In a modern firearm the stock supports the barrel. Many are free floated. In a traditional ML'er, the barrel supports the stock. I wouldn't worry too much about having full contact from an accuracy point of view. For strength, the stock needs the barrel support. Remember, most fine full length stocks have webs and many other areas of their stocks that are less than 3/16", and in many areas (like around lugs), even less than that.

Wulf :bow: :bow:

Having used routers a lot in the past, and knowing a few router tricks myself :cursing: :cursing: I'd like to see your methods posted, :hatsoff: along with a high end disclaimer of course. Someone with out extensive router experience should not ever get close to any thing they don't want to destroy!!!! :td: :td: :td: :nono:

I just like the quiet of useing wood planes and gouges etc...and it seems like I learn something with every build.
I wish for the wood planes with the fence on them...but the $$ is far above what I can afford!...so it rasp's and files and gouges for me~

I do use my routers on the desk's and step stools I make....and still have all my fingers!

It took me three months to inlet my first barrel. And I inletted it down perfectly. Now it takes me about three hours or so to inlet a barrel. All by hand. :wink: