Gunsmithing How to clean up barrel channel

[flyfisherman246]

How are guys cleaning up stock barrel channels in front of the bedding. The little sanding drums leave all kinds of little grooves. I don't have a Cnc, but I do have a manual mill. Any ideas?

 

[Praeger]

Just wrap a dowel in sandpaper and sand to your preferred finish. Dowel should be as big as the narrowest portion of the barrel channel.

 

[Trigger Monkey]

Yup, sandpaper and a dowel rod should make pretty quick work of that with a little black rattle can to cover up some other sins.

 

[Booner1334]

If you can't find the proper sized dowel, sometimes you can wrap sandpaper around a straight sided socket that's the right size.

 

[Ledzep]

Then get some 3M carbon fiber sticker material and put it in the barrel channel. Pro-grade AF.

 

[Doc68]

Go to a craft store and you will most likely find a correct size dowel. Michael's usually has them.

 

[LRI]

I once sat down and mapped a barrel contour in .100" increments for the length of the barrel channel. Once I had that I wrote a long hand program and "pogo sticked" from one point to the next on an old Bridgeport mill.

About an hour and a half of work on the spindle. It got me there, but never, EVER again.

 

[smoothy8500]

If you can't find the proper sized dowel, sometimes you can wrap sandpaper around a straight sided socket that's the right size.

 

[Easy_E]

Anyone tried to bead a barrel channel full length ? I have a older McMillan with a 10 MTU channel was thinking about wrapping 20 mil tape on the barrel and bedding it to a varmint taper barrel.
This would work on the OP's stock if he was bedding the action area at the same time.

 

[Fig]

 

[Ledzep]

Anyone tried to bead a barrel channel full length ? I have a older McMillan with a 10 MTU channel was thinking about wrapping 20 mil tape on the barrel and bedding it to a varmint taper barrel.
This would work on the OP's stock if he was bedding the action area at the same time.

1. Going to be a mess, but it's possible

2. going to add a lot of weight because the bedding epoxy is a lot denser than stock fill

3. going to take a lot of time to clean up after you pop it out, and going to be a lot harder to pop free.

 

[Booner1334]

View attachment 7238729

Oh ya, a deep well socket is mo' better!
That trick might be classified as "old school" gunsmithing.