Skill - barrel making - where to learn

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Philip Chua

Philip Chua

Jack of few trades master of fewer
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Just this - where would one learn to make muzzleloader barrel today? Perhaps not the boring out of solid stock but taking a blank tube or octagon and finishing it (octagon to round, wedding bands etc). I thought about mailing Ed Rayl who is local to me and asking if I could pay him to teach me some things. Really not for a vocation but just to learn how to do it! I’m learning lathe skills from my father in law who is a machinist and tool and die maker and he can show me how to mill (but I don’t have a milling machine yet - only a lathe). Anyway, just kinda curious how to learn than end of it. And yes - once I get my he-shed built in 2025 (she shed project took 2023-2024) it will be wired for 220V and I’ll get the mill!!!
 
Look up “ colonial Williamsburg, gun smith” video. It will give you a good idea of the process. They do it without power machines but the process is what it takes. Or visit Kibler’s web site and he shows how he rifles a barrel with state of the art machines.
 
Yeah pretty sure I’m not up for a forged barrel. More like barrel drill and lathe/mill work. In the end I’ll prob just continue to buy barrels but I think it would be good to know how to make them. Just hard to find a reference. I did go down the rabbit hole of drill mechanics. Been reading a bunch by a fellow Viktor Astakov. Hadn’t really thought about the material physics of drilling. It’s a little above my level terminology wise but I think I’m getting the jist if it.
 
Look in some of the old Fox Fire books. Maybe #5 or 6. Don't remember for sure. There is a tutorial on barrel making the old way. Might give you a basic understanding of manufacture.
 
rich pierce said:
Deep hole drilling a barrel requires specialized equipment and injecting cutting oil as it cuts. Not your basic lathe or drill press.
Click to expand...
I worked for many years in the tool room of a plant that used "gun drills" I have sharpened thousands of them over the years. They are a steel "tube" with carbide tips. They definitely require special equipment to use. But you can drill out a barrel if you take the time on a regular lathe And use a modified drill with extensions. It is a very slow process but it can be done.
 
Going way back traditional....pick up a copy of Foxfire 5....it is mainly about hunting, blacksmithing and ML rifle making, with some great information about barrel making. Not in depth, but it gives you an idea of how they went about it in way back days.
 
I am lucky enough to have a friend who is a rifle /barrel maker, Each time I stop in I am fascinated by his rifling lathes...( I guess you would call them that), which as I recall were formerly Remington machines. I have eight years machining skills...and I have to say his skills were at a whole new level...and barrel making ...especially boring/rifling accuratly and consistently such a long tube....is an art. Like Mr. Kibler says....a pistol barrel would be a good place to start...for me....I be thinking a very short derringer!
 

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