barrel making stuff

[talkingamoeba]

If this is considered hijacking a thread, please let me know and I will delete.

I have been wondering what tools/machines a person would need if they wanted to make octagon or oct-round barrels that are rifled? I know of the availability of plans for rifling tools, but what tools would be needed to make swamped barrels of varying length and caliber? I don't care to go to machinist school, but would be willing to learn whatever is required to make a barrel. I have done many different things and know I can learn anything. If I knew what is required for barrel making I might try it.

 

[Greebe]

I was not aware that anyone used 1137. I have turned and milled quite a bit of 4140 and it is hard on tools unless you use plenty of coolant.

I have not seen 1137 at my local suppler, I wonder where you would get it?

 

[mhb]

amoeba:
I recommend you read the two gunsmithing books referred to earlier.
Octagon barrels are machined externally from round barrels of large enough diameter to result in the desired octagon dimensions after removing the excess stock from the round. This can be done by milling, grinding, or with a planer, if one is available - I use a horizontal milling machine with a dividing head and tailstock to make octagonal or part-octagon barrels - swamped barrels can be made by the same methods, usually by supporting the blank at its ends and raising the workpiece in the middle toward the cutting tool or stone. From my shop workbook, I note that the minimum diameter of cylinder required for making an octagon barrel is 1.082 x the finished, across-the-flats measurement of the desired octagon - calculating another way, the maximum across-the-flats octagon you can achieve from round stock is .924 X the cylinder diameter.
The octagon-round barrels can be fully octagonal and lathe-turned to produce the round portion, or the round final dimensions can be turned before the octagon is machined - I prefer the first method, unless the round portion is at the breech.
The length of barrels you can make will depend on the machinery you have available for the work - you will need a means of drilling, reaming, rifling and machining the external contour sufficient for the longest barrels you plan to make.

mhb - Mike

 

[M. De Land]

I will make the flats in my bench mill using my divider head to begin with but would like to build a barrel planer some day.
Round barrels are easier to work with but I have always preferred the look and feel of octagons personally.
It will require a second set up in my bench mill, which is a pain, as I only have 24 inches of travel laterally unless I do a half round.
One of the advantages of making barrels as a hobby is you don't have deadlines and cost overruns to worry about, trying to make a profit to stay in business. It gives one much more time to experiment and dink around with less than efficient methodology.
Shoot, the old timers did it with draw files and flat guides. Mike D.

 

[M. De Land]

Some of the best machinist/gunsmiths that ever lived were self taught.
I remember hearing of the sage advise of an old well experienced professional Weldor, via a friend, about wither or not to take a TIG welding class at the local college.
His reply was " Well son, you can do that but the truth is your going to half to burn up a couple box car loads of steel to really learn how to weld." I'm sure that was some what exaggerated but there is also some truth to it.
Machinists are just like any other laborer in that their abilities run the gambit of skill level. Some just have the "nack" and others not so much.
I never worry about any thread I start being so called hijacked as they say. If it can't stand on it's own than it ought to be taken off onto another subject.
I just bring it back around if I have more to say unless something else more interesting develops on a bunny trail off to the side. Mike D.

 

[theoldredneck]

The mentors from my youth was a smith that liked to build wildcats and an older cousin that owned a small welding machine shop. Both said when you stop learning you are either dead or have become a fool. A gun is no better than the barrel that is on it. I am thankful for these threads. The information on this forum has a wealth of wisdom and knowledge behind it.

 

[talon]

A deephole drill and a carbide reamer are going to cost about $350.00 per caliber. Then about 8 hrs to make your rifling cutter. After you get your deephole drill built you will have to find a machine to cut octagon flats 42" or longer. You might try looking for a mill with a hydraulic tracer. Everybody says go cnc but a cnc with a long enough table is super expensive. You have to make your own choice on steel. There are 3 or 4 makers that use 12l14, 1 uses 1137, another uses 8620.

 

[John Taylor]

M.D., The "nack that you talk about I have always thought of as a God given talent. There are some people that seem to come by things very easy while others struggle. I can make a rifling machine from scratch with no plans but I can't play the guitar like my wife can. Different people have different talents for a reason, if we were all the same there wouldn't be any need for a bunch of us. Trick is finding what your talent is and learning to improve on it to be the best you can be at whatever you do.

 

[Col. Batguano]

"Talent" is the ability to incrementally improve ad profit from and by their experience. Some people only need to read or experience something once to know how to improve their technique, and others need to do the same thing over and over again before they "get it".

Take learning a foreign language for example. Some people only have to hear a phrase or word once before they make the internal translation to their mother tongue, and others need to hear and use the phrase dozens of times before it sticks. All can eventually learn it, but it just takes some people longer to learn the same thing.