I have heard on this being done before but I just saw a barrel on ebay (Item # 2700637732) made by cutting off a Contender barrel into a "stub" and threading another barrel into the stub. Sort of an "upper receiver." Does anyone know how well this works? Maybe one of you bought the barrel.

I have seen many of these over the years shooting Silhouettes. Stubs were reamed then threaded, then fit with match grade barrels from one maker or another. Also many barrels made using the stub, then a huge diameter barrel out past the frame. Looks a bit different, but shoots very well. I have more than one of them laying around here, including a 17 MK4 that measures 1 1/8" across the muzzle. Looks like a truck axle with a leak!! Russ

I have one so constructed from a 41 mag barrel. It now has a 15 inch lilja air gage barrel chambered in 250 Savage. Workmanship is superb and it looks as if it were factory made.

I have seen many of these conversions. If dome by a competent gunsmith, they are very nice.

Regards DLM

Color me dense but I don't get it....

What do you cut off? What do you thread?

Does anyone have better pictures?

Signed Confused....

$bob$

Hi Clerk--,

Yes, I have one of those stubbed barrels in an 18" carbine. It was made by Mike Bellm who has done this kind of conversion in several configurations. Due to the stubbing, the barrel diameter inside the part that is cut off is small, so small diameter chamberings are the best way to go. Mine is chambered in a 22 K-Hornet. It shoot like a champ. I've had it three years now and have fired 2300 rounds through it with absolutely no trouble.

Don Shearer

I have a few more questions:

Can the new barrel be unthreaded and another threaded in? If this could be done you would only need one "upper receiver"

What is the maximum caliber that such a stub would accomodate?

Mike Bellm....what do you think?

Yes, new barrels just threaded in.

Mikes contention is, as I recall, 6.5 mm is max bore, simply to have enough rigidity in the barrel.

For the home experimenter with a lathe, it is a cheap way to make your own wildcats with take off barrels.

Clerko---,

About your question - could it be fixed for a switch barrel?

When I got mine from Bellm, he provided a slip-on fixture that would allow me to unscrew the stubbed-in barrel from the portion with the lug. And so the answer about switching is yes- -, but. Actually it is enough of a task to screw the barrel in and get it lined up correctly and fastened in place that you really wouldn't want to call it a switch-barrel gun. Rather it is possible to change the barrel so it should be called a "changeable barrel" rather than a "switch-barrel". I don't plan to change mine until I wear out the barrel and then I will have a new one made and replace the worn out one.

Don Shearer

My barrel was cut off 1/4 inch in front of the forward most part of the lug under the barrel. This left the length of the original barrel at 2 3/8 inches long. You must use a Bull Barrel for this conversion. You then bore the stub barrel out to approx. 5/8 inch and thread it internally with very fine threads. You then turn down your new barrel to fit the threaded stub and then thread the barrel to screw all the way through the stub. You turn the barrel to match the diameter of the original barrel, and then either leave it as a bull barrel or contour it on out as it may please you.

The barrel is then screwed into the stub and locktiteed in place. Face the new barrel flush with the face of the stub. Then ream the chamber to get the headspace set flush with the end of the new barrel and stub. All then thats left to do is mill the groove for the extractor and you are done. Except for cutting the dovetails for the threaded inserts that hold the forend on and re-blueing of course.

If this is done by an accomplished gunsmith, the barrel will look as good as any factory barrel ever did. Be careful to choose the correct extractor. You must use the correct extractor, that fits the size and style case head that your new cartridge has. Don't try to substitute. It will be nothing but trouble if you do.

HINT Don't try to use a large volume case. Use the 223 case any time you can. It works well for 22 cal, 24/6mm, 25 cal, 6mm, 6.5 and 27/28/7mm. This is evident in the TCU series cartridges. The larger cases have too much capacity, and load density suffers badly when the larger cases are used. The 223 case can be necked up to all the above sizes, and provides for easy availability of cases. My 250 Savage would have been better if I had just made it a 25 TCU instead of the 250, due to the larger case capacity.

