Cutting a shotgun barrel...

[caboverbobby]

I'd like to cut down the barrel on one of my single shot shotguns and was wondering if i could use the same pipe cutter that i use for copper pipes when i do a little plumbing?

Good or bad idea and why?

Thanks!

 

[zelly]

I'd also like to know.....

 

[kennymo]

Steel is way harder than copper. We use hardened wheels at work for cutting steel or stainless, the regular wheels will chip and break. Also, unless your barrel is cylinder choked (and maybe still if it is) it will taper from the breech to the end. This will cause the pipe cutters to track and they'll leave an unsightly spiral down the barrel without cutting through anything. Best bet is probably a good bandsaw with a vice to ensure a square cut. You could do it with a hacksaw and clean it up with a file, but I'd make friends with someone who has the right equipment. Good luck.

 

[luke s]

yes you can, done it before, but it really isnt ideal.

you will have to file the inside of the barrel as the pipe cutter will leave burrs

 

[handofzeus]

I used a gear clamp as my guide and hacksawed (carefully) till I got halfway through. Loosened it and turned it a half turn because the tightening screw gets in the way, and realigned it and finished it off. You can finish off and deburr the outside by hot gluing a cone of fine sandpaper to the inside of a wire cup brush ( the kind you use with a drill). The angle of the cone is up to you. Remember that the deeper the cone the more bare metal you'll have around the muzzle.

 

[BCRider]

yes you can, done it before, but it really isnt ideal.

you will have to file the inside of the barrel as the pipe cutter will leave burrs

Exactly, not to mention that if you use enough pressure that it'll swage the barrel metal inwards. Cut a copper pipe with one and look at how it pinches the end. Do you really want to do that to your shotgun barrel?

Finally a fair number of shotgun barrels have a tapering wall so the taper is all on the outside. A pipecutter relies on the pipe being NON tapered to ensure it meets the cut line when it comes around.

To avoid all these issues the best way is to simply use a good ol' hacksaw. Since you will have to file the end smooth and deburr anyway you might as well start with the cutting tool that will do the least damage to the end. And that's a simple hacksaw.

When you file the end you want it to be square to the bore axis. A good tool for this is a small T square. They are typically called a depth ruler or depth guage. But for this sort of use they make for an excellent small T square for guaging your filing for a square muzzle. Guage off the INSIDE since the outside is often tapered.

A file and a keen eye for square is just fine for a shotgun since... well... it IS a shotgun. Any slight minute of error you make in squaring off the end isn't going to be detectable.

 

[nanuk]

excellent small T square for guaging your filing for a square muzzle. Guage off the INSIDE since the outside is often tapered.

any links to what this is?

I have a small machinists square, but it won't fit inside the barrel

 

[BCRider]

Hmmm.... perhaps they aren't as common anymore. The tool I referred to is one of these;

Or, of course, something sort of similar could be made up pretty quickly.