ISO gunsmith fixed choke opening on chrome lined barrel

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brando_commando

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Morning guys, I have an old 1977 Beretta S56E o/u with fixed chokes. With a micrometer they measure full and extra full. I inquired in Ottawa at gunco but he said the age of it would be chromelined and he doesn’t do them anymore.
Does anyone here know of a smith that does work on chrome lined over under barrels in Canada?

I’d settle for just opened up, to use it for more than just clays. But ideally.. not sure if possible.. I have a lot of extended chokes from benelli SS and Cordoba I don’t use. Not sure if it could be threaded to accept but that would be the dream.

Thanks for your time
 
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I spoke with a gunsmith about adding chokes to a BSS. He said because the barrels were chrome lined, it couldn't be done.
 
I haven't found anybody in Alberta to do that. Yet, anyway. Being in Ontario I would suggest you contact Casey at TacOrd and see what he says. I would say if anyone will do it, it would be him.

It is super frustrating to deal with this. What is most frustrating is that chrome lined cylinders are routinely ground/honed/bored with few problems in general industry and yet no gunsmith will touch them. All that should be required is an adjustable hone that looks identical to an adjustable reamer, but has stones on it instead of cutting teeth.

EDIT - A follow on question. Does anybody know how thick the chrome is on a shotgun barrel?


Mark
 
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The fix is to use a drill mounted brake cylinder reamer, with a slightly rougher stone. Remove the chrome from the choke area first, then use a choke reamer to open the bore to modified, or whatever you wish. Browning, Benelli, and Baikal are the most common chrome lined barrels I see in my shop.
Brownells sell them, but the choke reamers are pricey, made by Chadwick and Trefethen in several sizes. The brake cylinder reamers are available are most auto parts stores.
 
tbg@sasktel.net said:
The fix is to use a drill mounted brake cylinder reamer, with a slightly rougher stone. Remove the chrome from the choke area first, then use a choke reamer to open the bore to modified, or whatever you wish. Browning, Benelli, and Baikal are the most common chrome lined barrels I see in my shop.
Brownells sell them, but the choke reamers are pricey, made by Chadwick and Trefethen in several sizes. The brake cylinder reamers are available are most auto parts stores.
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This is hilarious. I had come to the same conclusion and just ordered a brake cylinder hone and extra shoes for it a couple hours ago. Thanks for confirming what I was thinking was a reasonable way to go.


Mark
 
Take it to any small machine shop. They will chuck the barrel up in the lathe, and bore it to exactly what you want. Chrome isn't hard to turn if all your doing is opening up a bore some. They dial it in, throw a CBN insert on a boring bar, and literally bore it out to spec in less then 10min from start to finish.
 
Denver Steve said:
Take it to any small machine shop. They will chuck the barrel up in the lathe, and bore it to exactly what you want. Chrome isn't hard to turn if all your doing is opening up a bore some. They dial it in, throw a CBN insert on a boring bar, and literally bore it out to spec in less then 10min from start to finish.
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He has an O/U which can't be easily mounted in a lathe so hones seem to be the way to go.
 
hunter5425 said:
He has an O/U which can't be easily mounted in a lathe so hones seem to be the way to go.
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Over under can be easily mounted in a four jaw chuck, just takes another minute to get it dialed in right. You just have to be carefully not to put too much pressure on the barrels when using the chuck. Eccentrics, and offsets are very common to be turned on a lathe.
 
Can also be milled out instead of on the lathe. Would just have to be attached to the side of the milling table, and stood vertical. Milling machine may be a bit trickier to work with chrome in that scenario, but it is doable. Quicker, and easier on a lathe though.
 
Denver Steve said:
Take it to any small machine shop. They will chuck the barrel up in the lathe, and bore it to exactly what you want. Chrome isn't hard to turn if all your doing is opening up a bore some. They dial it in, throw a CBN insert on a boring bar, and literally bore it out to spec in less then 10min from start to finish.
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they will chuck a o/ u bbl in lathe
please forward name of a machine shop that will do this work
 
I’ve seen a lot of botched jobs where point of impacts were drastically changed and barrels had to be cut back and rethreaded by someone with the proper tools, tricks and knowledge. The one chap that we trusted was Randy Ryan that worked in his fathers gun store in Fonthill, Ontario. Randy moved to the USA years ago and his father passed away. I don’t risk have barrel work done on older shotguns because some guys with a lathe that profess to be gunsmiths…aren't !! Having a paintbrush does not automatically make one an artist.
If you find a machinist/tool and die maker that takes pride in his work, treat him well and hold him close. They are priceless.
 
struff55 said:
they will chuck a o/ u bbl in lathe
please forward name of a machine shop that will do this work
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I do not have a specific name of a shop for you that will do it. I know must gunsmiths probably won't, but an actual machinist should be able to do it for you. And I said a smaller shop, because they are more likely to do a small one off job, a large shop won't want to do it, because they won't make any money on it.

