I just received a rifle back that was rebarreled by a local gunsmith. The barrel is stainless so I asked him to bead blast it to give it a matte finish. Well, the barrel looks good but he didn't plug the muzzle, so the crown and the first 1/2 inch or so got bead blasted as well. Is this normal or should he have plugged it? Won't this cause fouling to build up where it's rough?

He should have plugged the bore. You need crisp rifling all the way to the muzzle so that it releases the circumference of the bullet at the same instant. With the last 1/2" bead blasted, you no longer have a functioning crown. The bead blasted section of the bore will need to be cut off and re-crowned... and one question you'll need to ask yourself is, "are you sure you want the same guy to do the work?"

I bead blast most all guns that I get in for refinishing--people seem to prefer the matte finish--but I never bead blast the end of barrel. It's either coverd with tape or I hold the muzzle away from the direction of the blast media. I can't say the way yours is is bad but I wouldn't do it that way.

quote:

Originally posted by lbailey:
I just received a rifle back that was rebarreled by a local gunsmith. The barrel is stainless so I asked him to bead blast it to give it a matte finish. Well, the barrel looks good but he didn't plug the muzzle, so the crown and the first 1/2 inch or so got bead blasted as well. Is this normal or should he have plugged it? Won't this cause fouling to build up where it's rough?

I had a local bluing shop (thankfully he is not in business anymore) do that very same thing to one of my customers guns before bluing it. Of course he didn't mention it when I picked up the piece, but when I got it back to the shop and wiped the bore and seen what the clown did, he bought the job. He paid for the replacement barrel and my labor... Good luck.

I can't believe some of the morons out there calling them selves gunsmiths. People pay these guys for their work, and by definition, that makes them "professional". They might be in their own mind. I would define them as hacks.

I agree the Boob with the bead blaster is a dip shit. Make him buy you a new barrel and pay for fitting it.

What an idiot it's hard to find good help these days. This can be lapped out but be aware if he blasted with rough media the depth of the pitting will be about .0005 per side

If you havn't already shot it, make sure that you clean the barrel very well before you do. that blasting media that is still in there [ I presume that if he was stupid enough to do what he did he would be stupid enough not to clean it] will raise havoc with the bore.
Don't try to lap anything out, clean it well and shoot it, if it is not as it should be have the barrel cut and recrowned, your choice as to have the same guy do the cutting and crowning if it needs it. I imagine most guys would not.. Lapping the muzzle end of a barrel is the worst thing you could do accuracy wise.