muzzle work help

[olskool]

i need some advice. i have one of my 62 Cal rifles i want to open the rifling a little bit at the muzzle. i don't want to cone it, the ball will start a little better and it will look cool also. i have saw photos but i have never done one. i assume it is done with a sandpaper wrapped dowel. any info will help,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

 

[Zonie]

If you want to smooth out the rifling at the muzzle and remove the sharp edges that can cut a patch, get some black, wet/dry sandpaper at the hardware store.
120, 220 or 320 grit will do.

Tear off a 1" X 1" piece and lay it flat on the muzzle. Then, using your thumb to push it down into the bore, rock your hand back and forth, rotating the paper. Turn the barrel while you do this to make the metal removal even all around the bore. It will take quite a few pieces of sandpaper to finish the job.

This really doesn't enlarge the bore much so it might not be what your after but it will do a great deal to eliminate any patch from being torn while your loading.

If you don't like the bright metal finish when your done, you can touch up the area with any cold blueing you can buy at a gun store. (I like Birchwood Casey brand.)

 

[olskool]

Zonie what i am interested in doing is more in the way of decoration. i want to open the rifling grooves up at the end. i guess you just do an even amount on each one with 220 sandpaper then 320, just wanted a lesson in how to do it so i don't mess up the crown in any way,,,,,,,,,

 

[Scota@4570]

" i want to open the rifling grooves up at the end. i am interested in doing is more in the way of decoration "

Some have done that with a needle file. IMHO it is a bad idea. IT is impossible to do evenly. You will create sharp edges that will cut the patch. The crown will be ruined. That will cause a loss of accuracy and or change in point of impact.

 

[springfield art]

If you want to smooth out the rifling at the muzzle and remove the sharp edges that can cut a patch, get some black, wet/dry sandpaper at the hardware store.
120, 220 or 320 grit will do.

Tear off a 1" X 1" piece and lay it flat on the muzzle. Then, using your thumb to push it down into the bore, rock your hand back and forth, rotating the paper. Turn the barrel while you do this to make the metal removal even all around the bore. It will take quite a few pieces of sandpaper to finish the job.

This really doesn't enlarge the bore much so it might not be what your after but it will do a great deal to eliminate any patch from being torn while your loading.

If you don't like the bright metal finish when your done, you can touch up the area with any cold blueing you can buy at a gun store. (I like Birchwood Casey brand.)

I'm no expert, but that's exactly what I would do on one of my own. Good advice! Yes, NO needle files!

 

[olskool]

" i want to open the rifling grooves up at the end. i am interested in doing is more in the way of decoration "

Some have done that with a needle file. IMHO it is a bad idea. IT is impossible to do evenly. You will create sharp edges that will cut the patch. The crown will be ruined. That will cause a loss of accuracy and or change in point of impact.

well maybe be a bad idea but i have saw a whole lot of them done. and no i would not take a file to the end of my muzzle! i am no idiot, i am 63 years old and have been shooting since i was old enough to walk, been handloading for over fifty years. that is why i asked for an opinion. if you don't know ask.

 

[Maven]

i need some advice. i have one of my 62 Cal rifles i want to open the rifling a little bit at the muzzle. i don't want to cone it, the ball will start a little better and it will look cool also. i have saw photos but i have never done one. i assume it is done with a sandpaper wrapped dowel. any info will help,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

I know you don't want to fully cone the muzzle, but take a look at this: MUZZLE CONING TOOL

 

[olskool]

Let’s See Your Muzzle Work (americanlongrifles.org)

like the ones here,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

 

[N.Y. Yankee]

One of my Lyman GPR's gave me trouble loading a patched round ball. I'd really have to whack the short starter to get the ball started unless I used a thinner patch and then accuracy would start to fall off. The patch also had little holes cut into it around the ball imprint. I was in a hardware store looking for a drill bit and spied some rotary stones that are used in an electric drill. One is shaped with a point like a Minne bullet. Although I dislike the idea of coning a barrel, I thought this could be used to form a second, slight angle just at the top of the rifling. I pushed a cloth patch into the muzzle and gently used a reversible drill on low speed about 5 seconds in one direction and 5 in the opposite direction with medium pressure in the muzzle and being sure to keep it square to the bore. I got good results. You can see a slight ring just at the top corner of the rifling where the stone polished the steel. The PRB starts much easier now and does not cut patches that I can tell. I can use the proper fitting patch and get good accuracy. I feel I have stumbled on a very helpful trick.