You would have to ask around yourself if you go that route. You can hone it out as well, it's just harder to keep the tolerances, depending on how you hone it. I'm just saying that it isn't too complicated of a thing to do in a machine shop.

I was just turning eccentric bosses on rectangular shafts on Friday. External work instead of internal. But it's a similar setup, not round or square parts, that needed chucked up, having a offset feature put into the part. Getting it dialed in, and concentric with the bore is the only time consuming part. Reaming it, or boring it to size once dialed in, is a quick and easy process. I am only a second level machinist, any journeyman can dial in a bore concentrically and open it up, regardless if the outside of the part is round or not. It's something many if then are working with on a daily basis with parts that often exceed the expense of most shotgun barrels.

And I do not work in a machine shop that has access to a endless amount of tooling. Just a production plant, with a lathe and a mill to fix and make the parts that break.
 
Denver Steve said:
I do not have a specific name of a shop for you that will do it. I know must gunsmiths probably won't, but an actual machinist should be able to do it for you. And I said a smaller shop, because they are more likely to do a small one off job, a large shop won't want to do it, because they won't make any money on it.

You would have to ask around yourself if you go that route. You can hone it out as well, it's just harder to keep the tolerances, depending on how you hone it. I'm just saying that it isn't too complicated of a thing to do in a machine shop.

I was just turning eccentric bosses on rectangular shafts on Friday. External work instead of internal. But it's a similar setup, not round or square parts, that needed chucked up, having a offset feature put into the part. Getting it dialed in, and concentric with the bore is the only time consuming part. Reaming it, or boring it to size once dialed in, is a quick and easy process. I am only a second level machinist, any journeyman can dial in a bore concentrically and open it up, regardless if the outside of the part is round or not. It's something many if then are working with on a daily basis with parts that often exceed the expense of most shotgun barrels.

And I do not work in a machine shop that has access to an endless amount of tooling. Just a production plant, with a lathe and a mill to fix and make the parts that break.
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all very correct but time consuming and even a small shop won't want to do the job
a carbide cutter does chrome lined bbl with ease
chrome lining is very thin i have done many most gunsmiths are just to lazy to do it it's a 1.5 hr job
it is not competed or rocket silence
 
tbg@sasktel.net said:
The fix is to use a drill mounted brake cylinder reamer, with a slightly rougher stone. Remove the chrome from the choke area first, then use a choke reamer to open the bore to modified, or whatever you wish. Browning, Benelli, and Baikal are the most common chrome lined barrels I see in my shop.
Brownells sell them, but the choke reamers are pricey, made by Chadwick and Trefethen in several sizes. The brake cylinder reamers are available are most auto parts stores.
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When the great Barny Hartman first started messing with chokes for his skeet guns , he simply honed them out , checking the guns on a pattern board as he progressed. That seemed to work okay , looking at his various records😁
Cat
 
Denver Steve said:
Take it to any small machine shop. They will chuck the barrel up in the lathe, and bore it to exactly what you want. Chrome isn't hard to turn if all your doing is opening up a bore some. They dial it in, throw a CBN insert on a boring bar, and literally bore it out to spec in less then 10min from start to finish.
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And how do they do this without chipping or peeling the chrome lining?
 
If a gunsmith is going to put a regular reamer in a chrome lined barrel, he is going to ruin his reamer. He needs to buy carbide tooling.
If by some means the chome lining is removed by a hone, you better get all the chrome out of the choke area because any left in contact with a regular reamer will ruin the reamer.

Years ago I ran a hone for a few minutes trying to open a chromed choke. It did not even mark the barrel.

If you remove all the chrome lining by chemical means the barrels can then be easily altered.

The primary chemical used in removing chrome plating from steel is hydrochloric acid or muriatic acid. However, sulfuric acid can also be used in its place.
 
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I Dont Care About You said:
And how do they do this without chipping or peeling the chrome lining?
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There is more than one type of chrome plating process. I think you're thinking more along the lines of ornamental chrome. Stuff like bumpers and fixtures. Hard chrome, with industrial applications such as hydraulic cylinder shafts and shotgun barrels is a different animal. It's much more robust and way less prone to any sort of chipping or flaking.
 
Denver Steve said:
Take it to any small machine shop. They will chuck the barrel up in the lathe, and bore it to exactly what you want. Chrome isn't hard to turn if all your doing is opening up a bore some. They dial it in, throw a CBN insert on a boring bar, and literally bore it out to spec in less then 10min from start to finish.
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Most machine shops will reject the project ... A short headstock with a spider and with a large spindle hole is needed ... if they can do the job at all, Lining up an o/u barrel through the headstock and dialing both ends in will take much longer than 10 minutes.
 
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