Shortening and recrown barrel

aheppner

aheppner

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Hi gunsmiths,

I would like to cut and recrown a barrel.

this is a savage ftr rifle with a 30in barrel and I would like to shorten it to 22in.

I'm looking for advice/tips/tricks to get a nice clean and square cut and also what crowning tool do you recomend?



I use this rifle for target shooting, not in competition but it shoots very well and I would like a nice target crown.
 
IMHO you need a lathe with the proper tooling ( test dial indicator and grizzly rod or equivalent) to get a nice square cut, then either a piloted crowning tool or specially ground lathe tool. It would be best to take it to a gunsmith to have it done as you want to maintain a good shooter. Guys have used hacksaws and dremel tools to butcher barrels but it would take incredible luck to get a good result.
 
It requires the use of a lathe and an operator capable of dialing in the center of the bore so all machining is done concentric and square to the bore. Usually when you shorten a barrel this much you can visually see the amount of run out... bores are seldom in the center of the blank from chamber to muzzle.
 
It can be done without a lathe but the process is tedious at best and as mentioned it is easily screwed up.

Take it to a smith or ship it to one to have cut off and properly squared and crowned.

Crowning is actually just making sure the muzzle is cut true to the axis of the bore. More than one target rifle has been sold off cheap because a muzzle wasn't properly cut square to the bore axis. Hell, send it to Guntech, if he'll do it. He does good work.
 
It can be done without a lathe but the process is tedious at best and as mentioned it is easily screwed up.
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yes .. a hacksaw and one of the Brownell's Muzzle/crown facing tools with the bore diameter pilot can be used. BUT be warned. The cutter WILL chatter on some barrels - and on others it will cut like butter. I am not sure why but I believe that hammer forging can work harden barrel steels in different ways and that contributes to the chatter - I have read where one man recommended using a manual hand drill to apply enough pressure to prevent chatter ... I dont know and the extra pressure can cause the pilot to screw your rifling at the muzzle.

I strongly recommend the barrel be faced on a lathe. ALSO make sure the person doing this knows how ... I have seen barrels where they were not set up properly in the lathe when being faced and the crown was clearly not perpendicular to the bore (at the muzzle). I dont know how this can happen ... but it DOES!

HAVING said all of that .. people have conducted very convincing experiments with badly buggered crowns to demonstrate that maybe we are all a little too obsessive about them. I have seen a rifle with a terrible crown - perform consistently very well!
 
My opinion...buy a threaded pre-fit from Mystic Precision in the contour and length you want. If you're horny to be rid of the 30" barrel then you can sell it on the EE and recoup some of your losses.
 
Someone was telling be how they used to recrown barrels on hunting guns.

they would hacksaw some barrel off then square it up with a file, then debur the rifling using a round headed brass screw chucked in a hand crank drill

not what i would call ideal but im sure it helped if your crown was really badly damaged
 
BigUglyman,

Do you think there is a demand for a used savage factory barrel?

I didn't think it would be worth much.
 
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A good condition 30" savage stainless barrel should go for core value $200, less if it has >1000 rnd count IMO. Would agree with selling to recover cash towards a different barrel, but giving up 8" in barrel length would beg the question "why for target shooting?"
 
elkhuntr said:
A good condition 30" savage stainless barrel should go for core value $200, less if it has >1000 rnd count IMO. Would agree with selling to recover cash towards a different barrel, but giving up 8" in barrel length would beg the question "why for target shooting?"
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To answer your why question...

Short answer is weight...

Long answer is,

lighter gun case - right now it will only fit in a double gun hard case - if i can fit it in a soft scoped rifle case that would save a lot of weight.
lighter gun oviously too with 8in less of colse to 1in diameter barrel

I've been disabled for 3 years now - I walk with a cane, so carrying anything at all never mind something heavy is a problem for me.


I thought the benifits of a few less pounds of barrel and a much lighter gun case would outweigh the slightly reduced MV. for me anyway.
 
May be able to shave about 1.5lb on a 1" tube with a 8" reduction. Not sure but you may be running 17lb total weight of firearm so 9% weight savings. Time to have a young buck do some heavy lifting for ya eh ;)
 
elkhuntr said:
May be able to shave about 1.5lb on a 1" tube with a 8" reduction. Not sure but you may be running 17lb total weight of firearm so 9% weight savings. Time to have a young buck do some heavy lifting for ya eh ;)
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ya i figured close to 2 lbs of barrel and then with a much lighter gun case my set up should be a lot easier to load and unload from the truck/into the house.
 
Lord help me here.........why not sell the big beast and git yourself into
a smaller/lighter rifle?
Time you ship, cut/muss ship it back and fart around with setting it back up,
heck, sniffer out a light weight rifle may be jest whut the Doc ordered?
Nothing wrong with a new girlie amis..............no?
 
aheppner said:
BigUglyman,

Do you think there is a demand for a used savage factory barrel?

I didn't think it would be worth much.
Click to expand...

You might even consider selling the rifle outright and buying something else that is lighter and shorter. Once you dink with swapping or chopping a barrel God only knows how the rifle will react. You could start with a very accurate rifle and then possibly have something entirely unsatisfactory. At least with the Savage platform you have the option of simply and easily spinning barrels on and off, but if your disability makes a heavy rifle unmanageable then you might want to go straight to something light rather than trying to turn your square peg round.
 
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