Thinking of recrowning my rifle with one of these cutters. How many on the board have used one of these cutters and what sort of results did you get.

Rob,

This response will surely generate others, but here goes.

It is my opinion, based on what I was taught, and on what I've experienced over the years, that the crown is as critical to the overall accuracy of the weapon, as the weapon itself, shooter or ammo. In fact, it is my belief, that the exit must be perfect, as it is the last to touch the bullet.

That said, There are many ways to crown a weapon. From using piloted reamers, to using a brass lap and abrasives. I myself believe the correct way to perform this critical job is with the lathe, moving the cutter from the center of the bore, out, while the piece revolves around the axis of the machine. Regardless of how it is done, the exit must be square and concentric to the bore. Each land and groove must break cleanly.

The cutters/reamers that are sold to perform this job, usually rotate around the center of a pilot which is inserted into the bore. This can cause metal to tear, or for the lack of a better word, "smear", pushing metal in the path of the exiting bullet. Granted, the bullet will probably remove a good portion of this "Hanging Chad" as Mr. Thos. Burgess so keenly refers to it, but I believe that enough of the "Chad" will remain, to affect those bullets which follow.

Using a heavy hand and a piloted tool in the muzzle, can inflict serious damage to the bore. It is my opinion that nothing should be placed in the bore except the bullet and proper cleaning gear. But this is my opinion and what I myself practice.

While it is quite possible to obtain acceptable to sometimes amazing results while using other methods than a lathe to crown the muzzle, I don't believe it is the best way.

Someone made a statement a short while back on one of the other posts, and I can't rememember who said it, but it is worth repeating. They said "When it comes to accuracy, one need only look to the target crowd, to see what methods work, and go from there." I don't believe they are using the Brownell's crowning reamer...

Good luck,

Malm

[ 08-24-2003, 05:24: Message edited by: G.Malmborg ]

Rob, check this out http://riflestocks.tripod.com/targetcrown.html

A friend of mine used a twist drill bit to crown one he sawed off, can't believe the damn thing still shoots under an inch. To even look at it makes me sick to my stomach...

My dad has crowned a couple he shortened up with the Brownells tool, they aren't bench guns but they shot fine... inch, inch and a half or so at 100yds. I like the lathe method and wouldn't go any other way myself, for all the reasons GM stated above.

I've used the brass muzzle laps in a handheld drill a few times, but only on guns with minor visible damage, usually old lever action guns that got put away muzzle down too hard. I use soem 600 grit abrasive just until the back of the grooves begin to shine. It's always improved the accuracy of the gun in question, but I don't know how much a professional job such as Malm described would improve on that.

When I pick up an old gun like aa Sav.99 in .303 and the muzzle is all grey I just lap a shine on it and shoot away. Besides, with iron sights, we're at minute of deer.

Rob

I have recrowned two rifles and one revolver with the Brownells tools. There has been a little chattering and tool marks that remain. I always polish with 320 on a brass lap. This is probably not as good as a pro lath job, but it cured the problems I had and resulted in good shooting firearms.

I've also used this tool. Twice actually, on the same rifle. I posted some pictures at the 24HourCampfire website last October, here's the link...

D.I.Y. Barrel Shortening

Just last week I had that rifle propped up on my reloading bench, as my daughter knocked it down with her trike ( I was there, I had just cleaned the rifle.)

It impacted pretty hard on the muzzle, and now I need to smooth it out again.

I've used this tool and had good results with it. Just as an aside, for cutting barrels I've also used a steel brake line tubing type cutter. Worked fine and cleaned up quite well. I know it's not as accurate a job as with a lathe, but at the time I didn't have one available so went with what I had. - Dan

[ 08-26-2003, 03:35: Message edited by: dan belisle ]