I know the "how to" part of this argument has been beated half to death here, but can someone post some pics of how they set up for this with a lathe?

I am about to recieve mine and eventually want to ream a 7mm-08 barrel giving it a shorter throat so that I can fit the reloads that are close to the lands into the magazine. Apart from this little annoying thing, I figure I could also try squareing up the face of the reciever, re-cut the threads too. Just for fun.

I know and understand that a smith would probably do a better job (not altogether neccessarily true in my part of the world) and it will take a longer than it's worth, and I may bugger the whole thing.
But that's why I got the dammed lathe to start with!

Thanks, it turns out that's where I found the pic of the bolt turning jog, so I sent them an e-mail asking for more info on the setup. Thanks again!

why not just invest in a video (DVD) on barreling. Shows everything you need to know. Steve Acker puts out a good one throug Home Shop Machinist. AGI has a good one as well.

I second Mike Bryant of Bryants Custom Guns. You can go the www.benchrest.com and do a search in the gunsmith forum and get more info than you want.
Butch

It is good to see such enthusiasm and soemone who is eager to learn how to work on guns and learn how to machine metal.

I would suggest crawling, since all of the questions you asked are what all of us asked when we were in the crawling stage. The first order of business for you is to read books, search several internet boards on machining and gunsmithing, buying DVD's and making A LOT of chips so you can figure out how to do each step and see what you and your machine are capapble of doing.

Making good use of the search engines will reveal a lot of information that you are asking now and will ask in the future.

Even better is to find a local machinist and pay him to teach you some things about machining. I don't care if he knows what a gun is, as long as he can work voodoo on a lathe and mill.

Then asking questions here when you learn how to do a some things will really help you. Right now, given the questions you are asking, a lot of this is over your head. I know that, because I know what I knew and others asked when we were asking the same questions. When you get some chips under your belt, you will be able to take full advantage of what you read here.

This is just a suggestion I am making that I believe you will find helpful. Good luck!

In the mean time...

This is how I set up to chamber. After the chamber is cut, I bring the tailstock back in to finish threading.

Thanks guys, yes I guess I am at the crawling stage - I'm about to go the machine up since the courier screwed up as usual...

I don't intend (or illude myself) on going straight into chambering custom barrels, maybe reaming a .45HP chamber out to .45ACP to start w with, but I still need a lot of time on the machine to learn how to set it up and what accessories I need for each task.

It seems that most of the machineing process is knowing how to set up, and with what tools, rather than manual skills in operating the machine while it's running.

I would love to get some good books or DVD's on the topic, I just don't really know where to look or which ones are reccomended. Maybe I should start a thread on that too.

Thanks for all the info guys!

Here are some links that will help you:

practical machinist

home machinist

benchrest.com forums

My advice is to use the search function on each of these forums. The questions you have asked have been asked umpteen million times. The forums have a search function for folks like you who were not reading the board when the questions were asked before.

I know etiquette has gone out the window since the internet took over our lives, but some people still find it a little rude when a newbie will not take the time to look up the old posts on a forum. Some take it to mean that the newbie considers his time more valuable than everyone else's. There is a lot of truth here. You will find that some of the old codgers who know the most will not answer a question if it is obvious a new person did not try finding the answer in the archivess first. If you search first and then only ask new questions when you ask about details or conditions that are not in the archives, you will get better and more complete and thorough answers.

All of the questions you are asking are in the old threads on these forums. I know you want to get set up to do gun work, but I am going back to what i said earlier: you are nowhere near ready! Get some scrap steel and start making chips. Make tons of chips and figure out what you are doing and then figure out what are the limitations of your machines. Read the old psots and figure out how to set up on scrap steel. If you can't find what you need in the old posts, then ask a question about how to set up.

I still say the best thing you can do is to find a machinst neare you. I don't care if does not even know which end of a gun that the bullets come out. You need him to teach you what is involved in making chips. Start trying to see the big picture and forget about gun parts. Just don't even mention them. If you can stert seeing the big picture and learning how to use the machines, then in the end you will be able to do a lot more with guns.

Now get to reading and good luck!

Give me an e-mail address and I will send you some pictures of my flush system.

ngl1@earthlink.net

Longshot

Some of us old guys with little money and the old dial up net find it hard to go through thousands of posts for an answer to one question. Same for searching thousands of sites. Every question should be considered new no matter how many times it has been addressed.
That is why we are here after all.

Westpac, you ever get a chip under those roller bearings?

quote:

Originally posted by gsp:
Westpac, you ever get a chip under those roller bearings?

Nope.