Home Made Range Rod Anyone?

[HollowPoint]

It will be a few more months before I take delivery of my new suppressor so while I'm waiting, I thought I'd ask around to see if any of you guys have ever made your own Range Rods for indexing your rifles barrels for threading concentrically to the bore.

I already know about buying them and I know about renting them, as well as "Class-I, II and III threads so, Please, no lectures on renting or buying. I just want to know if any of you guys have ever made your own because I plan on threading my own barrels. I have the machinery and I know I can do it. I was just curious to see if any of you other home gunsmiths have done this yourselves.

I'll be threading three 30 calibers and one 22 caliber. My suppressor will be used on both calibers. Also; in the future, I hope to be making a couple of "Form-1" suppressors so I'd kind of like to have my own range rod assortment for when the time comes to thread other barrels.

I'm curious to see what the other do-it-yourselfers have come up with.

HollowPoint

[cheese1566]

I am curious also as I am in the same project myself. Time for me to cut threads on my 22LR pistol for my form 1 suppressor I built last summer. I am building a jig with tubing and alum tipped setscrews to align the bore, but the rod is giving me some thinking.

[HollowPoint]

I caught a break with this future project. I was talking to a new customer this past week who is also into home gunsmithing. This individual broke down and bought the Range-Rods rather than renting or making his own. He kindly offered to let me use them when the time comes.

I would still like to hear from those who may have tackled this type of project with home made ingenuity. I can see the need for precision here but, other than those in the past who learned about this the hard way, there had to have been those individuals who also succeeded in threading their muzzles concentrically.

HollowPoint

[sdcitizen]

Local class III dealer here does his threading between centers. Did end up with one old surplus rifle that was slightly bent and had a baffle strike doing this though.

[blaser.306]

Made my own range rod and fixture for holding pistol bbls. Then indicated the bore to.0005" and proceeded to cut my thread for a class( 1a ) fit using the over the wireI method. This was on a contender Super 14" 375 Win .

[Artful]

I have been having mine threaded with a lathe but I thought about this method

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNS7-_0dddQ

and

https://www.youtube.com/watch?x-yt-ts=1422327029&v=WYbQEBARdiE&x-yt-cl=84838260

Using a thread die It isn't rocket science. Just get the specifications you need before buying or rent the thread die. Use cutting fliud so the threading die doesn't tighten up and jam on you. When you start threading start slowly on a couple of turns and back out a turn or two and add more cutting fluid as you go. Start the threading process again and repeat. I don't know about barrel threading at the muzzle but a normal thread die starts a gradual cut and gradually deepens to the normal depth of the cut. This wouldn't look too pretty on a finished gun so I am guessing that there has to be a finishing die in a Rent a die kit.

[cheese1566]

Made my own range rod and fixture for holding pistol bbls. Then indicated the bore to.0005" and proceeded to cut my thread for a class( 1a ) fit using the over the wireI method. This was on a contender Super 14" 375 Win .


How did you make the rod?

[akajun]

If you have a long reach .0005 indicator, no need, indicate at two points right inside the bore, one about 1/8" in, the other as far as it will go.
To directly answer you queStion, I tried to make a indicator rod that used live pilot bushings, it did not work so well, unless i used it as a grizzly rod and a tenths indicator .

[HollowPoint]

I plan on using my Lathe to do the threading. Actually, the threading is the easy part. My concern was the indexing of the bore in order to mitigate the chance of a baffle strike.

I've viewed just about every online video I could find on the subject; including the ones mentioned by Artful. I'd never heard of a "Long-Reach-Indicator" before reading it in the previous post. Sound interesting. I may already have one of those; or at least an indicator that has various lengths and shapes of indicating arms that I can use.

I'm wondering if a guy uses such an indicator, doesn't the contact with the lands of the bore/rifling make for a shaky indexing session?

