NEW BARREL...OLD BARREL?

[roninsan]

I know there are really talented smith's out there, who can take lumps of steel and turn them into works of art. Maybe this is even beyond their ability to produce at a reasonable cost?
I've no idea how the factory made the tapered barrels they put on N frames like the model 27, and the various caliber Mountain Guns, with tapered barrels. I do know those tapered barrel guns bring big dollars on the resale market, and they are few and far between.
Could a talented smith re-machine a standard, factory barrel into a tapered barrel? Said another way could it be done without spending the cost of the gun a second time? Just curious!

 

[M29since14]

No. Yes, it can be done, but it would be very expensive. Few people realize what a beautiful piece of metalworking they are looking at when they see one of those ribbed, tapered barrels.

 

[CALREB]

Much cheaper to find a tapered barrel to change out. Just make sure what you are looking for, be diligent and PATIENT searching gun parts at the various gun sales sites. Fleabay also just examine the photos or send seller messages about condition and return policy. I have bought many a barrel in the past. You just have to take the time.

 

[steelslaver]

You could do it with some radius end mills and then a bunch of sanding using formed backs for sand paper, then polishing. Be cheaper to pay $800 for a barrel than have one made.

I have considered machining off a full under lug and haven't made the leap.(effort)

 

[WR Moore]

I'd rather expect in ye days of olde, the barrels were made by specially ground profile milling cutters. Lock the barrel blank(s) in special milling vises, machine right profile, flip over and machine left profile. Separate machines to do the top rib/sight and mill/drill the extractor rod groove and locking bolt cuts.

With CNC machining centers the tooling costs probably go way down, but the programming time goes way up and you're only doing one barrel at a time. Be interesting to see cost analysis.

 

[chief38]

ANYTHING is possible - for a cost that is.....

Today's prices for quality gun smithing and shipping makes it impractical for most custom mods unless someone just wants what they want and doesn't care about price, wait times and shipping hassles.

Most quality GS's are so backed up and busy now as they know they are few and far between, they can charge what they want and make you wait months.

 

[Hondo44]

S&W handgun barrels are forged, in a hammer press using dies shaped like the barrel (closed forging), to the general final shape.

So a forged tapered barrel comes out of the final forging die already tapered. Then the 'flash' (excess metal squeezed out between the two halves of the die) is trimmed off. The barrel is cleaned up to final size specs and finally polished.

Of course this brief explanation just deals with the outside of the barrel and does not include boring and rifling the barrel. That's an additional process to complete the barrel.

 

[teletech]

Cutting a taper would be easy, cutting the fillet at the stub end would be easy... if they were on a round barrel that is. Reducing those diameters on a newer barrel wouldn't be bad, except for all the stuff that's *not* round. The front sight and the under locking lug oy would have to work around and that's where all the effort is. I've actually done it to make a replica of the "Indiana Jones" gun from the first movie, but it was a ton of work.
The other thing is the old barrels have engraving and the modification wouldn't.
Yes, by all means buy an old barrel rather than modify a new one unless you need the different internal geometry used in the newer barrel.

 

[vinn]

gun smiths;

I know there are really talented smith's out there, who can take lumps of steel and turn them into works of art. Maybe this is even beyond their ability to produce at a reasonable cost?
I've no idea how the factory made the tapered barrels they put on N frames like the model 27, and the various caliber Mountain Guns, with tapered barrels. I do know those tapered barrel guns bring big dollars on the resale market, and they are few and far between.
Could a talented smith re-machine a standard, factory barrel into a tapered barrel? Said another way could it be done without spending the cost of the gun a second time? Just curious!

a gun smith is a machinest (4 year aprentics ship plus 2years as a gun smith). but, you can learn the hard way.

 

[2152hq]

There are quite a few rifle builders/custom gunsmiths that make custom riflebbls of all sorts of special shapes and added features( sight ribs, sight ramps, scope mount bases, full length ribs, secondary recoil lugs, etc..all being cut from the same large dia blank to start from.
The bbl profile can be anything you want. Round, round/oct, full oct, tapered.
Nothing added on, attached with screws or solder. All one piece.



It's nothing new, it's been done since forever in the gun building world. But modern CNC equipment makes it an easier chore and repeatable.

Remington used to make the bbls of their Vent Rib shot guns all in one piece.
The old Model 10, 17, 11 and 31..those Vent rib barrels are made as one piece.
The bbl, the vent rib posts and the rib itself are all machined from one solid piece of steel. No separate parts assembled and soldered together.
Pretty good for early to mid 20th century factory work., and on a simple assembly line production gun as well.