.25 Group Buy Project
Attached are photos of barrel #1 being turned down. This one belongs to Ren. I had to disassemble my gun to measure up my existing barrel.
Here is my existing barrel next to the barrel blank. The blank has been measured up to make sure the machining is done to the proper end. The choke on this barrel is about 1 1/2 thousandths of an inch.
The bore was quite a bit off center, not exactly dead center of the blank. That’s why I have it chucked with some space between the chuck and the working end, so the barrel flexes slightly as the live center to the right holds the bore dead center and ensures the breech cut will be more or less well centered. All cuts have to be very light so as not to flex the barrel away from the cutting bit.
I hate machining stainless, no matter how sharp your cutting tools or how light you cut it, it always galls a bit. I left the final cut a couple thousands too thick to allow for some sanding and polishing to get the galling out. I’ll have to make up some HS steel finishing bits which should give a better final cut. I do have better bits, but the holders won’t fit next to the live center as the breech is so skinny that most wide bits will not fit in the small space left to work in.
Now just have to recrown this one and I’m done.
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Cheese eating surrender monkeys ! ! !
But on a differant note. See Brad Selph (selphb). He should be making a big bore valve on that fancy pants CNC he has that’s as near to a standard as you can get.
Other calibers require a lot more changes. The .25 is the biggest you can go without changing out breech and getting into custom valves, so it’s easy with just a barrel change. I think if we got into 308 and 9mm kits, everyone would first have to agree on some basic valve apertures so that the kits would be compatible with one another… at the present time we have just mayhem, no standardization at all. Kinda like the french.
aloha,
walt
Nothing but nothing taste like wild pig!
I’m starving just thinking about it! 😛
Darn, I missed the group buy! Should’ve not taking a break from reading the forum. 🙁
Walt, ‘dem barrel looks really good. Were you going to try other caliber’s after? I noticed the pigs here on Kauai have started to venture deeper into the residential area. Not that I was planning on hunting them..no.no..Just to protect myself 😈
I hope you have good luck with them…naturally. 😆
Run ’em hot.
A fellow member here is sending me a few to try! 😀
Can’t wait!
Mike
Guys,
I just posted a notice on the Surefire ad in the for sale section. If your gun is making big power and you want big lead, you might want to get your orders in sooner rather than later.
Lookin good! Seeing that .25 bore hole is making my heart beat a little faster. Starting to look alot like Christmas Walt 😀
God Bless You,
Tag
If it is stainless, it is probably 416. Which is magnetic. Just not as much so as chrome moly. Good stuff! I use it on all my fittings here at Lovett Knives. (Gruards and such).
I have been looking fo rmore diamond abrasives. I found what I have at a local gun show. It was dental supply diamond abrasive disk. They were selling them very cheaply. 5 or 6 bucks each. I bought two to try. WooHoo! they work fine!
The next time I go, I will see if they have more and send you a couple to see what they do for you.
I have also seen diamond coated metal cut off disk at Harbor freight. They look good, but you never know about China quality. I’ll pick up a pack the next time I go and give them a try. They chuck up to the standard dremel tool shafts used for the cut off disk.
Mike
Hi Mike. I just use a regular grinding wheel to touch up the carbide bits; they can be resharpened a few times and used again, but the hard part is the relief angle. The small triangular bits I buy have a tiny trough that runs around the circumference and this acts as the downward relief angle so the cut is cleaner, but I still wish I had a bit more relief; can’t really control it though, carbide is too hard to shape. I haven’t any diamond abrasion tools, priced some out but they were expensive.
Marc, I’ll check with a magnet to see what I’ve got. I just assumed it was stainless due to the color and because it is somewhat difficult to machine, behaves just like stainless. Work hardens quickly, doesn’t like to cut clean. Ugh.
walt
Nice Walt! Very Nice!
I’m a night owl myself. Learned long ago that I can get a lot more done at night with far fewer interruptions. Every body wants to see how I make the knives. Those and people wanting to have something sharpened, and just BS. You can’t BS in a Knife Making Shop! Just too many ways to get hurt!!! 😯
Same for Machine work. You have to have your head on straight! 🙂
I use a lot of carbide here in the shop since knife steel is so HARD. I have started using diamond disk in the fordum, ( dremel type machine) for touching them up to an even shaper edge. Makes the larger face mills last a heck of a lot longer. I’ll bet the carbide tipped cutters you are using would benefit from this as well!
Mike
Nice work and nice update pics! I didn’t know the barrels were choked. An added bonus for me.
Walt as far as I know them LW blanks are 1035 steel and not stainless.
It’s still a pain in the arse to machine though. BSA barrels are more of a free cutting type, and using carbide machine to an almost mirror finnish!
Regards,
Marc
Yellow Ninja ,think up a contest, for a junior, I don’t know, maybe the newest member with the least amount of posts, which has a gun or has one in transit or maybe a new member with most posts averaged.
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aloha,
walt
I don’t care who you are. That’s funny right there! LMFAO!!! 😛