How much trouble is it to cut a few inches off of a barrel and what is a good price for this work?

Not a big job.

I charge about $45 I think to do it.

It involves a lathe and a crowning cutter and maybe an hour or so.

-Spencer

I've been thinking of cutting an old H&R 12 ga 30" full choke single shot down to around 19" to use as a snake gun. I could just keep it behind the back seat of the pickup. Do you see any problems?

No, but in the case of a shotgun you don't really need a lathe.

All I do, especially if it is with a worthless gun is I mark how short I want it and hacksaw it off about 1/4" in front of that mark.

Then over to the belt grinder where I grind the rest of it off, being sure to keep the barrel perpendicular to the belt and rotating the barrel in my hands to avoid getting a burr.

I think I charge a little less for these, $37.50 sounds right.

-Spencer

Does the inside of the cut get any attention? Or does the grinder take care of it?

By rotating the barrel as it gets ground, then there should be no burr on the inside of the barrel.

Inevitably there is always going to be a little lip there, so I usually do a little minor polishing with a felt bob and dremel tool or air powered grinder tool.

-Spencer

I really can't help myself on this one.

How much it will cost to take off a few inches will depend on which end you want to cut!

kwtx if your gonna go to la. with it ever better make it 20 in.

better yet if you make it 22 in you will get full burn from your powder.

you funny guy bill

So it's a simple process then.

Jarrod,

Before you start whacking away at your barrel with hack saws and bench grinders why not take a browse through Shotgun News and see if you can pick up a second barrel, either shorter or one you can have cut down, at a decent price. Then you can keep the longer barrel in case you ever want to use it. There are always tons of ads for used shotgun barrels...and they are normally pretty cheap.

With all due respect to the other posters, I would not recommend the procedures, or the tools, mentioned so far to do the job. Just because its a shotgun and not a target rifle doesn’t mean you can just whack the barrel off and not have any problems down the road.

I should have been more specific. I am talking about rifle barrels instead of shotguns.
Reason why I asked is because a lot of times rifles that I like the barrels are longer than I personally prefer.
I thought if it was not a hard process to do it correctly that it would make a difference on future rifle purchases.

quote:

Originally posted by Jarrod:
I should have been more specific. I am talking about rifle barrels instead of shotguns.
Reason why I asked is because a lot of times rifles that I like the barrels are longer than I personally prefer.
I thought if it was not a hard process to do it correctly that it would make a difference on future rifle purchases.

Same answer...its an easy job, as long as you use the proper tools and procedures. If you don’t have the skill and tools to do it yourself then take it to someone who does and save yourself allot of headaches.

You might also want to check how much cutting those inches off is going to effect the ballistics of your particular cartridge. Most centerfire rifles with barrels under 22 inches have a hell of an increase in muzzle blast if that’s a concern to you.

Jarrod-
Sorry we hijacked your thread, but getting back to the point, no, cutting and crownig a barrel is not a big job at all.

Take it to a good smith and he should have it done by the afternoon, or the next day.

Rick-
I have done many shotgun barrels this way. I'm not saying it is the best way, I mean I could certainly chuck it up in the lathe and treat it like a regular rifle barrel, but why? It is afterall a shotgun, a truck gun if you will, and nobody is looking for 25/25 accuracy.

-Spencer

Spencer,

Read your own byline at the bottom of your posts!

I was not so concerned with the hack saw thing as I was with the grinder. Any decent gunsmith doing barrel work, and charging people for it, should have the proper tools to square, debur, chamfer, and crown barrels. You don’t need a lathe to to this but you do need the right tool for the right job...and IMHO a belt sander/grinder ain’t one of those tools.

Sure there are the 'correct' tools, but when somebody wants their gun cut down, it is not because they are looking for better scores at the trap range. They want something short for home defense or a knockaround truck gun.

I have never had anybody come in and request a better shooting gun after it was cut down, nor have I had any complaints after doing it my way.

-Spencer

Spencer,

“"There is always enough time to do the job over again, but never enough time to do it right the first time."

That’s your tag line...not mine, Pard! You‘ve got 18,000 parts in stock and you don’t have anything except a belt sander to square and crown a barrel you’ve cut off????

Specifically what I was talking about is that most 26 inch barreled rifles feel to long to me but some of the ones I like otherwise have 26 inch barrels.

Thanks for the info everyone.
Jarrod.

quote:

Originally posted by Jarrod:
Specifically what I was talking about is that most 26 inch barreled rifles feel to long to me but some of the ones I like otherwise have 26 inch barrels.

Thanks for the info everyone.
Jarrod.

Jarrod,

Just keep in mind that some (not all) of the 26†barreled rifles have that length in order to take full advantage of the cartridge for which they are chambered. Some of the high velocity magnums need that extra 2†to do what they do so well...and without it they are no better than their non-magnum brothers in the velocity game.

The absolute minimum required is a hacksaw, a bastard and smooth file, machinist square, brass screw or ball with polishing compound, drill and cold blue. The barrel is cut to desired length, the files and square are used to square up the cut and chamfer the barrel, and the brass screw and polishing compound are used to create the new crown. Then cold blue the cut surfaces, assuming a blued gun.

If you do said manuver on an accurate scoped rifle, you probably won't be happy with the results. If you do the above to a beater milsurp gun with a bore that has been trashed by careless cleaning rod use, you'll likely be happy to very happy with the results.

Back to the shotgun question, cut down barrels can also have a choke cut into them, or a screw in choke fitted, though that adds a bit of expense to the job. One of the brownells kinks books has some interesting info on said work ie choking a cutdown shotgun barrel.

Brownell’s sells all kinds of muzzle squaring cutters, chamfering/deburring tools, and crowning tools that index off the bore...which is what it is supposed to be squared to, not to the outside of the barrel.

I’m sorry, but squaring the muzzle off the outside of a tapered barrel with a machinist square is not at all accurate, nor is trying to precisely square something with a file.

If you’re gonna do this...DO IT RIGHT...or take it to someone who can and pay them the $75 or $100 bucks they will charge you for it.

quote:

Originally posted by CRUSHER:
kwtx if your gonna go to la. with it ever better make it 20 in.

better yet if you make it 22 in you will get full burn from your powder.

Thanks, thats the info I was looking for.

Why? in la........Fed law prescribes 18.5 as legal for a shotgun and 16.5 for a rifle or did last time I checked...Is this wrong???

All but a very few of my guns have 26" barrels as I like that long tube for shooting off hand..and for running shots and shots when I am breathing hard after a run..

It takes me a lot longer to get a 26 inch barrel into action than a 24 or 22 especially on a running shot.
I dont mind the longer barrels for open fields but I dont like them in the woods.

quote:

Originally posted by Jarrod:
How much trouble is it to cut a few inches off of a barrel and what is a good price for this work?

No biggie! I've even done a couple of old Japs myself with a hacksaw, files, and a hand drill with brass screw head & valve-grinding compound to cut the crown just as paul H described.

They turned out to be as accurate afterward as they had been before cutting them off.....

You just have to be careful to keep the cut square. Of course, a lathe makes this a lot more precise!