Crown with a brass screw and lapping compound?

Clobbersauras

Clobbersauras

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Man am I going to get flamed on this one:evil:. I have my eye on an already bubba'd Lee Enfield No 4 Mk 1 at the local shop. I read that because of the pull through cleaning kit issued with the rifle that the crown on many of these old beauties are most likely bad. So I was thinking of getting the rifle cheap and then getting out the hacksaw and doing my own cutdown job and recrown:redface:. Figured I cut down about 1.5 inches to be sure and get to fresh rifling. I'd then square it off with a file. I've read in a couple of posts that a brass screw chucked into a drill and lapping compound will work for a home crown job:eek:. Any thoughts, is it easy to do, or would I just be wasting my time?
 
go for it:)
use a round head brass screw and lapping compound. go slow with the drill
I use a hand crank type
use a screw that fits the muzzle good, dips in about halve the screw
remember go slow and keep moving the drill in a circle pivoting on the crown
 
You cannot acheive a perpendicular cut and crown without a lathe, or piloted crown cutters, which really should be used in a lathe anyway.
 
Shoot the gun first. Why fix it , if there is nothing wrong? There are all sorts of statements in books and on the internet ,that are wrong. Shoot your gun from a rest at a known distant and see how it groups, if you are on the paper don't adjust anything , fire at the same point of aim, fire 3 more, now have a friend shoot it and check his group. If your groups are reasonable don't mess with it. If it is all over the place , you may have to do something but it may not be your crown , it could be the bedding , loose screws, a mix of different brands of ammo or weights of bullets. Figure it out before you cut , file or mutilate. Your bubba'd rifle may only have had the stock cut and could quite easily be made into a full wood military specimen.
 
Would like to hear from people who have actually tried the brass screw method with good results...

Please note: this is an already bubba'd rifle that I would buy with no intentions of restoration, the receiver is aready drilled and tapped..... so it is past a restoration project....but it would be a perfect "truck gun" project.
 
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Cutting the barrel with a hacksaw then filing it is where you may have a problem. IF you get the end of the barrel filed perpendicular then you would be ok. The brass/lapping compound just deburrs the end of the muzzle. It wont correct any misalignment.
 
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I tried fixing little ding on one of my 22's with screw/lapping compound. Few things - 1) screw will not be centered perfectly 2) lapping compound will wear bore at the muzzle 3) brass screw will not work as its way too soft to do any real metal removal, and you will need a lot of that after butchering barrel with hacksaw 4) whatever you do your cut will not be perpendicular and "screw crowning" will not fix that

You will most likely make worse "crown" than whatever it is now. Re-crowning is a few minutes job on lathe machine, its just a matter of finding any machine shop if your local smith is too busy. Or maybe its your turn learning your lesson by pissing on electrical fence.
 
"Or maybe its your turn learning your lesson by pissing on electrical fence." Thats a good one! Unfortunately I have learned that way a few times. Fortunately, you dont forget those lessons.
 
A lathe is the best method. It is not necessarily an easy job. Depending on the rifle and the lathe, it may be necessary to remove the barrel from the receiver to mount it on the lathe. To do the best job on a lathe, the bore will have to be absolutely centered with the axis of the machine, and this can take time. The actual cutting operation takes very little time.
Piloted cutters work, and can be an effective way of finishing a muzzle using hand tools. This presupposes that a properly fitting pilot is on hand.
Yes, a muzzle can be finished by filing the end of the barrel as true as possible, and then using a series of brass laps with abrasive compound to create a crown. Round headed screws or brass balls can be used. The curvature of the lap will centre in the bore - it can't do anything else. If a series of different sized laps are used, a nicely contoured crown can be created. Of course the lapping compound will cut - that is what it is intended to do. If it didn't, no crown would be created using this method. The brass is soft - that's the point. It and the slot of screws are used carry the abrasive compound. Screw crowning won't fix an angled muzzle, but can put a nice finish on the termination of the rifling.
By all means, test fire the rifle. If it shoots satisfactorily, leave it alone. If it doesn't, diagnose what the problems are and correct them.
 
.88 magnum said:
Cutting the barrel with a hacksaw then filing it is where you may have a problem. IF you get the end of the barrel filed perpendicular then you would be ok. The brass/lapping compound just deburrs the end of the muzzle. It wont correct any misalignment.
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+1. Getting the muzzle perpendicular to the bore after you cut is the tough part. And yes, it can be done with hand tools, it's just difficult (lot's of measuring, recutting, filing, etc, etc). I have used the brass screw method (as did a lot of 'smiths, back in the day), and it does work. Do I prefer to use a lathe? Sure, but one isn't always available. The hand tools from Brownells realy help with this particular chore, by the way. - dan
 
dan belisle said:
+1. Getting the muzzle perpendicular to the bore after you cut is the tough part. And yes, it can be done with hand tools, it's just difficult (lot's of measuring, recutting, filing, etc, etc). I have used the brass screw method (as did a lot of 'smiths, back in the day), and it does work. Do I prefer to use a lathe? Sure, but one isn't always available. The hand tools from Brownells realy help with this particular chore, by the way. - dan
Click to expand...

In the day:confused: I resemble that comment:p
It is still the final break of the crown in most shops whether a brass lap in the lathe or a screw head in a hand drill the concepts the same
I use both ways in the shop I also use the Brownells crowning tools

But let the man learn, After 30mins of hack sawing a Enfield barrel and 3+ hours of filing and 20mins on the brass ball.... having it done properly won't sound so bad:p
 
I have done at least three barrels exactly the way you are planning to do it; cut off with hacksaw, file muzzle flat and then crown with a large slotted brass screw and valve grinding compound. It has worked every time, and although it took some time, was quite easy. :)

Getting the muzzle perpendicular to the bore was actually prety simple. I just held the barrel out at arms length, letting the barreled action hang vertically (I know, I know, it won't hang perfectly vertical), and eyeballed the muzzle. Kept filing until it was square with the bore, finished with some very fine emerry cloth on the file and then lapped with the screw.

I used one of those large brass screws that are used to fasten a toilet bowl down. Pure Bubba all the way! :cool:

All three rifles shot very well after the bob job, and I would not hesitate to do it again. One was a Browning Autoloader of all things. :runaway:

Be sure to stuff some paper or cleaning rag just below the muzzle before you start filing, and be absolutely certain to push it out from the breech end before you go to the range. :D

Ted
 
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Thanks for all the feedback - sounds like it is possible to crown it myself but not without a little bit of risk that the gun may shoot worse! Of course I would fire the thing first and perhaps it won't need to be re-done but I really think with an old rifle getting a fresh crown would probably make a world of difference. The crown wear caused by the repeated firing done to a surplus rifle is probably enough to warrant it, let alone any visible damage. Should be an interesting project and if I screw it up I can always take it to the smith to get it fixed:D
 
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