I'd like to experiment with sleeving a rifle barrel both for looks, to
add weight and rigidity as well. My thought was to use an epoxy
filler between the original barrel and a piece of heat treated 4130
tube. Firing will not be rapid so I'm not worried about heat
dissipation.

I also considered building up the barrel using something like Lab
Metal but am wondering if it will last or start chipping and fall
apart over time. I could put a 4130 tube over it I suppose.

Part of my challenge is that I don't have a lathe and wanted to
tinker. I was going to chuck this up in my big drill press and then
use a ******* file to downsize whatever filler and then either press
fit or glue the sleeve to whatever.

What are your thoughts about how I can do this?

On Sat, 11 Aug 2007 13:22:38 GMT, gspaff wrote:

I'd like to experiment with sleeving a rifle barrel both for looks, to
add weight and rigidity as well. My thought was to use an epoxy
filler between the original barrel and a piece of heat treated 4130
tube. Firing will not be rapid so I'm not worried about heat
dissipation.

I also considered building up the barrel using something like Lab
Metal but am wondering if it will last or start chipping and fall
apart over time. I could put a 4130 tube over it I suppose.

Part of my challenge is that I don't have a lathe and wanted to
tinker. I was going to chuck this up in my big drill press and then
use a ******* file to downsize whatever filler and then either press
fit or glue the sleeve to whatever.

What are your thoughts about how I can do this?

When I was working in a gunsmith shop in Shreveport we occasionally
relined a .22 cal barrel. We bored out the existing barrel and soft
soldered in a liner. Then chambered the liner so essentially the
barrel was a two part .22 cal barrel.

As an aside, these were usually fairly old, and possibly collectable,
..22 rifles, usually Winchester pump guns, as I remember.

The big secret was to fit it up well and use the right flux for the
solder.

If you are putting an outer sleeve on the barrel then that is a
different story. I used to build single shot "varmint rifles" in my
spare time and (it was been a long time ago) made the barrels the same
diameter as the action at the butt end and tapered them just enough
that they didn't look like a straight cylinder. Usually 22-250 and
used to guarantee MOA or better.

I'm long out of the trade but if you are looking for accuracy you
might look at the system of sleeving the barrel just forward of the
action and bedding that area with the rest of the metal free floating.



Bruce in Bangkok
(brucepaigeATgmailDOTcom)

On Sat, 11 Aug 2007 21:51:35 +0700, wrote:


When I was working in a gunsmith shop in Shreveport we occasionally
relined a .22 cal barrel. We bored out the existing barrel and soft
soldered in a liner. Then chambered the liner so essentially the
barrel was a two part .22 cal barrel.

As an aside, these were usually fairly old, and possibly collectable,
.22 rifles, usually Winchester pump guns, as I remember.

The big secret was to fit it up well and use the right flux for the
solder.

If you are putting an outer sleeve on the barrel then that is a
different story. I used to build single shot "varmint rifles" in my
spare time and (it was been a long time ago) made the barrels the same
diameter as the action at the butt end and tapered them just enough
that they didn't look like a straight cylinder. Usually 22-250 and
used to guarantee MOA or better.

I'm long out of the trade but if you are looking for accuracy you
might look at the system of sleeving the barrel just forward of the
action and bedding that area with the rest of the metal free floating.


Bruce in Bangkok
(brucepaigeATgmailDOTcom)

Thank you for your thoughts Bruce. I'm talking about sleeving the
outside of a brand new barrel. It's an experiment for me so I'm
digging around for ideas.

The barrel will be free floated without anything touching it.

gspaff wrote:

I'd like to experiment with sleeving a rifle barrel both for looks, to
add weight and rigidity as well. My thought was to use an epoxy
filler between the original barrel and a piece of heat treated 4130
tube. Firing will not be rapid so I'm not worried about heat
dissipation.

Heat treating doesn't make it stiffer if I've learned anything from this
list.

DAGS:
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.c...cb2b037055a954

Yup, heat treat is a waste of time.

They sell some steel reinforced epoxy in 1# cans or larger. I heavily
relieved portions of my garand stock in the action area and filled it with
this type of epoxy. Can't remember where I learned this. Maybe Walt
Kuleck's book on the garand.

Wes

On Aug 11, 7:22 am, gspaff wrote:
I'd like to experiment with sleeving a rifle barrel both for looks, to
add weight and rigidity as well. My thought was to use an epoxy
filler between the original barrel and a piece of heat treated 4130
tube. Firing will not be rapid so I'm not worried about heat
dissipation.

I also considered building up the barrel using something like Lab
Metal but am wondering if it will last or start chipping and fall
apart over time. I could put a 4130 tube over it I suppose.

Part of my challenge is that I don't have a lathe and wanted to
tinker. I was going to chuck this up in my big drill press and then
use a ******* file to downsize whatever filler and then either press
fit or glue the sleeve to whatever.