One other Hint. Accurate arms 2230 and 2015BR are without a doubt, the best choices for these cartridges. My preference is 2015BR.

Regards DLM

Thanx for the clarification fellas.

I always wondered what actually was involved.

Now... Another dumb question.

Does it actually save you money to do it this way and if so how much?

If it saves a lot of money, does anyone specialize in doing it or is it a do it yourself type project for the natural born tinkerer/amateur gunsmith?

$bob$

I wouldn't hazard a guess as to how much money you would save, if any. The procedure will let you produce many calibers that you cannot buy factory barrels for. That's probably the main reason for doing it. You would simply have to ask your gunsmith what he would charge. Usually there are old barrels to be had for cutting the stub off of. Use an old shot out barrel, or one that is not of much value. IMHO, custom barrels are never real cheap, so don't expect this to be cheap either.

Regards, DLM

One point in regard to the caliber restrictions is the thickness of the barrel wall at the point where the new barrel and old stub meet. Each time you snap the barrel shut or let it drop open, you are flexing it at this joint. Too much flex, and it may remain bent at this point.

Another point is in regard to having ample wall thickness over the chamber. Therefore, in dividing up the difference between new barrel wall thickness and the thickness remaining after the old barrel is bored out, to keep these thicknesses on the generous side, read safe side, it means staying with a small chamber diameter.

From the economics standpoint, for the first barrel, it is pretty much a "wash." From and accuracy standpoint, you eliminate warpage from welding and can more readily work between centers, to benchrest standards if you want, since the old barrel is essentially like a typical rifle receiver, and the new barrel can be treated like a typical screw in rifle barrel.

The tool I supply for gripping the barrel is a large nut bored out smooth inside with a set screw installed through the side in one of the flats. You remove a dovetail lock, put padding such as a thickness or two of file folder inside the nut to protect the top surface of the barrel, then run the set screw down to the flat in the bottom of the barrel dovetail slot. REMOVE THE EXTRACTOR and SCOPE BASE, then put "metric adjustable" wrenches on the nut and on the barrel lug, which you can protect with padding if you like. Then simply unscrew the barrel. It is wise to note a reference point to reset the barrel to when reinstalling it. Usually the alignment of the extractor cuts in the barrel lug and in the end of the new barrel suffice.

Sometimes I also drill and tap two additional scope base holes on the new barrel so that you can move the scope base forward by one pair of holes and at the same time get the proper positioning of the barrel, rotationally, and gain some rigidity at the joint by having the scope base bridge the joint.

I have set up as many as three new barrels on one old barrel stub.

If you get the old sacrificial barrel for $75 or less and use a pretty much "freebie" old rifle barrel for the new barrel and do the work yourself, it is well worth doing if you are not set up to make complete barrel yourself. But if you have to pay someone to do the work and have to pay for both the sacrificial barrel and the new barrel, you are better off going with a new custom barrel or reworking an existing barrel bought worth the money.

For a switch barrel set up, you will likely lose tension at the joint after swapping barrels around very often. To restore tension at the joint, you can lightly peen the edge of either the old barrel or the new barrel, or better is to make metal shims to put in the joint to tighten it again.

Somewhere in the past I wrote out the procedure and posted it at the pond. Some folks copied and kept it. If I kept a copy, I'd have to do some serious digging to find it. Anyone who has and can find a copy is welcome to repost it here.

Bottom line: It works and works great within limitations. And if you do the work yourself, it will save tons of money, especially if you are not set up for making the barrel lugs yourself. But paying someone else to do the work does not save much if anything.

Over the past couple months of making new barrels and working/reworking fixtures, I still have in the back of my mind the notion of selling fixtures for various operations so do-it-yourselfers and smaller shops can more readily do barrel work if they want to.

Mike