How to properly cut a barrel down?

[possom813]

I picked up an old Stevens/Springfield 120A for $50 the other day.

It wasn't in great shape, but functional, and had the 'orange paint' finish on the stock. That's gone now :roll:


The stock, whether factory or not, fits my oldest daughter almost perfectly, but the gun is terribly unbalanced. So, I'm going to take the barrel down to 18 inches.


The sights are not an issue, the rear sight is missing, so with the front sight gone, I have a little simmons .22 scope to slap on it for her.


The question is, what is the better way to cut down the barrel. Will a chopsaw be ok, or would a better cut be made with a hacksaw with a straight tooth blade?


Either way, the files will flatten the cut out to 90 degrees. And I'm going to recrown it with the drill press and the brass screw and valve grinding compound that I've read about.


Also, if it were to get a burr inside the barrel, what's the best way to remove the burr, or prevent the burr from happening?

[357maximum]

I mark around the barrel with a copper tubing cutter, cut carefully with fine tooth hacksaw, file square with a SHARP/NEW file. Crown with fine/white 3/4 round stone on die grinder, shoot one time, and then crown with a 3/4 inch round brass lapping ball coated with clover compound.....or at least that is the way I did it til I found a friend with a lathe.

[Whiterabbit]

yes indeed, lathe makes the job oh so sweet.

when I did my handi, it was as 357 did with the saw and file. Then I rented a piloted flat faced cutter and cut the face flat. Shoots as good as it did from the factory.

my buddy did his mosin nagant the lazy way. hacksaw and file so it was "eh, square enough". then the brass screw and valve grind on a hand drill. And darn if that rifle doesn't shoot 1" groups on a good day (and most days are good) using surplus ammo. Blows me away.

[Mk42gunner]

Every barrel I have cut, I used a hacksaw. Due to the taper of the barrel a chop saw won't cut it straight anyway. I used a bore fitting rod and a square to check while filing the muzzle square to the bore.

When doing the crown, I broke the edges of the rifling with a round stone in an electric drill, then polished it with a round headed stove bolt and lapping compound.

If you think you may want iron sights on it eventually, I would cut the dovetail before cutting the barrel. One of the few places to level that action is the front dovetail, if it has the screw on rear sight.

Robert

The extractors on those aren't the best, so make sure you fully chamber the round with your thumb. With mine, if I push the cartridge in even 1/16" with the bolt, I have to dig the case out with a pocket knife. If I fully chamber it with my thumb, the extractor will pull it out.

R

[possom813]

Looks like the hacksaw is the way to go.

I doubt it will ever have iron sights put on it, it may, but I doubt it.



So, when crowning the barrel, I should use a stone bit first to break the rifling, then use the grinding compound on the brass screw? Or did I misread the above?

[357maximum]

I used the stone to kinda "target crown" the barrel by basically creating a shallow bowl. I then cleaned the barrel and fired 1 shot to push any burrs out to where the brass lap could get at them as I "polish crowned" the barrel. The last marlin model 60 mutt with a model 70 clip fed lower that I did this to actually shot better after treatment than when factory crowned.

[Cactus Farmer]

Check your PMs please....