Gunsmithing First barrel fluteing project

[C Snyder]

Howa HB 223 was the donor action and barrel. My own personal gun was the lab rat for this one.

My mill was to small to set up any thing of length on the bed so I built a fixture to hold the barrel and clamped that to the bed. I can flute up to 18" on a barrel and i figure that for 90% of all barrel will be around 24" that will be the right amount of fluting on a barrel.

Maybe one of these days I will be able to afford a larger mill

and picures of the finished product.

I took the camera to the range to get pics of the target. Forgot to take any pictures I was so excited. Shot just as well as before. with Factory TAP 55gr it will shot under 3/4MOA and most of the time right around 1/2MOA. With AAC can POI is 2" to the right. Fluting did add an inch to the POI shift. It was about 1" to the right before.

 

[gamma]

Re: First barrel fluteing project

Thats a cracking job, very nice, very impressive.

 

[head2h2o]

Re: First barrel fluteing project

Looks good to me.

 

[TitaniumBlue]

Re: First barrel fluteing project

Looks good, glad the barrel still shoots. Fluting after rifling can be dangerous. One thing I do suggest is putting a v block under the barrel to keep it from flexing(yes, it will flex)

 

[wnroscoe]

Re: First barrel fluteing project

Flood coolant......where's it at???



Nice job BTW

 

[pinzmann]

Re: First barrel fluteing project

That looks like a Grizzly mill. If so I got one just like it. Very impressed that it could handle that job. Makes me want to try it also. Just have to get all that other hardware. Do you have a DRO?

 

[High Binder]

Re: First barrel fluteing project

Love the jig you made!

 

[fcordrey]

Re: First barrel fluteing project

Oh man that looks like crap !!!!!!!!!!! Pratice makes perfect right ? I'll be sending ya some barrels so you can pratice ............it's the least I can do .

I'd say the first time was a success ! Looks good to me .

 

[300sniper]

Re: First barrel fluteing project

good job on being creative and making a small machine work for a large job.

i only have 18" of x travel on my machine. once i set up my 4th axis and tailstock, i don't have much room left for work. i want to make a tool plate that will fit up to a 28" barrel between the 4th axis and tailstock that i can position on my mill's table so i can flute long barrels in two steps. finding someone to grind parallel a plate 40" x 8" is going to be expensive though.

 

[C Snyder]

Re: First barrel fluteing project

The mill is an Enco and it does have a DRO. The jig was made with sqare tubeing and a lot of shade tree enginering. I will be making some changes to the jig to make set up quicker. I was making very light cuts and useing an oil can to cool the end mill. A flood coolant system and adjustable center support v is in the works.

 

[Furtaker_.223]

Re: First barrel fluteing project

Want to do mine?

 

[Furtaker_.223]

Re: First barrel fluteing project

What will you charge? And how doe's this need to be shipped? I have a few other things I need to do first, I have a stock coming, Bolt knob. Do you flute bolts also? If so, after fluted, do you put a finish on them. Also, my barrel is matt blued. Doe's this matter?