I bought a brand new in the grease US 50 caliber barrel several years ago and started to build a 50 BMG. I chambered and threaded the barrel, then the project died. The barrel was one of the surplus barrels you see with a lot o odd cuts and notches on the breech section. I suspose they are for wrenches, attachments etc. Anyway, I drug the barrel out today, looked at it and measured it and decided to try and salvage it. I cut the barrel off to 25" at the breech (24" plus the 1" threaded section for a brake). I then turned the barrel breech down to 1.135", the same as the rest of the barrel. While it is cylindrical, it really looks pretty nice. It has about a 9" breech section and a 15" long deeply fluted section. The depth and layout of the flutes makes the barrel look tapered, even though it isn't. The good thing was that the barrel came out at 4 pounds exactly. This should work out pretty close for a 50 caliber thumper, and the diameter is right for about any bolt gun. The culindrical barrel is a plus for quick inletting.

If anyone wants a fluted 50 cal barrel for a project, you might try to pick up a surplus barrel like this and turn it down.. I believe it was an M4 barrel, but I don't remember and I am not knowledgeable about the full auto guns.

Those cheap, new ones are gone. I have a new stellite lined one for sale, but those aren't cheap.

I wish I would have bought a few more NIB 1919 barrels when they were $35.00.

quote:

Originally posted by dpcd:
Those cheap, new ones are gone. I have a new stellite lined one for sale, but those aren't cheap.

do you cut the stellite, and if so, how?

thx

No, it's a GI barrel, you thread your action for the original threads. You can cut off the muzzle as the liners are only about a foot long. There is a gap in the rifling to allow for expansion. The stellite liners are cut rifled, and I have heard it is not as hard as you think; just extremely tough and heat resistant.