A couple of questions

  • Thread starter Lucky Shooter A
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Lucky Shooter A

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1) Can anyone recommend a good solid indicator holder and base for the outboard indicator when chambering through the head stock ?

2) I'm going to use a faceplate spider to chamber a pretty short barrel-----too short to use the chuck. I have concerns about the four spider screws holding the barrel when turning, threading and reaming. Don't want to get off into "how tight is finger tight" but could use some advice about how tight the spider screws should be. Any thought on this ?

Thanks for any help.

A. Weldy
 
I made a faceplate spider especially for doing short barrels.. Actually it's just a cam lock adapter plate that's been turned down and had 4, 1/2" UNF cap screws tapped into it.
I've used it allot for crowning short barrels and fitting brakes with no issues. I've only chambered in it once in a very short barreled 308W and had no problems what so ever..
When using this spider i also make aluminum split collars to go over the barrel for the bolt's to rife on. I keep the wall at least .125" thick.. You can then tighten the screws with enough torque to grip properly with impunity.

Hope that helps

Cheers
Leeroy
 
B.Larson said:
why not use a steady rest.....
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Well I can think of a whole slew of reasons but the biggest one is that you can't possibly jig a barrel up to get the bore running straight unless you luck into one with a straight hole down the middle. And what are the chances of that? 1 in 20??? And how would you ever know? It's like just blindly gambling on a 1:20 longshot and hoping for the best......
 
First turn the chamber end down concentric with the bore by turning between centers.
Run the steady on the turned surface.
Feed the reamer using a floating reamer holder. The reamer will follow the hole.

Clemson
 
Clemson said:
First turn the chamber end down concentric with the bore by turning between centers.
Run the steady on the turned surface.
Feed the reamer using a floating reamer holder. The reamer will follow the hole.

Clemson
Click to expand...

And if you do five chambers, they'll all be different size and shape....
 
Short Short Barrels

alinwa said:
Well I can think of a whole slew of reasons but the biggest one is that you can't possibly jig a barrel up to get the bore running straight unless you luck into one with a straight hole down the middle. And what are the chances of that? 1 in 20??? And how would you ever know? It's like just blindly gambling on a 1:20 longshot and hoping for the best......
Click to expand...

With a steady rest... I do rem. bolts/pistol barrels....that`s about 6" long......perfect alignment with o.d & . i.d front to back and est.`s squarenes of the lugs/crown..... knowing how to set a steady rest up and use it is manatory...
 
stool said:
in my limited experience, i would not compare pistol with rifle in the benchrest world...not the same precision at all.
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The KEY word here is Limited Experience........I`ve got/owned and built.... short barreled pistols... Xp-100`s and Savage`s that will shoot .250" and better.....
 
I believe the guy was looking for help in indicating the back side spider. I use a long piece of 3/8 drill rod threaded into the headstock of the lathe and attach an interrapid to it for and indicator, As for the screw, i use 5/16 allen head screws with brass tips against the barrel. I don't think you can get them tight enough to squish the barrel. I have a small spider I use on the front end when I have a very short barrel that won't fit in the four jaw.
 
Clemson said:
Not sure how you reach that conclusion. That's how Harry Pope and P. O. Ackley did it.

:) Clemson
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Harry Pope and Parker Ackley didn't chamber barrels to the accuracy required to be competitive in todays benchrest.

You guys who do not have the ability/desire/knowledge to dial in the muzzle to minimum runout are going to end up with barrels of also-ran ability.

Why did some of the great gunsmiths of the past barrels shoot great and some just so-so? Because of barrel quality? I don't thank so. I submit it was because of the
bore alignment methods they used.
 
stool said:
no sense discussing with people that are stuck in the past.
which is what al was trying to point out..there are much better methods than between centers.
Click to expand...

Who`s talking about centers......?????..... I mentioned I do some ( bolts/short barrels) stuff with a steady rest....?????
 
Last edited:
Kludge....

outboard view.jpg


Here's what I did.

The needle's riding on the outside just to show what's being done, my rough-in is done to the inside of the bore of course for a "between centers" index or starting point.
 
Just for a couple of data points, some years back, when I was privileged to visit on the phone with Jerry Simison, he told me that he preferred to chamber using a steady rest, but that he would do it through the headstock if that is the way that the customer wanted it done. If you are unfamiliar with that name as it relates to benchrest, you might want to do some checking around. To start with, I am sure that James Mock could give you a rundown. As to the capability of pistols to produce true benchrest accuracy, back in the late 90s, there was a brief push for benchrest pistol competition. You might want to consult the records of some of those matches before deciding what a pistol can do. I remember a two gun shot intermingled with the rifles at Visalia, where separate awards were given for the pistols. The winning two guns for both were in the teens, with the pistol being slightly smaller than the rifle. As to the best method when working through the headstock, I believe that winning barrels have been chambered both ways, dialing in both ends, and working entirely from the back combined with the later variant of indexing.
 
Wrong!

alinwa said:
Well I can think of a whole slew of reasons but the biggest one is that you can't possibly jig a barrel up to get the bore running straight unless you luck into one with a straight hole down the middle. And what are the chances of that? 1 in 20??? And how would you ever know? It's like just blindly gambling on a 1:20 longshot and hoping for the best......
Click to expand...


No...using the steady-rest is not inferior: http://youtu.be/R7CZaBO8jNA
 
alinwa said:
Well I can think of a whole slew of reasons but the biggest one is that you can't possibly jig a barrel up to get the bore running straight unless you luck into one with a straight hole down the middle. And what are the chances of that? 1 in 20??? And how would you ever know? It's like just blindly gambling on a 1:20 longshot and hoping for the best......
Click to expand...

Can you explain how when you put a barrel through a spindle the bore becomes magically straight, I'm pretty sure any bow is still there same as in a steady rest..
 
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