On Thursday, September 19, 2013 at 8:18:44 PM UTC+10, Karl Townsend wrote:
I just bought a rifling button so I can make my own 9mm barrels
http://tinyurl.com/kdn8mzg

You need a five ton press to push this button down a barrel to form
the rifling. OK, what would be the highest strength steel i can get
for the pusher. I looked for HSS and couldn't find anything long
enough. looked for already hardened drill rod. It must be out there
but no joy so far.

My first barrels will be 12", want to do 16" in the future.

Karl

Way off NRA discussion, sorry, but I am interested in how you ended up pushing the button through your barrel.

My plan was to use a series of pushing rods, starting with a very short one to get it started, then when approx 1" in the bore, change to the next length, say 2" in length, the increase as you go along.

High strength bard machined to just under bore dia so flex is not such an issue, using a ball bearing, in a dia as close as you can get to bore are the point of contact between Pusher and button, lube can be added as required when the pusher rod is changed out.

It would not be fast, but I cant see why it wont work.

chris.collum13 at(@) gmail