DIYbanter - View Single Post - Threading the end of a tapered gun barrel

wrote:
I want to make a muzzle break for my gun. I am just learning to run
my
^^^^^
lathe. The question I have is how do I hold on to the tapered barrel
so
that I can turn the threads on the end of my gun barrel? Those with
experience pleas help me.

Thanks, KT

You just had to go and push one of my buttons. That's "brake" as in
"stop" or "halt", not "break" as in "bust". I hope you're going to
"brake" your gun, not "break" it.

There's a number of ways you could do this. Turn precision plugs for
both ends with centers and do it between centers with a dog, I usually
do it this way. You could also chuck the breech end using copper pads
and use a plug on the other end. You could also just run the center
right into the muzzle and figure on crowning afterwards, I don't
recommend this. If you've got an action hanging off the back end,
you'll either have to pull the barrel or turn up a mandrel to fit the
bolt way. I've also seen guys use a steady rest with a cathead on the
barrel and pad the cathead's centering bolts. Seemed like a hard way
to do it to me unless they figure they're going to re-crown at the same
time. You could bore out an aluminum sleeve to match the taper of the
barrel, drive that on the barrel with a little Loctite, put the barrel
between centers and true up the outside, then put the barrel back
through the headstock and use the aluminum sleeve for chucking. You'd
want an off-end support on the other end of the spindle to center that
end up, too. You could re-crown it that way, too. That assumes you've
got a spindle hole big enough to take the barrel. Lots of different
ways to do the same thing.

Between centers using the plugs has worked well for me.

Some states don't allow threaded barrel muzzles, CA is one. Check
state and local laws before doing it.

Stan