Has anyone ever used a Barrel Blank to rebarrel a rifle?

[Magoo541]

So I need to rebarrel a rifle that my son took a hack-saw too a few years back, seems he wanted to put the muzzle break on something else  

Anyway an off the shelf barrel is ~$200 and not available in the length I want, I found a barrel blank on Midway for $98 and its 26" long.  It seems pretty straight forward, just turn the reciever's threads on to set the Head Space, (EDIT to add) ream the chamberand add the appropriate muzzle crown along with any other features (thread for muzzle break, gas ports, etc) and turn the contour to fit the stock/handguard.  I know I am painting with a broad brush but I am trying to keep this as open as possible so that others can use the info as well.

Thanks in advance,
Bryan

[Solus]

So I need to rebarrel a rifle that my son took a hack-saw too a few years back, seems he wanted to put the muzzle break on something else  

Anyway an off the shelf barrel is ~$200 and not available in the length I want, I found a barrel blank on Midway for $98 and its 26" long.  It seems pretty straight forward, just turn the reciever's threads on to set the Head Space, (EDIT to add) ream the chamberand add the appropriate muzzle crown along with any other features (thread for muzzle break, gas ports, etc) and turn the contour to fit the stock/handguard.  I know I am painting with a broad brush but I am trying to keep this as open as possible so that others can use the info as well.

Thanks in advance,
Bryan

If you are capable of doing what you just described, the easy part will be finding specific instructions for the weapon you are working on to make sure you didn't leave anything out.

[tombogan03884]

When you work around the muzzle you must get rid of ALL burrs around the bore or you will be all over the target .
Unless you are just buying a rifled steel bar. change the barrel groove in the stock instead of the barrel profile

[PegLeg45]

If you have the proper tools, it is pretty straight-forward, but tedious and detail oriented.
If you don't have the right tools, things can go horribly wrong really quickly.

[Magoo541]

Tom, I am looking at heavy barrel that is contoured and rifled, no chamber or muzzle treatment.

Peg, I have access to a couple of CNC millls (Bridgeport type) and a couple of tooling lathes (both are real Hardinge-not knock offs) with threading capabilities.  I was just wondering if anyone had done it before, to me it would just be another day at the shop only I wouldn't be getting paid  and the wife would be pestering me about when I'd be home  because I'd do it on a Saturday.

This is for an HK 91 my dad got on trade and my son was left alone one dreary Montana winter with a basement full of guns 

Since I'm doing all this work I'm thinking of maybe making it a 7mm-08.  Why? I guess to be different, it'll shoot a little flatter and I can reload for it (which seems to bring out the full potential of the round).  It may be my 3 gun rifle for the time being as well as shooting some long range precision with it maybe some Montana big game next year too.

[Sponsor]

[tombogan03884]

HK 91 has a fluted chamber.
You can not make them work with a standard chamber , you will wind up with a bolt action.
Friend of mine tried it when we worked at Thompson Center.
They were in the business of making barrels and did not have the ability to flute the chamber.
Any other rifle you would be okay, but HK had to be different and they will not sell you a barrel.

[Magoo541]

HK 91 has a fluted chamber.
You can not make them work with a standard chamber , you will wind up with a bolt action.
Friend of mine tried it when we worked at Thompson Center.
They were in the business of making barrels and did not have the ability to flute the chamber.
Any other rifle you would be okay, but HK had to be different and they will not sell you a barrel.

I took it out to the range today and shot it (very carefully  )  I know that the HK91 chambers are fluted and I was concerned about being able to reload the cases but had not considered the reason for fluting the chambers.  I thought it was a reliability feature for gunky ammunition.  Thanks for saving me a bunch of work and heart ache.   

I guess I'll find an old action and build a rifle around it, 7mm WSM has had my interest for a couple of years after one of my coworkers that shot long range percision suggested a Howa in 7mm WSM as a good entry point.

[tombogan03884]

Reid Coffield of Shotgun News has several series in the paper about building or modifying different rifles, and published a book on building a switch barrel Mauser.
Might be some info for you there.

http://store.intermediaoutdoors.com/products.php?product=Building-Switch-Barrel-Mauser

[Majer]

I seem to remember that the HK barrels are press fit and it takes a special fixture to R&R them,Had a friend who bought a HK94 from a movie rental place that had been plugged for a Blank firing device. He was told that HK would be the only place to get the barrel replaced and they wanted a LOT of money to do it.

[tombogan03884]

HK isn't the ONLY company, there was one in the US , (I forget the name) but they only did 1 run of the fluted chambers per year and for what they charged you might as well buy a new PTR 91.

Magoo, the way the G -3/HK is designed the flutes allow the casing to "float" on gasses allowing extraction, with out the flutes the case locks to the chamber walls and fails to extract . you have to eject each round by manually working the action.