cut and crown

[Cold Warrior]

Two more good ideas! Ja, I forgot to mention protecting the barrel from the jaws of the vise, and not overtightening it.
Oh, and I've got the combo square right here!
thx

 

[AP]

I have cut and crowned barrels by:

-with hacksaw and brass roundhead screw with valve grinding compound.
-with hacksaw and Brownells crowning kit, with piloted cutters.
-with a lathe.

If possible, I use the lathe. I know that I can do the job dead true. Then again, I have a lathe.

....

absent an appropriate lathe .... option two is the method most likely to get your finished muzzle square to the bore ....unlike even some production rifle barrels

 

[Claven2]

I use a lathe.

And yes the bore is not often centered. Last enfield I did was 0.010" off center. Just chuck it up in the 4 jaw chuck.

Most of the rifles I recrown are to fix someones hacksaw job.

This.

I use a lathe to part off the barrel and you get a perfect 90 degree muzzle, whether entered or not. I then use a piloted crown cutter to "centre" the crown. I don;t bother with a 4 jaw, the lathe will cut 90 degrees whether the bore is entered in the barrel or not.

YMMV.

 

[Cold Warrior]

Firstly, thanks for those valuable tips, gentlemen.
... ...
So that's The Plan as it now stands. Any reasonable suggestions will be appreciated.
Thank you
CW

So that's it for me. I feel like it's time for me to go to work.

CW
"So long, and thanks for all the fish."

 

[Claven2]

By the way, I would skip the denim, and use a couple sheets of good thick raw leather to pad the vise jaws. I would also use smooth vise jaws, not serrated hardware store jaws. You may be able to reverse them if yours are serrated.

Ever bought a gun with vise marks on it? Not pretty. Denim is too flimsy to prevent transfer of the ugly checker-board pattern to the metal.

 

[triton]

OP. What area you in?

I'm in Oshawa

 

[redshooter]

Wish I had the gear...just watched a guy do the crown in about 2 minutes. Looks like about 1/2 hour in total...Tiriaq, need any snow cleared from around the house?

A friend of mine suggested using a pipe cutter to "scribe" the barrel...what do you guys think, would it be a suitable reference to square off the barrel with a file?

 

[B_noser]

The pipe cutter will walk toward the muzzle if the bbl is tapered.

 

[trevj]

Wish I had the gear...just watched a guy do the crown in about 2 minutes. Looks like about 1/2 hour in total...Tiriaq, need any snow cleared from around the house?

A friend of mine suggested using a pipe cutter to "scribe" the barrel...what do you guys think, would it be a suitable reference to square off the barrel with a file?

A simple wrap of paper around the barrel will give you a reference line to follow. And it won't leave marks.

Leave the pipe cutter for cutting copper pipe.

Push a cleaning patch into the bore to keep the chips at bay. File carefully, check progress often, rotate your workpiece around as you work, to keep the results even and square. Most folks grind away at stuff with a file like they were trying to get a rabid beaver to carve stuff. A File is a cutting tool, and a good one, but is dependent upon the person holding it, for results.

Cheers
Trev

 

[redshooter]

A simple wrap of paper around the barrel will give you a reference line to follow. And it won't leave marks.

Leave the pipe cutter for cutting copper pipe.

Push a cleaning patch into the bore to keep the chips at bay. File carefully, check progress often, rotate your workpiece around as you work, to keep the results even and square. Most folks grind away at stuff with a file like they were trying to get a rabid beaver to carve stuff. A File is a cutting tool, and a good one, but is dependent upon the person holding it, for results.

Cheers
Trev

Thanks, I've made knives with files, started with a belt grinder, but it doesn't take long to see a little bit at a time is much better.