barrel making 101

[quasi]

Dunlap's book Gunsmithing has some barrel making info that appears to be plagiarized from Howe's book as well.

 

[Butch Lambert]

Straight Shooter,
Shore glad you enlightened us on this subject. I do like mine made a little different than that.
Butch

 

[Straight Shooter]

How do you like your barrels built? If you don't mind sharing their process to get it I am always open to learning?

How are confirming you are using an acceptable barrel before you start machining?

 

[Butch Lambert]

SS,
There is not a man on earth that can tell you a barrel is going to be a shooter. If that were possible, I would be a rich man.
Butch

 

[AeroE]

Dunlap's book Gunsmithing has some barrel making info that appears to be plagiarized from Howe's book as well.

Practically the entire Howe book is plagiarized. Word for word in some cases, he didn't even make an attempt to rewrite the material.

 

[Alpacca Fortyfive]

Dunlap

I haven't got a copy of Dunlap, but I have got Howe.

It saddens but doesn't surprise me to learn that it is yet another plagarism. The world of gun books seems to be full of it.

I bought an old copy of Smith, a few years back for the biographical information it contained, only to find later that it was lifted almost word for word from Chinn's "The machine Gun", but without acknowledging Chinn.

 

[precision tools]

I have both Howe and Dunlap. I see very little in the Dunlap book that might be considered as plagiarism. Dunlap, in fact, refutes some of the information in Howe. This not because of disagreement, but because of advances in metalurgy since the Howe book was written.

Some of the basics of barrel making are just that, basics, and repeating them is not plagiarism, but presenting the facts.

 

[Rustystud]

Howe vs Dunlap

I have several of Howe's books and they preeceed Dunlap by twenty years or better.

Nat Lambeth

 

[Alpacca Fortyfive]

Rustystud,
I've just re read Aero's comment and my own.

When I read Aero's first time I didn't spot the order he'd written it in.

Howe (half of Griffin & Howe), certainly knew his stuff and I count my .pdf scan of his work among the handful of really good gun books that I've come across in the thirty years or so of being a book nerd.

 

[Al A.]

There is also electrolytic rifling. Similar to EDM. It makes things like gain twist simple, as all grooves are cut in a single pass. Its more expensive than button rifling, but doesn't leave any stresses in the barrel.

About 10 years back I toured the S&W factory in Springfield, MA. I seem to recall mention of an electro-chemical machining process like this being used to make the handgun barrels that they showed us. They described it as a sort of "reverse electroplating" process that only took a few minutes to do a batch of barrels.

 

[Straight Shooter]

SS,
There is not a man on earth that can tell you a barrel is going to be a shooter. If that were possible, I would be a rich man.
Butch

Butch,
With your experience I can't believe you are just fitting barrels willy nilly only using if the outside of the barrel is straight or not. Where are you drawing the line? I have adopted Gordy's methods of qualifying barrels and I can tell you which ones have a low probability of outstanding accuracy and those will be exchanged. The only important thing I can't measure precisely is the consistency of the twist rate. Using a combination of his and Tannel's chambering methods which I also use to fit brakes or cut any crown other than 90 degree, I have yet to get a dud.

The curved barrel really isn't a factor when it comes to accuracy. It's really more cosmetic unless you are chambering in a steady and then run out is important especially if you are not using a floating reamer holder. In fact if I was rejecting anything with a measurable curve about 99 percent would be rejected.

I have a handful of culled barrels that were culled by the manufacturer due to run out and as an experiment this coming winter I'm going to fit up the worst one for curve and see how it shoots. I might even put it in the press and really bend it. Something like .250" in 20" after fitting it just to prove the curve doesn't hurt actual group size. I will then continue to bend it more and more until it won't group anymore. It should be an interesting project.

 

[speerchucker30x3]

Butch,
With your experience I can't believe you are just fitting barrels willy nilly only using if the outside of the barrel is straight or not. Where are you drawing the line? I have adopted Gordy's methods of qualifying barrels and I can tell you which ones have a low probability of outstanding accuracy and those will be exchanged. The only important thing I can't measure precisely is the consistency of the twist rate. Using a combination of his and Tannel's chambering methods which I also use to fit brakes or cut any crown other than 90 degree, I have yet to get a dud.

The curved barrel really isn't a factor when it comes to accuracy. It's really more cosmetic unless you are chambering in a steady and then run out is important especially if you are not using a floating reamer holder. In fact if I was rejecting anything with a measurable curve about 99 percent would be rejected.

I have a handful of culled barrels that were culled by the manufacturer due to run out and as an experiment this coming winter I'm going to fit up the worst one for curve and see how it shoots. I might even put it in the press and really bend it. Something like .250" in 20" after fitting it just to prove the curve doesn't hurt actual group size. I will then continue to bend it more and more until it won't group anymore. It should be an interesting project.

I think you missed what he was trying to say Straight Shooter. Over the years I should think I have screwed on probably over 300 and not over 500 barrels of all makes and descriptions. I have seen perfect barrels behave like shotguns and dogs shoot one hole. I do have a pretty good idea as to what will make a gun shoot BETTER. But as far as looking at a barrel, measuring it, checking it for straightness and making sure all of my measurements are within spec I really can’t guaranty if it will shoot or not. Even if everyone, the action maker, barrel maker, stock maker, ammo maker and the gunsmith that assembles the parts did their jobs PERFECTLY. There will be no telling whether or not it will shoot until it goes to the range and is put on paper. To put it into a nutshell we simply don’t yet know exactly what makes some guns shoot well. Like Butch, if I had all the answers I wouldn’t be braving Alberta winters. I would be at H.P. White laboratories making super guns for the spooks. As I look out the bay door of my shop right now it occurs to me that I am at this time, NOT in Maryland! I suppose the old horse breeder’s adage applies. You breed the best to the best and you pray for the best. Like you, I have seen a thousand guys at gun shows pick up a barrel and squint at it and proclaim “yup that ones a shooter”! Well, he’s full of it and in my mind he just proved it to me.

 

[Butch Lambert]

Speerchucker,
You are correct.
straight shooter, Most I have seen do not have an ellipse, they are mostly in a helix, but can go off in different directions. I haven't used a floating reamer holder in years. Winning barrels many different ways. I can't see the Gordy method being any better in my opinion. I have visited with Gordy a few times about chambering. He is a very nice guy. I have refined my chambering methods over the years.
Butch