How to true up a cut off muzzle and crown it with hand tools?

[Dick The Ranger]

I cut down a .54 straight Octagon Green Mountain barrel to 33” with a hacksaw. I now need to true up the muzzle and re-crown it. I will then cone it. I have not been able to find anything in Brownells for a caliber this large. I have done this kind of job on six gun barrels. I can not seem to come up with a way to finish what I’ve started. Any suggestions? :cursing: :hmm:

 

[Birddog6]

Well, dang Dick !! :rotf: If ya did 5 of them & didn't finsh them what made ya think the 6th one would be any different ?? :hmm: :rotf:

I'm just a kiddin ya....... ha ha ha !

I do it real unorthodoxed. I don't hve a lathe so this is how I do it. I set up my flat plate disk sander & I set up a support on the breech end. I put a 2" level in the middle of the barrel & shim the breech end til the barrel is level. Turn on the disc sander & I touch the muzzle, turn it over 180, again, turn it 90 deg., again 90, & keep going til I can see all of the surface hits flat eventually. I have done this on lots of barrels & never had a problem one time. When I buy a straight barrel I usually buy it 44" so I can make it any length I want & only stock one length of barrel.

I cut the crown with a carbide countersink & then polish it with a tapered grinder stone on a drill. Some cut them with a ball carbide burr.

When I cone one I use Joe Woods coning tool to do it & I use thin plastic carpet tape (Ace hardware) to hold the emery paper on. Use it a bit, peel tape & paper off, put another pad on.
I tape upi a entire sheet of ? gritt and then mark & cut the sanding strips with his pattern. Don't use the cloth backed tape as it is too thick. Spray adhesive is too messy. Go with the thin plastic carpet tape & don't force it & take your time. Takes me about 1.5 hrs to cone one from start to finish. If ya get gue stuck on the coning tool a little lighter fluid on a paper towel will take it right off.

:thumbsup:

 

[Vaino]

Disk sander is a good way or seeing it's a straight bbl you could clamp a hardened V-block on the end and have a few thousands of the bbl project above the V-block and file from the V-block to the bbl and finish up w/ a stone. I've done a few straight bbls this way and it's foolproof. It can also be used on the breech end when installing the plug and the amount of bbl above the V-block can be depth miked for an accurate removal of steel. For champfering the bore, I use a ball bearing w. valve grinding compound. Fred

 

[Stophel]

Hacksaw, file, square. :winking:

 

[crockett]

I would recommend making a jig to clamp on the barrel(unless swamped) The jig would be a filing guide to get a square end on the muzzle. This jig would be a 8" x 8" square with 90 degree clamps for the barrel and a hole(octagon) through which the barrel fits.
Stand the jig upside down on a flat surface and put the barrel through the hole. Slide some paper between the table and jig to raise the jig the thickness of the paper. Clamp the barrel.
Now take a 10" or longer file and tape the ends- this raises the file the thickness of a sheet of paper. You can now file the end of the muzzle. Should work okay.

 

[LRB]

There is no need for a perfectly square muzzle flat. If you crown with a ball file, the edge of the muzzle will be as true as it can be. A sphere naturally aligns itself in a cylinder, and the ball file will cut it's way down until it has centered itself. Same thing with a ball lap at the muzzle. As long as you are reasonably close with being square with the muzzle flat, there will be no problems, and if you have a sharp ball file, and run it slow, lapping is not necessary. This is not true when using a cone type tool. The cone must be centered true with the bore in order to cut a true crown.

 

[Dick The Ranger]

Where can I find a ball file? I have not heard of it before.

 

[Dick The Ranger]

flehto do you weld a rod to the ball bearing so it can be spun with a drill?

 

[Dick The Ranger]

Wick Ellerbe, where did you get your ball carbide burr?

 

[davy]

Heres some to get you started looking .... :thumbsup:
[url] http://www.cappsmanufacturing.com/index.php?cPath=26[/url]
[url] http://www.american-carbide.com/Burs/SCB.aspx?SubCategoryID=15&selection=7&Cat=2[/url]

http://stores.ebay.co.uk/ToolSale_Carbide-and-steel-Burrs_W0QQcolZ4QQdirZ1QQfsubZ8QQftidZ2QQtZkm

 

[Vaino]

The ball bearing has 2 parallel flats ground half the dia. for turning w/ vise grips. A rod could be welded on if it was accurately located, otherwise the ball bearing would oscillate. Using vise grips and valve grinding compound, the job takes a half hour......Fred

 

[LRB]

I was given mine by a friend long ago. I use it only for muzzle work and keep it clean and well protected. Mine is NOT carbide. It is just tempered steel. Most large tool companies offer them in various sizes. I think mine is 3/4" to 7/8". Try ENCO company, their prices on things seem to be reasonable.

 

[John Taylor]

While I have been using a lathe for this the last 30 years not everyone has one. A file will do a good job to make it flat. Stand the barrel on end and hold it with a vice and turn it often to make it squair. I don't like using a ball cutter or bearing to crown because it gives the muzzle a concave edge. something like this might be better. Always polish smooth after so it won't tear the patch

 

[LRB]

A cone would be fine, but if it is tilted from true alignment, it will not cut a true chamfer. A ball will. As long as the ball is true, it will cut as true as a lathe, or even better. As far as the concave cut, I have never had a problem with it in use, but I understand your point. If the cone could be jigged on a straight plane with the bore that would be ideal, but I don't know how one would pull that off in an easy and practical manner. If you have an idea on this, I would like to hear it. Remember, I said easy and practical

 

[John Taylor]

Your trying to make me think to hard. I understand what you are saying about canting to the side or up or down. Using hand tools to do the job might be best to have some form of pilot on the tool to keep it lined up with the bore. Now I wouldn't have any problem making up a tool to do the job but then I have a lathe which brings us back to how do you do the job with out a lathe. The whole idea is to break the sharp corner at the muzzle so a ball with patch will start down the bore without tearing the patch or deforming the ball and you are right, it needs to be even. Just about any type of counter sink can be used to break the edge and can be run with a brace or veriable speed electric drill running very slow but it still needs to be lined up with the bore as close as possable. When I do barrels in the lathe I machine a convex edge and then polish. If a person were handy with tools then he ( or she) could take a piece of aluminum or brass rod that fit the bore and put a cutter at an angle and turn it by hand. A couple turns of masking tape will make a smaller rod fit the bore better and not hurt the rifling.
I know, I'm rambling on. I will shut up now.