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Jaxom · Senior Member

Things are starting to turn around for me. I've recieved some really good advice from a few on here privately on how to slowly work myself upwards. And I've taken that advice to heart. A few welding jobs here and there and the cash has slowly began to trickle in. Enough so that I was able to invest in a tiller which I'll be picking up tommaro. It's still early enough in the season that I can really clean up on garden tilling and hopefully reach my goal of getting my d/l back. (Yes, I'm occationally driving, but that's risky, because I risk being arrested everytime I do.)

After reading that website that I've posted on where to get plans to build your own ag hpa rifle, I've been concidering this as a future project. I've already contacted the author of the two books he's written on the subject, and once I do have my d/l back I'm going to order them.

In the meantime I've been doing alot, and I mean ALOT of online google research on the topic. Since I don't have those books in hand now, and it will take some time before I will, there is one issue I'm having, and that's how to go about making barrels from bar stock.

Again, I've researched this. I do realize there's there multiple methods in order to bore, ream and then rifle a barrel. The most common and now concidered to be the most accurate of these methods is "button" rifling.

With a bit more research, I have found a company that sells the gundrill bits, reamers and rifling bits. And they do sell the machinery that one would use to make a barrel with. But even without asking I can tell you those machines are WAY above someone that interested in doing a hobby scale rifle. Those darn things probably cost more then what my house is worth!

What I needs is plans for a hobbiest sized barrel making machine that can handle the three main steps of drilling, reaming and rifling. I have, by googling seen a picture or three of what they look like, but no exact plans on how to build one.

Sidebar: I've also been asking for general reference material for rifle making and machine shop/gun smithing. One such book was reciently recommended to me was "The Home Machinist Handbook". Ordered it last Friday, arrived Tuesday morning, and I've already read....and understand... half the book. While I am still rather busy promoting my budding welding buisness, my tilling buisness, all while still job hunting and taking care of my mother, I still find I have alot of time on my hands, particularly at night when I cannot do any of these things. (This when I start getting wild ideas of building my own ag rifle!)

What other books can be recommended? I like this author's style. Very easy to comprehend. I've got welding books that I can't read more then a page before I'm totally lost, and have tried muliple times to read, but the intensive math and such burns me out very shortly.

Thanks,

Jax

Slavia · Moderator

Just so you can appreciate modern technology, go to your public library and ask for (via interlibrary loan):

"Foxfire 5," Edited by Eliot Wigginton, Published by The Foxfire Fund, Inc., ISBN: 978-0-385-14308-0 (0-385-14308-7)

It covers 18th and 19th century technology for making rifled barrels. I wouldn't buy it, but it's a good place to start your thought processes.

Jaxom · Senior Member

Salvia! Dang it! I never thought of that, we already own a few of the Foxfire books!!! I did however do some more googling last night again. Found a few links for places to buy books and or plans after looking under "rifling bench".

One hobbiest machine shop related forum mentions something about being able to do this on your lathe, rather then having to build a seperate "tool" in order to rifle a barrel. I like the idea of keeping this the bare minium required.

Every once and a while HF has this lathe on sale for $100 off. Would this be a good option for a me, concidering that I'm not only looking at it from a hobbist angle but being able to offer some nominal machine work to my core buisness of welding?

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=45861

(if link don't work it's the 9 x 20" HF ITEM 45861-2VGA)

Keep in mind I have many other things that I have to pay off, fix, and or take care of before I'm ready to invest in such a tool. Just wondering for now. The next price point is around $1800 for an HF lathe. I double I'd ever recoup the investment or every fully utilize all the features of such a machine.

Alstone · Moderator & Site Supporter

There are three way’s of making and rifling a barrel, the first and oldest is to get a tube with the correct size hole through it, then pull a single point brooch through it, while turning the tube to get the twist, once one groove is cut you then index the tube 1/6th , I/8th or whatever, and cut the next groove. The only second hand machines available to perform this operation these days are old Pratt and Whitney WW2 models, and very expensive.

Method two is to use a button this is a Tungsten carbide button with the rifle groves cut around it, this again pulled through the rotating tube and cut’s all the grooves in one go. You can buy a new machine to do this operation, but again expensive.

The third method is to have a tungsten carbide mandrel which is a mirror image of the inside of the barrel, this is place inside the tube which is cold formed with hammers around the mandrel.

All of these methods require a deep hole boring machine to make the tube, and these are not cheap usually in the thousands of Dollars.

There is one other way of doing this operation, and that is with a dedicated CNC machine station, but there again the cost is many thousand’s of Dollars.

That’s why a lot of airgun manufactures buy in their barrels from a dedicated maker.

Al

jsp · New Member

You might want to forget making your own barrel and picking up a barrel liner from track of the wolf:

http://www.trackofthewolf.com/(S(xelg44453p2lmxbhx41f4f55))/categories/tableList.aspx?catID=14&subID=142&styleID=483

For airgun purposes (max 4500 PSI) you should be fine with a liner. I wouldn't reccomend using one as the barrel on a powder burner (60,000 PSI) though.

J

fritz · Silver Status Member

It could also be easier to make a small bore version from a .177 or .22 Crosman barrel. Then just put on a big barrel and breech kit for big bore fun.

Jaxom · Senior Member

There was another method that I was reading about, but requires using a hydrolic press. The barrel, after being drilled and then reamed to the correct size, is then clamped down stationary. A rod with a "swivel" rifling button is them pressed down the barrel with a slender rod. It's designed so as the button is pushed through the barrel it rotates on the end of the rod.

kanyon · Silver Status Member

Jaxom...a barrel is made by..."the old way"...boreing under size..Rifled stright by broching .....heated & twisted to put the twist in the rifleing...rebored to the finished size ID & OD then cut to length...

I supose there are other ways it done aswell..more moden ways Question

Slavia · Moderator

yourdaddyjoe · Supporting Member

Too much work... I'll just order one all ready made... Mr. Green