Since my suppressor is 8 inches long, I'm also wondering if the Range-Rod I use has to extend out that far in order to get the muzzle end of the suppressor as concentric as the deepest depth that my Range-Rod goes into the bore? Or, is a two or three inch over-hang of the Range-Rod sufficient for centering out to 8 inches ahead of the muzzle?

I have plenty of time to do some more research but, the sooner I find the information I'm looking for, the sooner I can do some practice runs on some old pieces of scrap barrel I have lying around from when I re-barreled my old enfield rifle.

HollowPoint

[Artful]

One reason I didn't thread one myself was the shop I use wants the item it's going have mounted so he can fit the threads to it and insure tight fit and concentric when mounted.

[cheese1566]

I think I may just send mine off to Volquartsen as originally planned. Unsure if I'll ever need the tools to do another barrel in the future anyways. They will do it for $73 including return shipping. That includes crowning as well.
I started making my spider tonight to hold the barrel, but I don't have a mill and only a crappy drill press...I gave up and poured a beer to reconsider the plan.

I built the silencer, but threading my barrel is out of my reach at this time in my skill level.

[akajun]

All you need is an indicator that has at least a 1.5 long point AND reads .0005 with that length point. You need to register two points in the bore to ensure that you are running the bore concentric in the same plane. You will also need to have a 4 jaw or front spider and a outboard spider , or a cathead .
Myers reading off the lands is a little bumpy, but you can generAly get the bore close by indicating off the OD in two spots , then using your test indicator where is just touched off the lands . Remember to only read the high spots.

[HollowPoint]

One reason I didn't thread one myself was the shop I use wants the item it's going have mounted so he can fit the threads to it and insure tight fit and concentric when mounted.

My sentiments exactly. This is why I've been holding out until I actually have the suppressor in my hands.

Also: The reply given by akajun sounds interesting. I can do a test of this method using a piece of that old enfield barrel I mentioned in my previous post.

Thank you gentlemen; you've given me food for thought.

HollowPoint

[HollowPoint]

I got a chance this morning to try my hand at threading the muzzle on an old Enfield take-off barrel I removed from my Lee enfield a couple of years ago. I indexed it the best I could using my 4-jaw chuck. 1/2" X 28" thread on a 30 caliber bore doesn't leave much meat on the walls of the barrel but, it showed me that I could do it myself rather than sending it out.

I indexed it off of the bore using a five inch length of brass rod that I had turned to fit snug in the bore. Even with this home made brass range-rod I found that I had a fair amount of run-out on the barrel's outside diameter. I think I'll pick up a length of brass rod just for giggles; and to see what kind of concentricity I can get by turning a slightly longer length. I'll then use it to measure the run-out of this old Enfield barrel/muzzle I just threaded. I want to see how far off it is out to eight inches ahead of the muzzle. It should be interesting.

HollowPoint

[targetfreak]

Anybody ever seen the precision a shop with centerless grinders can do? Just get some oversize drill rod (not too much over), take it to said shop, and ask for +.0000, minus .0002. It WILL be accurate, and reasonably inexpensive. Used to do this with ball-end mills (.093" dia.) to make special sizes which were made to perfection. And, if they let you watch, it's almost hypnotic.

[zuke]

I made a rod out of 1/4 stainless steel rod for my Pedersoli Sharp's with a 34 inch barrel. It's 38 inch's long. Used a Parker Hale handle out of one of their cleaning kit. It's held in with a set screw

[HollowPoint]

I went ahead and picked up a 12" length of 1/2" brass rod to experiment with this past friday. I turned it down to the correct bore dimensions and after about an hour of indexing it on my lathe, when I was done with that I re-chucked it in my 4-jaw chuck to see if my concentricity had changed.

After that time spent indexing it before turning it down, I re-chucked and indexed it again. It showed the needle on my .001" indicator moving from one edge to the other of the line that marks my Zero-Setting. In order to get it to that state of accuracy I did have to apply enough pressure to the end of the brass rod in order to bend it till it held this reading on my indicator. It wasn't much pressure. It was just enough to tweak the brass rod into the straight and true position.