What are your thoughts about how I can do this?
I don't think it's going to do much for you. If you were going to
just add the tube as a bloop tube so you could get a longer sight
radius, fine. Just free float the barrel ahead of the chamber. But
to pack the tube full of whatever isn't going to do much but damp some
vibrations or at least change them. Hard to say what it would do for
you. Benchresters used to sleeve their actions back when they were
using standard hunting-type actions, that would probably give you more
benefit than what you want. Pillar bedding would probably gain you
more than that, too. If it was a good idea, benchresters would have
done it already and would still be doing it.

I rather think it's going to let loose after a number of shots, just
from differential expansion. Several old military rifles had full-
length sleeved barrels, they were threaded onto the barrel at the
chamber end and the muzzle end floated free to alow for expansion from
heat.

Stan

Thank you Wes. I'll check the stuff out.
On Sat, 11 Aug 2007 14:07:02 -0400, Wes wrote:

gspaff wrote:

I'd like to experiment with sleeving a rifle barrel both for looks, to
add weight and rigidity as well. My thought was to use an epoxy
filler between the original barrel and a piece of heat treated 4130
tube. Firing will not be rapid so I'm not worried about heat
dissipation.

Heat treating doesn't make it stiffer if I've learned anything from this
list.

DAGS:
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.c...cb2b037055a954

Yup, heat treat is a waste of time.

They sell some steel reinforced epoxy in 1# cans or larger. I heavily
relieved portions of my garand stock in the action area and filled it with
this type of epoxy. Can't remember where I learned this. Maybe Walt
Kuleck's book on the garand.

Wes

On Sat, 11 Aug 2007 13:47:02 -0700, wrote:


Thank you for your thoughts Stan. I'll look into this.

I don't think it's going to do much for you. If you were going to
just add the tube as a bloop tube so you could get a longer sight
radius, fine. Just free float the barrel ahead of the chamber. But
to pack the tube full of whatever isn't going to do much but damp some
vibrations or at least change them. Hard to say what it would do for
you. Benchresters used to sleeve their actions back when they were
using standard hunting-type actions, that would probably give you more
benefit than what you want. Pillar bedding would probably gain you
more than that, too. If it was a good idea, benchresters would have
done it already and would still be doing it.

I rather think it's going to let loose after a number of shots, just
from differential expansion. Several old military rifles had full-
length sleeved barrels, they were threaded onto the barrel at the
chamber end and the muzzle end floated free to alow for expansion from
heat.

Stan

On Sat, 11 Aug 2007 15:44:10 GMT, gspaff wrote:

On Sat, 11 Aug 2007 21:51:35 +0700, wrote:


When I was working in a gunsmith shop in Shreveport we occasionally
relined a .22 cal barrel. We bored out the existing barrel and soft
soldered in a liner. Then chambered the liner so essentially the
barrel was a two part .22 cal barrel.

As an aside, these were usually fairly old, and possibly collectable,
.22 rifles, usually Winchester pump guns, as I remember.

The big secret was to fit it up well and use the right flux for the
solder.

If you are putting an outer sleeve on the barrel then that is a
different story. I used to build single shot "varmint rifles" in my
spare time and (it was been a long time ago) made the barrels the same
diameter as the action at the butt end and tapered them just enough
that they didn't look like a straight cylinder. Usually 22-250 and
used to guarantee MOA or better.

I'm long out of the trade but if you are looking for accuracy you
might look at the system of sleeving the barrel just forward of the
action and bedding that area with the rest of the metal free floating.


Bruce in Bangkok
(brucepaigeATgmailDOTcom)

Thank you for your thoughts Bruce. I'm talking about sleeving the
outside of a brand new barrel. It's an experiment for me so I'm
digging around for ideas.

The barrel will be free floated without anything touching it.

Back in my day we used to glass the receiver and a short section of
the of the barrel, where it screwed into the receiver. The rest of
the barrel was very loosely fitted to the stock. It seemed to work
pretty well but some recent reading implies there is a better method.
You sleeve the barrel for about four inches, it looks like, at the
forward end of the receiver and glass ONLY that portion into the
stock. The gus is held together by bolts threaded into the sleeve and
the normal receiver bolts do not seem to be used at all. Try
http://riflestocks.tripod.com/bedding.html for more detail.

The idea seems to have merit as stocks do change dimensions with
changes in temperature and humidity so this single point bedding might
very well do a better job in isolating the action and barrel from the
stock.



Bruce in Bangkok
(brucepaigeATgmailDOTcom)

Hi Guys:

I'm going through the current topics to hopefully suggest a way to tag
valid RCM traffic.


Add RCM: on the beginning of the title line - BEFORE the obligatory OT?

Hang tiugh - keep posting.

CaveLamb

Hi Guys:

I'm going through the current topics to hopefully suggest a way to tag
valid RCM traffic.


Add RCM: on the beginning of the title line -
BEFORE the obligatory OT, OK?

Then we can filter on that tag.

Also need to add a filter for RCM: to get the reply lines.

Hang tight - keep posting.

CaveLamb