I recently purchased a Remington 700P. The barrel is really long @ 26". I'm going to send it to Scorehigh to cut , thread and contour @ 20" for a Surefire MB762 break. They will do it on a Lathe using a 4 jaw chuck. Will Parkerized finish on barrel be damaged during the machining process? I don't want to spend money on Cerakote but don't want rifle to look horrible either. Yes , I could ask Scorehigh but they are closed now. Professional advise/opinion would be appreciated .
Gunsmithing Cutting a Parkerized Remington 700P Barrel
- Thread starter roncar2008
- Start date
You can take all the precautions in the world, but it’s going to be tough to guarantee a finish or surface treatment will not be damaged. I’ve gotten barrels in where you could flake the Cerakote off with your thumbnail. Parkerizing will be better than a poorly applied finish, but there’s always the chance of a chip not breaking while machining and wrapping a wad of hard steel around the muzzle while turning. Even masking tape will not prevent marking in every situation. Most of the time it will be fine.
With C16 collets that we use here at LRI we've experienced very minimal surface inclusion. "Sock it" and run. We've done over 200 threaded muzzles to date this year. So far so good. -I had to look it up. 
If in the rare circumstance it was to mark it up, I have park tanks.
Regarding chucks: It's going to be a case by case basis. There are procedures that will mitigate surface inclusions. Its all relevant to the equipment, the process, and the skill set of the person setting it up. Often copper rings are used as a tangent point contact device for the barrel. These work, however the copper is much softer than the steel on the jaws/barrel. Its not uncommon at all for the copper to burnish into the surface finish. Especially on something like a parkerized finish because it's "toothy" from the media blasting and crystalization buildup on the substrate. While you barrel won't have a scratch in the steel, it can very easily have a copper ring burnished into the finish. Removing this kind of discoloration can be challenging. In truth its a real bitch.
Collets can do damage as well. No so much to the steel, but it burnishes the parkerizing and leaves a glazed look to it. It's stil there, just "knocked down" per say. Much like sanding primer. It's typically "fuzzy" when applied. When you cut it with 600g paper it glosses up.
Fixturing finished parts for post finishing machine work has always been a big challenge in manufacturing. Even stuff like DLC can be marked up pretty easily. I realize in this case your altering a finished product you bought "ready to run" so you more or less take what you can get.
The lesson here for the masses is to do a thorough job of planning your projects well in advance. This way shops can adhere to the order of operations so that the outcome is predictable and desired.
Hope this helps.
C.
If in the rare circumstance it was to mark it up, I have park tanks.
Regarding chucks: It's going to be a case by case basis. There are procedures that will mitigate surface inclusions. Its all relevant to the equipment, the process, and the skill set of the person setting it up. Often copper rings are used as a tangent point contact device for the barrel. These work, however the copper is much softer than the steel on the jaws/barrel. Its not uncommon at all for the copper to burnish into the surface finish. Especially on something like a parkerized finish because it's "toothy" from the media blasting and crystalization buildup on the substrate. While you barrel won't have a scratch in the steel, it can very easily have a copper ring burnished into the finish. Removing this kind of discoloration can be challenging. In truth its a real bitch.
Collets can do damage as well. No so much to the steel, but it burnishes the parkerizing and leaves a glazed look to it. It's stil there, just "knocked down" per say. Much like sanding primer. It's typically "fuzzy" when applied. When you cut it with 600g paper it glosses up.
Fixturing finished parts for post finishing machine work has always been a big challenge in manufacturing. Even stuff like DLC can be marked up pretty easily. I realize in this case your altering a finished product you bought "ready to run" so you more or less take what you can get.
The lesson here for the masses is to do a thorough job of planning your projects well in advance. This way shops can adhere to the order of operations so that the outcome is predictable and desired.
Hope this helps.
C.
I've cut a beer can to make one wrap and chucked on that with no damage even on cerakote . Now that I mention it my good luck doing this will end.
