I found a clausing 4902 lathe, 220v single phase. I am looking for a beginner lathe for doing gun work. I want to be able to chamber, thread and profile a barrel. What is the good and bad for a lathe like this?

clausing 4902

This is what I know about it:

Asking price, $1200.00/offer

10" swing

3 jaw chuck

quick change tool post

power feed two directions

1 9/16" through hole

tailstock with drill chuck

vairable speed, belt

I have 2 5900 series Clausings. They are almost identical to the 4900 series, but 12" swing. I think you'll find that the spindle bore is actually 1.375"

They are good mid-sized lathes if in good condition. I'm not aware or any systemic problems with the 4900's but the 5900's could have problems with the vari-speed drive coating on the shaft of the movable pulley, or the hydraulic actuator. Both can be fixed or worked around. I'm not familiar with the different model designations so I can't help you with that. This site describes the drive as a change belt, not vari-speed so check on that. If there is no wear on the ways and the check isn't abused, that is a decent price.
http://www.lathes.co.uk/clausing/page4.html

I would double check the size of the spindle bore. I know it isn't any larger than 1.375" and could be smaller. My 6913 is 1.375. They are good lathes if it has been taken care of.
Butch

Ok, the seller said that the bed length is 24" between centers. Is this long enough to do gunwork on?

A friend of mine has a big clausing lathe, but honestly it scares the hell out of me when I use it. I want something small like this to start out on, eventually move up to something bigger.

Also, would my money be well spent on this lathe or would I be better off waiting for something a little better/different. This lathe is selling for about what I've been seeing south bends go for.

i have 4902 24'' -10'' swing. A great machine,the bed is a little short but all that can be worked around. If it has collets it is even better. They are smooth easy to use machines. Have had it for12 years now and done any bbl i wanted, just use good ol common cents,hehe . And you will be just fine. And i paid twice your price,i did get alot of tooling so the buyer and seller on that part.They are nice machines good luck.

The only real drawback is the short bed. This can be overcome by a little ingenuity but where you will run into trouble is with a long HEAVY barrel and not being able to get it through the spindle to work on the chamber end. Fine with light sporter weight [#1-#4] but the target ones will be a challenge. I had an older LeBlonde 24" that was beautiful and I got it cheap. It worked for a year or so and I found ways to work around the bed shortness but was hampered by the bed length sometimes. A guy fell in love with it and paid me more than it was worth so I got my old 13X40 Sheldon and have used it for over 30 years now. It is so old it has the original Military Manuals on how to dispose it to keep it out of the hands of the Japanese!! The shorter lathe will be a VERY good learning tool and then you can step up to a longer bed if necessary. Good luck--the lathe is a good one.
Aloha, Mark