Skill - barrel making - where to learn

[Philip Chua]

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!!!

 

[Phil Coffins]

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.

 

[TobJohn]

I know a german gunsmith, who specializes in exact replicas of pre 1650 guns, that uses a seamless hot drawn blank and then hand grinds them into shape, which seems like an exhausting and miserable process.

 

[Philip Chua]

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.

 

[rich pierce]

Deep hole drilling a barrel requires specialized equipment and injecting cutting oil as it cuts. Not your basic lathe or drill press.

 

[Anthony]

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.

 

[oldramrod]

Deep hole drilling a barrel requires specialized equipment and injecting cutting oil as it cuts. Not your basic lathe or drill press.

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.