I have access to a lathe and want to re-crown a finished barrel. How do I chuck it without marking it? Will the taper of the barrel be a problem?

I've made simple parts on a lathe before and had no problem.
Thanks in advance.

From the pisc I have seen most of the barrels have some type of pad btwn the barrel and the jaws of the chuck. I would assume these are lead? soft but provides a grip. Like the lead jaws you can get for a vice.

Just my .02

JMBN

If you plan to mount the barrel through the headstock I suggest you wrap the entire barrel with plastic electrical tape first for protection against scratches. Then make you some brass shims the size of your chuck jaws and about 1/8 to 5/16 inch thick. Cut some thin cardboard material about like you see used for the carton holding canned soft drinks and glue them to the brass shims. Place the shims between the jaws and barrel with the brass facing the jaws. If you use at least two layers of cardboard you will not have any trouble with conforming to the taper of the barrel. I have used this method for many years to crown and thread barrels for muzzle brakes with good accuracy and no damage to the finished barrels.

Dont forget, you will need a spider on the opposite end of the lathe spindle to accurately center the barrel on that end.

As long as we r talking about chucking up a barrel in the lathe... Do you chamber in the headstock or in a steadyrest? Just what you do and why? Theory behind it ?

Thanks

Andrew

I use either scrap sheet roofer's lead, or thin sheet metal...either seems to work fine for me.



In a scrape (when I'm out of the above), I wrap the barrel about three or four layers deep with used crocus cloth, grit side out. Also works fine, but a bit more of a pain to do.



AC

Teal
I am far from an authority on this, but I do my own barrels and as of now I have had no real problems with them. I would think that the majority of guys that thread and chamber in a steady rest, do so bedause the headstock of their lathe will not accomodate the barrel. I'll more then likely get some fallout on this, but I can not believe that a steadyrest set up can be as stable as a setup through the headstock. As far as theory behind it, it just makes sense to me anyway, that a barrel held in the jaws of a buck chuck or a four jaw chuck can not be duplicated in a rest. I guess, now that I say that, the lack of an adjustable chuck may be a reason to go to a steadyrest set up. This is just my idea, and there are probibly other reasons also. Take care and good luck. Bob

If you're just "recrowning" the muzzle you can purchase a piloted crowning tool from Brownell's and do it without a lathe. Although a lathe is a more rigid setup you can get acceptable results using a hand turned method or chucking it in a hand drill. Just be sure to burnish it to remove any tiny burrs which you have to do in a lathe anyway. Paul.

To avoid marking the barrel with the setady rest put a ring of bondo around ther barrel.
Then with the muzzle on a floating center turn a bushing for the steady rest.
A little heat asnd it comes right off. The same trick works at the breech to prevent the
barrel pushing into the headstock when chambering. A steady rest/ headstock set up is
much more accurate than some juryrigged spider connected to god knows what.
At least it can adjusted and measured more easily.
Just an opinion/ please do not flame.
Good luck!

Irv, The arguement about thru the headstock or steadyrest goes on and on. I for one do the headstock route. Maybe it's something I'm doing wrong, but I can never indicate as close in a steady as I can thru the headstock. And my spider is not flimsy. And, I can indicate a barrel in and account for the straightness of the bore(or lack thereof). And then there is the fact that some amount of clearence is always present in the fingers of the steady. Altho it may be slight, it's still clearence, just like a bearing in a motor.

On the other hand, many good barrels are chambered in a steady. So I guess it's 6 one half dozen the other.

I am with vip on this one. Even if you are using a lathe get the self piloting tool from Brownells.

By the way, I have chambered several rifles by hand too, lathes are not truly necessary.

ASS_CLOWN