Barrel Maker

[FL-Flinter]

I'm not, John Taylor is - RE: JT's post about the 12L14 .300 win mag barrel above.

I didn't say I was for it, I said that Jerry Cunningham made the barrel and it worked good in his testing. I never saw the barrel, I'm going on what he told me about it.

C'mon John, I finally get blame mentioning the unmentionables on someone else for a change ... don't be raining on my parade. :wink: :wink: :grin:

 

[talon]

What I have found is that the gun builders & distributers want such a deep discount on barrels that it is hard to make wages. Then they want 90 - 120 days to pay. Building quality barrel machinery won't be cheap.

 

[John Taylor]

Here's a picture of my machine. Hard to see everything in one picture. It has a 3/4 HP motor to run the carriage to and fro, A sine bar for the rate of twist, automatic indexing for 6 and 8 with manual 2,3,and4. Carriage and sine bar rides on Teflon. Ways are made from 2X2 box tubing. Spindle has 4 bolt spider at both ends and rides in ball bearings. I did have it set up to run automatic but I need to be there to blow the chips out so I disconnected that part.

 

[John Taylor]

Back side. All the rods in the chip pan have different size cuter boxes for different bore sizes.
Any questions, feel free to ask.

 

[ohio ramrod]

Your shop looks like mine, Too much tools,stock ,and junk to have room for a good picture. You never have enough room in a shop, any extra room just sucks material and tools into the vacum. Do you have a rack and pinon or just run the sine plate on rollers? Is that a bridgeport set up with an indexing head for cutting the flats in the backkground :idunno: :idunno:

 

[John Taylor]

Your shop looks like mine, Too much tools,stock ,and junk to have room for a good picture. You never have enough room in a shop, any extra room just sucks material and tools into the vacum. Do you have a rack and pinon or just run the sine plate on rollers? Is that a bridgeport set up with an indexing head for cutting the flats in the backkground :idunno: :idunno:

When I built it I didn't have a rack and pinion but I had some #35 chain and a couple sprockets so I used two rows of chain and two sprockets for the pinion. I staggered them so one tooth would be fully engaged while the other tooth was just entering the chain. I put adjusting bolts on both ends of the chains.
The mill is a Bridgeport clone. The indexing head is probably set up to do the front integral sight on an early Winchester model 70 barrel. I have a horizontal mill for making octagon barrels
A clean shop is a sure sign that there is no work. My daughter came out and cleaned up a bunch last week. My wife had her knee replace and the daughter is helping take care of her during recovery.

 

[talkingamoeba]

Hello, may I ask what the specifics would be for a milling machine that would be capable of producing a swamped barrel up to 54" long? Also, what sort of lathe/boring set-up would you need to bore barrels up to that length? Thanks

 

[John Taylor]

I don't do any deep hole drilling, I buy blanks that are drilled. My rifling machine has about 54" of travel which will do a 48" barrel.
To octagon a barrel you need a mill with enough travel to do the length of barrel. It can be done in stages on a short machine and may work better for a swamped barrel as each stage can be set to a different angle. Problem may be that an indexing head may not work on a short table.

 

[Rasch Chronicles]

Fellows,

I have put together what I think a comprehensive list of the ML barrel makers currently making barrels. I would be happy to reproduce here if you all want.

Deutch, sure would be nice to add a fellow specializing in smoothbores and fowlers in particular. I would certainly be interested as I know many others will be also.

John, I had added you in the list, but I dodn't really know what your product line consisted of. Would you embelish on that?

Best Regards,
Albert “Matamoro” Rasch
The Rasch Outdoor Chroniclesâ„¢

 

[John Taylor]

Fellows,




John, I had added you in the list, but I dodn't really know what your product line consisted of. Would you embelish on that?

Best Regards,
Albert “Matamoro” Rasch
The Rasch Outdoor Chroniclesâ„¢

I make very few barrels from scratch. Most of my work goes into repairing old barrels, relines, rebores and replace, Mostly on cartridge gun. When I replace a barrel I use a blank from anyone of several barrel makers. I do make a few large bore muzzle loading barrels with Forsyth rifling for one customer who makes underhammers.
I am a full time gunsmith but I shy away from modern firearms.
My barrel making would be one at a time custom orders only, nothing under 35 caliber.
You might want to add Jim Carpenter, 208-245-3693. He bought out Jerry Cunningham (Orion rifle barrel)several years back

 

[mtdew]

You would be surprised at how many people who know I tinker with guns ask me if I can rifle a bbl. Its gotten to where I just say "Sure, the first one will only cost u $500,000. When they ask what in the heck I'm talking about I tell them thats what it would cost me for a button rifling machine.The average joe has absolutly no idea what goes into this process.

 

[Birddog6]

I just bought a rifling machine & going to try to rifle a few barrels this winter. It is a sine bar type manual machine & has a rack & pinion for the twist. The index head is set to cut 5,6,7,8,or nine grooves & it came with 33 dif cutter heads. It will cut at least a 48" barrel. It is designated right now to do a 1-48, 1-54, 1-66, 1-72 twist. But can actually be put to the twist you want by simple calculation & measuring, drill a 3/16" hole & put a screw in the set arm.

I need it like I need another hole in my head, as I have more barrels now than I will ever get built. But figured when I retire it may be something nice to do for a change & also want to build me & my sons a rifle each that I personally rifled the barrel.

Keith Lisle

 

[mtdew]

Sweet!