Gunsmithing Cutting Out Barrel Throat Erosion Breech End

[tikka6.5]

Listening to Gun Talk and Tom said that if you have a barrel with throat erosion, you can extend the life by removing the barrel, cutting out the throat erosion (from the breech end) thread the barrel and reinstall.

Does this actually work? Is it cost effective if you have a smith do it?

 

[buffybuster]

It's called setting back the barrel. What it saves you is a cost of a new barrel. But it does NOT double the life of the old barrel and the machine work is the same for a setback or a new barrel. Unless labor is free, most like the assurance of a new barrel.

 

[gewehr]

Cutting Out Barrel Throat Erosion Breech End

He could also be talking about extending freebore, though I'm with you on liking the assurance of a new barrel


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[CowboyBart]

If the barrel is a good shooter, it is worth doing. If it is a sporter weight barrel you may not be able to set it back enough to get a good throat. Most "shot out" barrels that I have seen have 1.5" to 2.5" of the rifling missing in front of the chamber. In order to clean up this much erosion, most barrels will get too thin to thread for the action or chamber. When I have a gun built in a "barrel burner" round I have the contour of the barrel heavy enough to set it back. My most recent 6-284 has an O.D. of 1.2" for 10" then starts to taper. It makes for a heavy rifle, but I'll get 2 more set backs before I have to buy a new barrel.

 

[NYresq]

I set back a factory varmint barrel that was a good shooter but with the lighter bullets had a long jump to the lands. I had it set back and the chamber recut to my specific target load and it became a great shooter, well under 3/4MOA with my load. The cost was under $200 and I got a much more accurate rifle from it!

My full custom was ordered with a long straight taper in front of the lug so it could be set back at least once or twice, maybe more depending on how much needs to be cut from the throat each time.