Barrel Chopping Advice

[Moondog1]

Sooooooooo I will probably be blasted on here for this, but oh well, it's happening. I'm bubba gun smithing a Mosin I have. I want to chop the barrel to 20"-24", somewhere in that range. I don't think I'll have a problem chopping the barrel, but what do you square the face of the barrel up with? Lastly, any advice for doing an amateur crown on the barrel? I don't want to pay for a gunsmith to do it($$$), this rifle already has holes drilled in it for scope mount, and some ugly costmetic flaws and I would enjoy doing this stuff myself.

 

[righter13]

Nonliberal

 

[Allsmiles]

2nd vote for Dobbs Defense. He is very reasonable and does great work. Might even be able to get it threaded at the same time.

 

[JoKeR50]

3rd vote for Bryan at Dobbs Defense. Really good prices and just one super great guy all around! My advise if you are going to do it, do it right, talk with Bryan.

 

[righter13]

3rd vote for Bryan at Dobbs Defense. Really good prices and just one super great guy all around! My advise if you are going to do it, do it right, talk with Bryan.

And he loves to thread Mosins

 

[Moondog1]

I mean I have $300(rifle, AA stock, scope & mount) in this gun, I just can't imagine it would be cheap enough to get it done professionally.

 

[GAGunguy]

Yes take it to a gunsmith, they will put in a lathe and CENTER the bore of the gun (not the outside of the barrel, which can be dramatically off) and then cut it while its in the lathe. This is the ONLY way to get a square end. Otherwise you will have a non square end, and your bullet will wobble, or tumble as it comes out of the gun.

I haven't had any work done at Dobb's b/c its a hike from this side of town, but he gets excellent reviews.

I have had Dave at Dave's Gunsmith cut, thread and crown a number of barrels, he is excellent and reasonable as well. The last threading job he did was $50 on my 1903/a3.

http://davesgunsmithing.com/

If you do it yourself you are basically ruining any chance at having an accurate gun.

 

[Allsmiles]

Give him a call and prepared to be shocked.

 

[CQB27]

Sooooooooo I will probably be blasted on here for this, but oh well, it's happening. I'm bubba gun smithing a Mosin I have. I want to chop the barrel to 20"-24", somewhere in that range. I don't think I'll have a problem chopping the barrel, but what do you square the face of the barrel up with? Lastly, any advice for doing an amateur crown on the barrel? I don't want to pay for a gunsmith to do it($$$), this rifle already has holes drilled in it for scope mount, and some ugly costmetic flaws and I would enjoy doing this stuff myself.

Brownells sells all the tools needed to hand cut the new crown. By the time you pay for the tools needed you are going to be north of $100. You could most likely get you barrel cut/re-crowned by a qualified smith for less than that. But, if the project is more about the satisfaction of doing it yourself than money, Brownells has everything you need.

 

[Nonliberal]

They make tools to do a reasonable crown job with a drill. That being said, the right way is on the lathe. If you want a Mosin barrel chopped and crowned at 24" it can be done pretty easy. That's long enough just to stick through the head on my lathe. It can be done for a lot cheaper than buying the tool. Any competent machinist can do it. Not something you'd need to drive around the world to get someone to do.