................A friend of mine had a Snider carbine (cut down 3 band) surplus to his needs and he figured since I'd mentioned I'd like to try and make a SNider action, that I must like them. So he gave it to me. All donations greatfully recieved, HA!
The barrel was loose from the action but it was complete with the exception of the screw holding on the hammer. An issue is that whoever shortened the barrel managed to turn a wire edge up into the barrel atthe muzzle. Plus the crown was rather casual.
So I chucked the barrel breech up and ran the other end in the steady rest to cut the crown. NOT!! I'd spent a bit of time getting the barrel to run true and it was out .003". Or egg shaped that amount, but that was the best I could do. Checking it with a mike proved it so.
However it was then I looked at the bore at the muzzle as it spun and the bore was doing it's own thing!. A .578" pingage was a very snug fit so I ran a TI on it and the bore is .018" off, with the outside of the barrel running true (True minus the .003" issue mentioned). Gadzooks! I wonder if the bore had just wandered all over down the 39" barrel of the original 3 band, or what?
The heck with the steady! Using it was out of the question. I have a 3/4 deadcenter (so I could get in to do the crown) but I figured running those lands and grooves over it wouldn't be best. I decided to turn a mandrell, which is being done in the photo. I used brass as I wanted a good snug fit (drive in type snug). Not shown was that I later cut shallow grooves around it so I could oil it before driving it in.
Here it is after being pressed into the barrel. It's drilled to run on a live center in the tailstock. Right there at the muzzle it's relieved so I can get a bitty tool in there to champher the muzzle. Getting it all set up and the breech end chucked up, it was again no bueno pro ca-ca! DRAT!
With the breech end chucked up on the barrel threads, the muzzle was STILL wiggling around a little. Oh yeah, to go with how the rest of everything was going, when I put a bit of pressure on the brass mandrel with the tailstock, it got shoved in a bit more. No big, as I could cut another relief, but still ..............
So I took off the chuck and replaced it with a faceplate and a deadcenter to run IN THE CHAMBER instead of the breech threads. After this was done, the thing ran pretty good. Not perfect but only about a thou and a half off. I suppose when you consider that the barrel started out as a flat sheet of iron that was forged aorund a mandrel (by hand) then the seam forge welded by a steam hammer, then bored, then rifled 145 years ago a couple thou might not be a big deal, HA!
Anyway, I got it re-crowned a lot better then before that's for sure. I'll have some more later, on the saga.
....................Buckshot