Tomorrow I'll re-chuck it again and use my .0005" indicator just to see if the reading I was getting with the .001" indicator was a fluke or not.

I should have used some 3/4" drill rod instead; it's alot more rigid; and I may still do that now that I know that it can be done on my lathe. At any rate, the Brass-Rod Range-Rod experiment has given me cause for hope. Did I mention that I turned it so that I had 4-inches inserted into the bore and a little over 7-inches extending from the muzzle? The suppressor I'll be mounting on my 30 caliber rifles will extend beyond the muzzle of my rifles about that length after screwing it onto the end of my barrel.

I think that a much simpler way of making a usable Range-Rod for indexing your bore would be if a guy could just buy a straight enough length of rod and just make some snug fitting brass bushings to hold it centered in the bore while you take your measurements. I think this is what Zuke may be referring to with his Pedrosoli Sharps.

Since I have a few months to wait yet ahead of me. I'll give that a try next. I'd like whatever type of rod I use to extend about a half an inch beyond the muzzle end of my suppressor when installed. In my mind, this would mitigate enough of the chance of a baffle strike as possible. With both types of DIY Range-Rods I may be able to use one to confirm the reading of the other while indicating my bore for those muzzle threads.

HollowPoint

[Artful]

I was surprised my last can went thru in 4 months (Oct 1 to Jan 25th)

[HollowPoint]

I was surprised my last can went thru in 4 months (Oct 1 to Jan 25th)

I'd love to get mine by June. My birthday is in June. That would be a great birthday present for me.

HollowPoint

[HollowPoint]

I'm still waiting on the call from my transfer agent telling me that I can come pick up my new suppressor. In the mean time, I've been practicing my concentric threading technique on old Enfield rifle barrels I've had lying around.

I've found it to be, not as hard or mysterious as many make it sound; as long as I'm meticulous about getting it perfectly aligned. In fact, it takes longer to index the bore of my discarded barrels than it does to cut the actual threads.

Since the muzzle ends of these old 30 caliber Enfield rifles measures around .595" or there abouts. I've only been able to test-thread using the 1/2"x28 thread pitch. This leaves the muzzle end of my threaded barrel with a wall thickness of approximately .105+".

I was wondering; if a guy threaded his 30 caliber barrel in this manner and fired the gun without the suppressor attached or without the thread-protector in place for additional support, would the .105" wall of the barrel at the muzzle end blow out like trumpet or blunderbust due to the thin walls not being able to withstand the pressure?

On my 223 rifle and the other 30 caliber rifles I intend to thread, the barrel diameters at the muzzle are large enough that I can thread them with the 5/8"x24" thread pitch with a good shoulder for the suppressor to rest against. I was just wondering how thick or thin the barrel wall needs to be before they'll no longer contain the pressures at the muzzle just before the bullet exists the barrel?

I won't be threading anything until I have the suppressor in my hot little hand. I'm just biding my time and thinking out loud for now.

HollowPoint

[Geezer in NH]

Rod to thread?? Turn and thread on centers in a lathe.

Or use M60joe about 50-60 bucks save strikes in the can

[fast ronnie]

You could probably make a gritters type rod with a live pilot. I just bought one from Manson, and the are not that expensive. They work great, but do not work like a regular rod like PTG makes. Use a tenth's indicator and run it within one tenth on both readings.

[HollowPoint]

The "Range Rod" I made from a length of brass turned out straight enough to use as a "Range Rod" for indexing muzzle threads. I wouldn't be reluctant to use it to index my bore for threading for my inbound suppressor. Luckily, one of my customers offered to let me use the 30 caliber range rod he bought from midway. I think it's a PTG range rod.

When I get ready to thread my 223 caliber I'll have to make one for that bore diameter though; unless I can find someone in my circle of friends and acquaintances who has one they can loan me.

We shall see.

HollowPoint