Re: Threading a Shotgun Barrel
I have not threaded the outside of shotgun muzzles, but I have threaded the inside of a number of shotgun barrels.
There are lots of variations in shotguns and lots of ways to deal with them:
1) I am set up for 12 ga Rem Choke in a few pilot sizes.
32 threads per inch system.
I need a barrel to be .845" diameter.
2) Winchoke is also 32 TPI and needs .845"
3) The Tru Choke system with 44 TPI needs at least a .825" barrel muzzle.
4) The Tru Choke Thinwall aslo with 44TPI needs at least .805"
When Randy Ketchum does it [he is a real gunsmith], he cuts off the last 2", only to find that the bore is off center sometimes. I use the whole length of the barrel and spend too much time reaming out the old choke steel mass, so I have gone to a boring bar to prep for the reamer.
I also have a shotgun that has a bulge where the threads are. Stan Baker [famous late shotgun gunsmith] swaged the barrel out and then cut the threads. He is dead, but his shop is still operating.
Jack Belk, famous gunsmith, sometimes re sizes the outside of the barrel with rollers.
I sold a minty 870 yesterday for $200, with the caveat that Remington had reamed and tapped the choke off center and crooked, and so it shoots way to the left.
What does it all mean?
Shotgun barrels vary in:
1) barrel wall thickness
2) bore being centered in the barrel
3) chokes being centered in the muzzle