Do I need an expensive bandsaw to cut barrels to final length? Im just a hobbyist getting into doing my own barrels. Which wont be a whole bunch. So I dont want to go get $1k+ bandsaw for the little use it would get.
Gunsmithing Cutting barrels to length with a band saw
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Your going to be cutting the edge clean with lathe tooling I assume?
You can cut it with a hack saw or sawzall if you want.
Have you investigated the This old Tony karate chop method?
You can cut it with a hack saw or sawzall if you want.
Have you investigated the This old Tony karate chop method?
Questions like this were made for Larry to do a video answer to.
A good bandsaw can be a handy tool for several reasons, but I certainly wouldn't buy one just for chopping barrels.
Any reason that you're not just using a parting tool on your lathe to cut the barrel?
Any reason that you're not just using a parting tool on your lathe to cut the barrel?
If it is a high quality low round count barrel, use a lathe and recrown it properly, if it is just an off the shelf quality or older barrel, use a hack saw and buy an inexpensive crown repair tool.
How does any guy not have a decent bandsaw? Or 6 or 8 bandsaws?
- Nov 3, 2010
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or an arc welder set on high...
Not a particular reason. Have heard of people using parting tool and bandsaw.
I am scheduled to do some training in December with Speedy Gonzalez. So Ill wait and see how he does it and go from there. Just wanting to know in general what people use.
I’ve done a bunch with a hacksaw and the Brownells facing/crowning cutters. They work awesome. 
Barrels are not hard to cut....you can do it with a hand hacksaw easily....so the cheapest band saw will do it no problem.
But you'll still need a lathe to clean up the muzzle and crown it.
I've used that same set to clean up and fix a damaged crown on my AAC-SD, the results were excellent.
A lathe is the tool you seek for gun smithing.
Bandsaw is a single use tool in that regard.
Bandsaw is a single use tool in that regard.
In your case, a horizontal bandsaw may be a waste of space if all you need it for is cutting a few barrels.
You can use a parting tool, or a hacksaw to cut it on the lathe.
Mine is used often- but most of it is for fabricating other "stuff". If you don't do any other metalworking/welding, it's probably not worthwhile.
You can use a parting tool, or a hacksaw to cut it on the lathe.
Mine is used often- but most of it is for fabricating other "stuff". If you don't do any other metalworking/welding, it's probably not worthwhile.
Yep, same. I've even threaded the barrels I've cut using hand tools. For barrels that don't need to mount suppressors, that also works just fine.
I don't want to admit this, but yeah, some of my first FAL builds about two decades ago were cut, crowned, and threaded with hand tools. Wouldn't want to screw on a suppressor or a brake with a tight bore, but this worked fine for standard muzzle devices.
In a former life at a shop I worked at I used to literally do them with a chop saw till I got yelled at for the noise. Several hundred of them before I stopped. Never hurt a thing. Moving forward a cold saw will get you there too. Or just use a parting tool in the lathe.
Me too...but it wasn't the noise that had me buying the band saw, it was the damned abrasive dust- everyfuckingwhere.
Not cool in a shop full of machine tools. The "fines" get everywhere- as bad as sawdust in a wood shop.
When I discovered the black dust covering the alarm system door/window magnetic sensors it was a wake-up call.
Like you said, cold saw, band saw, hacksaw- anything but the sacrificial chop saw blades.
That new Dewalt Jigsaw is pretty impressive!
Parting tool is not the answer.
However, a handheld bandsaw isn't terribly expensive, and will do the job.
10 Amp Deep Cut Variable-Speed Band Saw
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If you are determined to use a band saw, you must FIRST true the bandsaw so it cuts square. You must also pay more attention to the quality of the blade (and the number of teeth per inch for the kind of cut you are doing). With these two factors mastered, even a harbor freight saw will get the job done. Personally, I prefer a lathe with a spider for this function, but maybe I am just fussy.
It is the craftsman, not the tools. Here's a barrel shortened, threaded, and crowned with a band saw and hand tools.
Pipe cutter
If its a rifle you want real accuracy from recomend you have a Gunsmith set up in a Lathe, part off the barrel to the correct length and machine a proper crown that is true 90 degrees to the last 4-6" of the bore.[Gritter method] Same method as is used for precise chambering alignment. If it's a test project piece you can certainly band saw it off and use one of the basic crowning tools sold in B'nells. They not super precise but a "good enough" . Have fun with it.Merry Christmas
I have seen damaged crowns cause accuracy issues. I have also heard from people that I trust that a re-crown job restored accuracy in a barrel that was acting up. So I will say this is not an absolute... BUT, in my experience with a few "by the inch" tests (3 barrels, probably 30-40 different cuts), accuracy did not suffer at all going from a machined crown (1st group) to a bandsaw cut and case deburr tool for each inch thereafter. Obviously for the amount of money in the components in these rifles a guy might as well do it right-- I'm not suggesting that deburr tools are the way to go.
I cut barrels to length on a band saw before throwing them in the lathe because part-off tools through .8-1.25" dia. muzzles, while doable, requires much more attention (at least a rough dial-in, then I have to dial it in again after cutting) than tossing it in the bandsaw, hitting the green button, and letting the arm drop.
I cut barrels to length on a band saw before throwing them in the lathe because part-off tools through .8-1.25" dia. muzzles, while doable, requires much more attention (at least a rough dial-in, then I have to dial it in again after cutting) than tossing it in the bandsaw, hitting the green button, and letting the arm drop.
I've purchased a number of used rifles that benefited from a quick touch-up of the crown. Sometimes, a marble with a dab of lapping compound is all it takes to address the problem, but if one encounters this on a regular basis and doesn't have easy access to a lathe, then a piloted cutter would be a completely reasonable purchase and well worth the money. I'd really prefer to use that on a barrel that was cut reasonably square, but if one had the patience and tolerance for a bit of tool wear, it'd work fine in conjunction with a number of different barrel cutting methods.
That's what I usePipe cutter you amateurs.
This is an enjoyable thread to read.... Being a retired Steamfitter / Welder.... For some reason is see a barrel as just another piece of pipe.... LOL... We made precision fit up's with hand tools all day long... Cleaned the burr's off the inside with a reamer.... Back beveled different ID's to match up with different wall thicknesses... Rifles were around for hundreds of years before metal lathes showed up... It was all hand work by a craftsman.
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Long rifles can be accurate to hundreds of yards. “At one point in Revolutionary times, a man named Timothy Murphy shot a British officer at three hundred yards using a long rifle,” Tuccori says. “That’s a pretty fair shot with an open sight. To the people settling this part of the world, an accurate weapon like that was indispensable. It was more valuable to them than an ax or a hoe.”
gardenandgun.com
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Long rifles can be accurate to hundreds of yards. “At one point in Revolutionary times, a man named Timothy Murphy shot a British officer at three hundred yards using a long rifle,” Tuccori says. “That’s a pretty fair shot with an open sight. To the people settling this part of the world, an accurate weapon like that was indispensable. It was more valuable to them than an ax or a hoe.”
True Patriots
Virginia collector Michael Tuccori's eighteenth-century Kentucky rifles are studies in American history
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