I've had a lathe we bought from a state surplus sale for about a year. We got it wired this Spring then it sat until Winter. I've been playing around on it the last couple of months trying to learn how to sharpen tools, turn, bore, and thread. Lots of Youtubes and a couple of books later, I finally worked up the courage to make chips on a new barrel blank. Nothing fancy, .30/06 on a Remington 700. Next I'm going to try. .35 Whelen.

Been good entertainment on damp, dark Winter days.

Dude rad! What's the bit like that gets you through the entire length?

I've seen pictures of gun drills but I'm not sure how they work. We need to get Spinner2 over here from SC.org to school us.

Barrels come with the bore and contour already done. All that's left is the threading and chambering. The chamber reamer is the shape of the cartridge but made with cutting edges out of high speed steel.

Nothing is quite as satisfying as making things round:)

My dad bought me a small lathe for my twelfth birthday, and I did the same for my kids.

Congratulations.

I had a 7-08 complete build done on a Remington M-7 action and a Sako Vixen re-barrelled from .222mag. to 6X45. It must be incredibly satisfying to be able to thread and chamber your own barrels. What barrels and reamers are you using? The .35 Whelen is a classic and one I'd like to own.

Here's the 7-08


I've since changed the scope mounts to Talley Lightweights. It'd be pretty cool to be able to make your own.

Again, congratulations.

Frank

Thanks fshaw. It's something I've always been interested in but never had the wherewithal to actually do it for the last 20 years.

The reamers I have I get from Pacific Tool and Gauge. They make all sorts of wonderful bright shiny things that separate you from your hard earned money if you have a tool fetish. One barrel I ordered new from X-Caliber in Kalispell, MT who is new to the scene but has a lot of experienced help and tooling. Another is an old bull barrel Hart I had them re-contour to something man portable.

I figure I've spent enough on tooling so far to have had at least 3 full customs built by a professional that would be more accurate and look nicer. But what fun is that?[emoji1]. Now I find myself eyeballing for a milling machine. Oh boy!

I'm impressed.

I'm a guy that is happy if I build a fence that looks straight-ish if you don't look too far. I can't imagine working in thousandths of an inch. Accuracy does not follow approximation.

That said, I do a fair bit of reloading, so I suppose I can scale down when necessary.

If I could build guns I would need a few more safes and a bigger reloading room.

What a great winter hobby.

I was wondering how long it would be before the milling machine was on the horizon. With the mill and a good lathe you can do nearly all of what needs to be done. I'm nat familiar with the first barrel maker you mentioned but the barrel on the 7-08 is a 21" #3 contour Hart.

In the realm you're working in thousandths of an inch are big measurements. I envy you (in a good way) for the journey you're on. Once you get that Whelen barrel screwed on a trued action please post a couple of targets.

Enjoy.

Frank

GBFlyer,

Some discussion about X-Caliber barrels here:

http://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthread ... er_Barrels

Sounds like good stuff.

A great uncle of mine made rifles in Dubois, Idaho. He'd start with a Mauser action and then machine the rest by hand. He machined the barrels out of new truck axles, or so I was told.

Unfortunately there was some sort of a feud between his widow and the family, and when he died she sold off all his guns to unknown parties just to spite the relatives. I think there are only four of his guns left in the family, and I'm lucky enough to have two of them... a .243 and a .308

They're nice shooting guns, and the fit and finish is impeccable.

fshaw wrote:I was wondering how long it would be before the milling machine was on the horizon. With the mill and a good lathe you can do nearly all of what needs to be done. I'm nat familiar with the first barrel maker you mentioned but the barrel on the 7-08 is a 21" #3 contour Hart.

In the realm you're working in thousandths of an inch are big measurements. I envy you (in a good way) for the journey you're on. Once you get that Whelen barrel screwed on a trued action please post a couple of targets.

Enjoy.

Frank

Hart makes good stuff. About 6 weeks ago, I sent them an across the course contour barrel I brought with me from CO 20 years ago. It always shot well, just way too heavy to pack. So when I got this wild hair, I thought I might as well ask them if they'd turn it down to a Remington standard contour. They said sure, send it. About 2 weeks later I got a call from Jack, he told me that he put the wrong numbers in the CNC and screwed up my barrel so he'd be sending me a brand new one. Can't beat service like that. We talked for 30 minutes about Alaska.

I have 2 of the X-Calibers. They sure look nice, guess we'll see how they shoot.

I will post progress on my project. Right now I'm bedding the stock. Picked up a lefty McMillan on EBay.

Hammer wrote:A great uncle of mine made rifles in Dubois, Idaho. He'd start with a Mauser action and then machine the rest by hand. He machined the barrels out of new truck axles, or so I was told.

Unfortunately there was some sort of a feud between his widow and the family, and when he died she sold off all his guns to unknown parties just to spite the relatives. I think there are only four of his guns left in the family, and I'm lucky enough to have two of them... a .243 and a .308

They're nice shooting guns, and the fit and finish is impeccable.

Those old boys forgot more than I'll ever know. I'd love to have someone like that babysit me for a couple of years.

Finished up the Whelen, had a guy in WA do the Cerakote. Great job and 1 week turn around.



3 different 3 shot groups at 100 during break in and finding a load. Shows some promise.

Sure does show some promise, pretty impressive for break-in loads. What a great caliber. I'd love to see a full picture of the rifle.

Just noticed that the bolt's on the wrong side. Jewell trigger?

fshaw wrote:Just noticed that the bolt's on the wrong side. Jewell trigger?

Yes and yes. [emoji4]

Best there is.

fshaw wrote:Sure does show some promise, pretty impressive for break-in loads. What a great caliber. I'd love to see a full picture of the rifle.

Finally painted and worthy of the full monty:

If you get a CNC mill, you may never go back to threading on your lathe again. You might keep an eye out.

That's interesting. CNC mill...she might just kick me out for good and all.