Cutting a barrel and crown with hand tools
Posted: 04 Oct 2014 13:43
It's still a better idea to have a gunsmith cut down and/or recut the crown on a really nice rifle, and sometimes it's not worth the cost if you're just cutting down or fixing an old beater or truck gun. I put together a short tutorial on how to cut down and crown a barrel using nothing but hand tools.
If you have a large enough vise and a v-block, clamp the barrel using the v-block against one of the vise jaws and use it as a saw guide. Use a fine blade in the hacksaw, a 24 to 32 teeth per inch blade will work.
Another way to guide the saw blade while cutting the barrel is to use a small hose clamp as a guide.
After the barrel is cut, the hose clamp is used as a guide to file the end of the barrel square with the bore.
To cut the crown I used a tool that'll be familiar to anyone who reloads. This is a Lee case trimming tool, the pilot is the same one that's used to trim 30-30 cases to length. Lee sells a version of the cutter that has a wooden ball attached so you can apply pressure without your fingers cramping up. Since I already had an extra cutter, I drilled a 31/64" hole into an old golf ball, then pressed the cutter into the hole.
This picture shows how the pilot slides into the bore and it guides the cutter so that it cuts a crown that is square to the bore.
Here's what the muzzle looks like when you start cutting the crown.
While your cutting the crown, take time to file the end of the barrel. Between the hose clamp on the outside of the barrel and the crown being cut in the center, it's easy to file the end square.
When you're done filing the end of the barrel, use either emery cloth or wet or dry paper under your thumb to remove the filing marks.
Then once the end of the barrel is done being filed and sanded, use the Lee cutter to increase the depth of the recess. When you're happy with the depth of the crown, use a cold bluing solution or paste to finish the job.
If you have a large enough vise and a v-block, clamp the barrel using the v-block against one of the vise jaws and use it as a saw guide. Use a fine blade in the hacksaw, a 24 to 32 teeth per inch blade will work.
Another way to guide the saw blade while cutting the barrel is to use a small hose clamp as a guide.
After the barrel is cut, the hose clamp is used as a guide to file the end of the barrel square with the bore.
To cut the crown I used a tool that'll be familiar to anyone who reloads. This is a Lee case trimming tool, the pilot is the same one that's used to trim 30-30 cases to length. Lee sells a version of the cutter that has a wooden ball attached so you can apply pressure without your fingers cramping up. Since I already had an extra cutter, I drilled a 31/64" hole into an old golf ball, then pressed the cutter into the hole.
This picture shows how the pilot slides into the bore and it guides the cutter so that it cuts a crown that is square to the bore.
Here's what the muzzle looks like when you start cutting the crown.
While your cutting the crown, take time to file the end of the barrel. Between the hose clamp on the outside of the barrel and the crown being cut in the center, it's easy to file the end square.
When you're done filing the end of the barrel, use either emery cloth or wet or dry paper under your thumb to remove the filing marks.
Then once the end of the barrel is done being filed and sanded, use the Lee cutter to increase the depth of the recess. When you're happy with the depth of the crown, use a cold bluing solution or paste to finish the job.