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Gunsmithing Barrel shortening question? Might be a dumb question...

BenY 2013

Gunny Sergeant
Full Member
Minuteman
Jan 23, 2012
1,296
16
29
SW Arkansas
So I am wanting to shorten the barrel on my CZ 452 Varmint. I have heard these barrels are a beast to get out of the action. My question is if I stripped everything off the action (trigger, mag housing, bases, etc.) until it was nothing but the rounded action; if I stuck this in the lathe, would it hurt the accuracy of the barrel vs doing it the traditional way? If I go ahead and indicate my zero off the bore of the barrel would it hurt? As long as I did in fact get it dialed into zero before I cut my crown? Does anyone see any issues with this? Thanks, and I apologize if this is a stupid question!
 
I did something similar with a Mauser I just got done with. I put the action in the chuck and used a steady rest on the muzzle end. Dialed off the bor and cut away. I kept the rpm really slow . Went slow and light cuts . No issues I could see or tell shooting. Good luck
 
I did something similar with a Mauser I just got done with. I put the action in the chuck and used a steady rest on the muzzle end. Dialed off the bor and cut away. I kept the rpm really slow . Went slow and light cuts . No issues I could see or tell shooting. Good luck

How do you dial in off the bore if the muzzle end is in a steady rest?
 
Sorry I should clarify. My steady rest is a small 6" rotary table that was modified by an old timer to act like a second headstock kind of . Think instead of steady rest more like a chuck on an three way adjustable base with bearings so it rotates with the work. Up and down, left right ( for tapers I think) and length are adjustments along with the four jaws . Works really well when I need to use it.

The other way is to use the outboard side to center the action and use the chuck to dial the muzzle end
http://www.riflebarrels.com/articles/bullets_ballastics/long_barrel_velocity.htm

Decent picture here
 
Sorry I should clarify. My steady rest is a small 6" rotary table that was modified by an old timer to act like a second headstock kind of . Think instead of steady rest more like a chuck on an three way adjustable base with bearings so it rotates with the work. Up and down, left right ( for tapers I think) and length are adjustments along with the four jaws . Works really well when I need to use it.

Interesting. Is that a home-brew item? I was thinking you could probably make a small spider-block and run it in a conventional steadyrest.

The other way is to use the outboard side to center the action and use the chuck to dial the muzzle end
http://www.riflebarrels.com/articles/bullets_ballastics/long_barrel_velocity.htm

Decent picture here

That's nice unless you've got a 24 inch spindle and another 6 inches of chuck like my SB13 (I guess I could stuff a 46 inch barrel in there like they did in the link).
 
I would do it that way, but the headstock on the lathe that I will be using is too long. So I will have to either build something to snug the action into the spindle or hold the action in the chuck and use a steady rest.

Does anyone see any reason why accuracy would diminish? It should shoot as good if not better if it is done correctly right?
 
Accuracy should not be affected . Your load may need to be tuned to the shorter barrel length.

The set up was built by the gentleman I bought my lathe from. He had a milling rotary table where the gearing crapped out. He build new bearings for it ,ditched the base and it is now a "chuck steady adjustable super duper high speed low drag shade tree rest"

I think the idea of a small spider inside a steady rest would have been easier to use some days.
 
when i did mine, i let the receiver stay out the backside of the chuck, (inserted the barrel through the backside of the chuck), put my center on the muzzle and cut it at 20 inches, still as accurate as before.