 

[Britsmoothy]

It does look cool when there is grooves cut in the muzzle however I honestly believe it was done for more than aiding starting a ball or for decoration.
In a time when cutting and or being super square to the bore axis was difficult I honestly believe it was a way to regulate a barrel to the sights.
By making it decorative as all around the muzzle circumference one could hide the deeper file cut that is doing the regulating.
I have no data to support this theory but have performed a similar task with shotguns. I just dont believe they would do decorative work in that area of a rifle!

 

[Pete G]

Mike Miller uses a round file for this. He files the lands to be deeper than the grooves. Of course we aren't all Mike Miller.

 

[Grenadier1758]

Well, if we can't build rifles with the quality of Mike Miller, I hope we can aspire to be the gentleman that he is.

 

[Buck Conner]

.
Coning lightly will work and produce an even job, not like filing would give you issues. I have done this for years with no issues thanks to Joe Woods tools. There's probably someone you know or possibly a member here that could loan you a coning setup?


.

 

[springfield art]

Zonie what i am interested in doing is more in the way of decoration. i want to open the rifling grooves up at the end. i guess you just do an even amount on each one with 220 sandpaper then 320, just wanted a lesson in how to do it so i don't mess up the crown in any way,,,,,,,,,

Probably good idea to use the black abrasive 'paper' with a bit of fine oil...the 'wet-or-dry' for metal work...

 

[Grumpa]

Olskool, I seem to recall a thread or two here on the Forum, on this topic, years ago. And like the folks on the Longrifles link you provided, those who did it reported no loss in accuracy. Of course, I shudder to contemplate the results if I were to attempt such work. But Oh My! there was some lovely, artistic work shown on those muzzles in that link.

Richard/Grumpa

 

[billraby]

Typically when you see that sort of work the muzzle is coned and all the fancy stuff is on the coned part of the muzzle. The design will not affect accuracy more than the coning. The fancy design is cut into the muzzle with small files. Pretty simple. You can do it without coning the muzzle also. How good it works all depends on how good you are with a file.

 

[ord sgt]

I have coned one barrel with the proper coning tool. But, on other barrels, I got a set of grinding balls from Brownells. They grind the inner portion of the crown, just touching the lands and grooves. It is consistent all around the barrel. No high or low spots.

 

[Scota@4570]

Maybe some other decoration might suffice? See attached. IT was as quick job to do while I was crowing it. The original gun had this detail too.

Crowning? IMHO a super long cone will never help accuracy. Doing it by hand invites disaster. One barrel maker I know of will void the warrantee if you crown his barrel. I do acknowledge that "accurate" is subjective. My expectations are pretty high. Someone else will be quite happy with a lesser standard. That shooter may love his coned muzzle.

Crowns need to be as perfectly concentric to the bore as possible. That is best done in a lathe. I use a sickle shaped cutter to make a crown that is like a micro trumpet. It a gradual taper that starts a few degrees off parallel to a round over in about 0.100" distance. The largest part only need to be a few thousands over groove diameter. I then polish it to 600 grit to remove all tool marks

 

[yellowlab]

Ive used a marble and automotive lapping compound to clean-up a crown. Choose marble size for type of crown you want. Takes time and elbow grease. I put a patch/jag about an inch down the barrel and unscrew my ramrod from it to lessen the mess and help with clean up.

 

[oldwood]

Got lucky 40 years back. Was perusing a salvage store and found a 30 gal. drum of mixed size individual ball bearings. Picked out balls in sizes to cone bores from .25 to .80 cal bores. Epoxied each one to a block of maple and a little engine valve grinding compound , oh yea.....pick the appropriate size going from big bearing to a size that falls in to the muzzle and if the barrel can be spun back and forth between the palms of your hands you will have an almost instant crown. Keep going down in bearing size until the next bearing down falls into the bore. Stop ,it's done. All that's been done is a great crowning job ,but no fancy work. Use caution if trying to relieve a muzzle ,can be a disaster..........oldwood