Old worn out rifle barrels to practice on

[SubMoA]

SubMOA,

I see you are from PHX area, check the high power schedule at Rio Salado, South Mountain and Ben Avery, show up at the matches, and ask the high power shooters about their shot out barrels. Most serious competitors pull their barrels when their X count at 600 starts to go down, some even pull barrels at 3000 rounds. These would be AR barrels used across the course matches, 200, 300, and 600.

Hit the mid range and long range shooters as well. Tjese crowd even barrels earlier than across the course shooters.

It would be good to practice on the common type of barrel steel, which mostly are 416 SS used by competitors

Thank you for the advice, I’ll keep that in mind. I did track down 10 barrels on accurateshooter, so that should be more than enough for my needs....now all I need is for my lathe to arrive! Ryan

 

[SubMoA]

I started out using traditional range rods I’ve since changed to the Gordy method using grizzly rods in the tail stock. I’m thinking about changing my set up a bit and switching to a six jaw and using the set true to dial in. I’ve noticed when chambering longer cartridged calibers that when the reamer hits where the jaws are things seem a bit tighter (if that makes sense) I think with a 6 jaw the clamping force would be more evenly distributed around the radius of the barrel instead of just the four contacting points. I’m sure it does have much of an effect but it might save some reamer life. Spend the money now before I’m on a fixed income. I’d also really like to build I high pressure barrel flush system. I’m not sure what I’m going to do first. I’d like to play around with per boring my chambers to also extend reamer life. I just worry about chatter. Have you given any thought into how your going to true actions? I like the reamer method I can and have single pointed them I just feel the benifit was worth the extra time. I also wasted money on a bolt jig I wish I wouldn’t have. I find truing bolts on centers to be the best approach using a false center on the back side of the bolt and a center in the firing pin hole. I seen where you said your considering a mill. My opinion on that would be get the longest table you can mine is 49” and it’s all I can do to flute a 30” barrel using a BS style dividing head. You’re definitely in a better spot than it on finding a good used mill I see stuff come up on Craigslist all the time in the Albuquerque Flagstaff Durango areas. I had to pick mine up in Houston. I’m finding I do more and more on my mill than I do on my lathe in gunsmithing applications.

Great advice On the mill...I was looking at a 9x49, that’s about all my garage will handle. From a mechanical point it does make sense about the force distribution and the reamer getting tight on you. One other thing to consider would be to use brass or copper or stock between the jaws and the barrel. Make as large of a contact point as possible with a soft material....I have no experience here but it makes sense from the engineering standpoint.
No idea about actions....I’ll have to think more about that one. I think your chamber concentricity and consistent neck tension contribute more to accuracy than anything else....if you don’t neck turn you should try it, it really helped me with consistency. Back to the mill, I have no idea how to judge a good vs bad old machine. I wouldn’t mind getting an older one with some tooling but I don’t want a clapped out piece of junk.

 

[killswitch505]

Inspect the flecking on the ways check the back lash I watched a couple YouTube videos on how to inspect a mill. I currently use #4 solid copper wire I’ve seen some really *****in feet guys make using ball bearings and brass strips allowing the feet to pivot on the feet/pads. I’ve turned necks on my 6mm ppc I hated doing in the past I do it on the lathe now. I turn a mandrel out of brass in my 3 jaw put a center in the primer pocket set my DRO set micro switch on the other side of my carriage. I cut a new mandrel every time. I think I’m going to trim the necks on my 300 Norma the Peterson I’m running necks seem a bit tight. I’ll take a video next time I do it. I’m running Lapua brass on most everything so I’ve not really turned necks on anything lately. Are you doing any annealing? I just started doing the salt bath approach I’m really liking the results.

 

[SubMoA]

Inspect the flecking on the ways check the back lash I watched a couple YouTube videos on how to inspect a mill. I currently use #4 solid copper wire I’ve seen some really *****in feet guys make using ball bearings and brass strips allowing the feet to pivot on the feet/pads. I’ve turned necks on my 6mm ppc I hated doing in the past I do it on the lathe now. I turn a mandrel out of brass in my 3 jaw put a center in the primer pocket set my DRO set micro switch on the other side of my carriage. I cut a new mandrel every time. I think I’m going to trim the necks on my 300 Norma the Peterson I’m running necks seem a bit tight. I’ll take a video next time I do it. I’m running Lapua brass on most everything so I’ve not really turned necks on anything lately. Are you doing any annealing? I just started doing the salt bath approach I’m really liking the results.

I’ve done some annealing and found it helps....using the very cheap and fast method of a deep socket spinning on my cordless drill...insert into propane torch for 3-4 seconds and drop into water. So far it is doing well for me, fast and easy. Just make sure to make a socket (can make something better on the lathe) come up far enough to protect the body from the flame. It works well.