New to me Beretta 71 that came with a 6" barrel off the EE.
I cut the barrel with a hack saw to with 3mm or so of my final length (I was aiming for 106mm). I used an old metal lathe at my work to finish it up. Not the greatest lathe but it did the job. I trimmed the end down to length and cut a flat face, cut the crown at 45 degrees, then cut two chamfers on the outer edge. I then used a file to round the face, and finished up with sandpaper. I read on here about using a piece of brass and polishing compound to hone the crown, so I turned a brass tool and used some compound I sharpen wood carving tools with and touched up the crown. It seems okay, I'll find out how well I did when finally I shoot it.
I stopped by CDN Tire on my way home and got a bottle of Outer's Gun Blue. When I opened the bottle and saw a thin light blue kool-aid looking liquid I figured I had a tough job ahead of me to touch this up. I followed the directions, with the addition of using a heat gun to get the metal to the point where I could barely hold the barrel to heat it. I then applied the blue. I was surprised at how dark it went on. Didn't look that nice at first but after lightly hitting it with steel whool as per the directions the result with only one application is shown below.
Next job is to dovetail a front sight onto the barrel. I ordered a dovetail bit and front sight from Brownells. I missed a delivery today that I'll pickup tomorrow. Hopefully it will be my Brownells order and I can use the mill at my work tomorrow to finish my project.
I cut the barrel with a hack saw to with 3mm or so of my final length (I was aiming for 106mm). I used an old metal lathe at my work to finish it up. Not the greatest lathe but it did the job. I trimmed the end down to length and cut a flat face, cut the crown at 45 degrees, then cut two chamfers on the outer edge. I then used a file to round the face, and finished up with sandpaper. I read on here about using a piece of brass and polishing compound to hone the crown, so I turned a brass tool and used some compound I sharpen wood carving tools with and touched up the crown. It seems okay, I'll find out how well I did when finally I shoot it.
I stopped by CDN Tire on my way home and got a bottle of Outer's Gun Blue. When I opened the bottle and saw a thin light blue kool-aid looking liquid I figured I had a tough job ahead of me to touch this up. I followed the directions, with the addition of using a heat gun to get the metal to the point where I could barely hold the barrel to heat it. I then applied the blue. I was surprised at how dark it went on. Didn't look that nice at first but after lightly hitting it with steel whool as per the directions the result with only one application is shown below.
Next job is to dovetail a front sight onto the barrel. I ordered a dovetail bit and front sight from Brownells. I missed a delivery today that I'll pickup tomorrow. Hopefully it will be my Brownells order and I can use the mill at my work tomorrow to finish my project.
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