Another bbl for my kimber project

[jGEE]

17 PICS -Another bbl for my Kimber project

*THIS POST HAS 17 PICS SO IT WILL BE IN 2 PARTS*
I also posted this in my Blog.

My Kimber 82G rebarreling adventures continue. I wanted a "fat barrel" so i order up a Lilja 4 groove tight bore. Took 2 months but when it came in it was a 6 groove. I didn't want to send it back and start the waiting game over so i decided it would be perfect, lol!

PTG was the next call, i wanted to see what a Hobb looked like so i asked Mr Kiff to make me up a Calfee Hobb with matching reamer. Turned out to be a #2 Calfee Hobb and a #2 Calfee finishing reamer. I ordered the pioloted reamer and hobb with extra piolots.

Every thing showed up about the same time so i was "retty to go"!

Does anyone know why they come threaded??

I'm not perfect at "centering" just yet but getting better at each attempt. I used my dial indicator to get close enough so i could cut off the end about an inch. The guys told me the 4 jaw chuck was be a lot eaiser when i got use to it and they are rite!

Faced off the chamber end -notice the copper sleive for clamping and not maring the barrel, something else the guys said to do, copper coupler straight from Lowes fit the 1.125 bbl perfect.

You can't center off the outside of the bbl, the rifleing is not always dead center, this Lilja was "dead center"! I tried this "gadget" i've had in my tool box for years, never knew what it did.

This little gadget made by Starret allows for running the idicator from inside the bore. Now i can center the barrel off the rifling. It seems to be an ok method, but a disclaimer -i'm still learning. Now i understand why for perfect alignment you must use a "range rod" and 2 indicators. Indicating from just one point will only center that point the indicator is running on.

This is my first cut, the tennon threads on a Kimber 82G is 3/4x16. It takes a .745 dia for the threads.

continued in the next post...........

 

[jGEE]

Part two

Next step is threading, kinda fun but you gotta be ready for a "train wreck". Firt thread i cut a few months back i went a little too far and caught the barrel edge, sorta messed things up. This one went perfect! With the cross feed set at a 29 degree angle for threading, a depth of .045 makes a nice thread. it is not a true .045 depth because your turning in at a 29 degree angle.

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I made a simple stop to help with threading. Each time you make a pass on threading you back out with the cross slide and return to start another cut. Even with the cross slide set to "o", i would get lost how far i needed to go back in. With the stop it worked nice on each return.

The stop is a bit crude for some of the expert machinest on here but it was simple and works. I drilled a couple holes thru a boring bar holder i had used an old allen for the adjustment -works perfect! You will need a carbide bit to drill the holder.

I'm still learning chambering, may not be the correct method but seemed to work. With the reamer being threaded i used a live center to piolt the back end. I have been using about 200 rpms for chambering but this time i used my slowest speed 72 rpms. A rimfire chamber your not removing a lot of metal, i used plenty cutting oil cleaned my reamer abotu 4 times and went slow.

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From what i hear mr calfee doesn't tell how to use his reamers and hobbs. I was gonna ask mr.beau to ask for me but i didn't figure that would go anywhere. There is a BC member that was kind enough to help me out in this area. For my first chamber i went all the way with the reamer, it engaged the frist driving band on a 10x. I then used the Hobb by hand and tried to "iron out" some of the machine marks on the leades.

The Hobb seems to be a match of the reamer but "slick", no cutting edges.

I'm taking a pic thru the bore scope with my camera. i'll have to practice some to get some better pics. the first pic is after reaming. The second pic is after hand turning the hobb for about 10 min. It looks like the hobb sorta "laid down" the leade a bit. Hey Mr beau some "instruction" here sure would be nice!

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I haven't cut any extractor slots but i did do a little testing this morning, not a world beater by any means -just ok. i have a lot to learn to say the least. I think next i will shorten the chamber about .020 and run the hobb in again... i got about 24 inches of bbl left to xperment with.

I'm under the impression any good 'square edge is good enough for a crown. I'm sure thats wrong, everythign i think is always wrong, lol!!

It supose to be about having fun but sometimes i wonder, maybe i just like "pain"!! I have a new Turbo Action comeing from Mr Dan - gonna need some help with that project in a few days. thanks joe ​

 

[Que]

really like the thread and how you describe what you are doing along with the pics.

 

[Butch Lambert]

Hey Bud, Keep it up.
Butch

 

[Fred J]

Come Test it

Joe:
Why not come and test it in our Double Tounament. Might even make enough $$$ to pay for that new barrel.

www.dietzvillebrc.com

 

[jGEE]

Mr. Fred thank you for the invite, i'm not quite ready to embarrass myself just yet, lol! i got plans to come visit with you guys one day. I never get out of Cleveland but one day....

Here is an interesting observation: Today i'm testing the new barrel, after cleaning and shooting several times -i put about 30 rounds thru it, gonna run a patch thru it again, i stopped and decide to just look with the bore scope. Normally i would run a clean patch so as not to get the bore scope dirty but i decide i wanted to see exactly what was left over.

Probably about 10 min after the last round when i took these pics, guess what that's water your looking at! The temp is 82 degrees outside, humidity is 65%. I do want to add I was shooting out of a room that was about 72 degrees. I don't know if this had anything to do with the water forming or not

I remember reading Calfees thread about water forming in the barrel. Actually there was a lot of water in there!! Just thought it was interesting.. joe

(the pics are with my camera thru the bore scope, not that great..)

 

[Stonewall]

In the early days of gunsmithing they talked about burnishing reamers.
Do a search on the internet for some of these books .
I will check a few books here.

Fine work -can't wait to see targets.

Glenn

 

[Randall Kepley]

Hey Joe, another great Thread! Man things are looking great so far. Hows the Lathe running? Looks like its doing a good job for ya, by the way did you ever get that back issue of the Home Machinest we spoke of ? Looking forward to more on this thread. R.K.

 

[jGEE]

Hey Joe, another great Thread! Man things are looking great so far. Hows the Lathe running? Looks like its doing a good job for ya, by the way did you ever get that back issue of the Home Machinest we spoke of ? Looking forward to more on this thread. R.K.

yes, got the book last week. It mentioned adjusting the headstock. I was looking at my lathe when i was threading this bbl to see if i could find the adjusting screws. I think i found some but i'm gonna leave that alone for now, lol. My lathe is working fine -don't want to mess nothing up! joe

 

[Kent Owens]

Joe,
Looks like you've done well. Great pics and explanations of each step as well.
You're going to have to make up some sort of tuner for that fat barrel to get the best out of it. Good job, keep up the good work.
That leade looks good--just shoot it as it is. It takes a few hundred rounds for 'em to come in sometimes.