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szihn Offline OP
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Hey guys.

I have been in correspondence with Green Mountain Barrel Co concerning them making some .366" barrel blanks with 1-10" or 1-11" twist. We are just at the "talking stage" right now, but I am hoping this will go forward.

The 9.3X62 cartridge is an excellent hunting round that is not super popular here in the USA, (yet) but seems to be up and coming. The bullet companies seem to know it. Barnes, Hornady, Swift, Nosler, and Speer all make bullets for them here in the USA, and Woodleigh, Norma, Lapua, RWS and Prvi make them overseas. Possibly a few others I am unaware of too.

The old black powder 9.3s were often rifled at about 1-20" and some were used with soft lead, paper patched bullets. As smokeless powders came into use the twist was tightened up. Today the 2 most common twists are 1-14" and 1-12" but some shooters say the 1-12" is just barely enough twist to keep 320 grain bullets stable. So I am suggesting they make these barrels with a 1-11 or 1-10 twist. Firing a 225 grain bullet from the fast twist is just fine, but firing the long heavy 320 from the slower twist is sometimes not fine, so I can see no reason to even make the slow twist. I own a Ruger 9.3X74R with a 1-10" twist and it does just fine with all bullets from 225 gr to 325 gr

Anyway, I am putting feelers out on line.

How many of you would be interested in buying a barrel blank (or maybe a few) for a 9.3X62, a 9.3X64 or a 9.3X74R with a 1-10" twist?

Green Mountain said they would consider making a run of 100 of them if there was a market. I am pretty sure there is.

These are blanks, so they are for the gunsmiths and shooters that can do their own work. Untapered and unthreaded. 25" or 27" long. 1.200 in diameter. Price should be about $125 each from what I am gathering from them.

If you are interested please post a note here, or PM me, or it may even be better to simply call Green Mountain and tell them you would be interested if they were to make them.

The 9.3X62 and the 9.3X74R are both wonderful in their effectiveness and the thing that makes them so interesting to many is the amount of power available with a far lower recoil than you'd expect.

Last edited by szihn; 12/13/16.
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Don't forget the x57 version. I'd be in for one and maybe a second for a x74R. I've no doubt that they would sell out in pretty short order at that price range. You can't touch one for less than $200 that I'm aware of.

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szihn Offline OP
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Gzig, you are correct. I believe the 9.3MM barrels will not last long if they just make 100 I'll probably take about 5 to start. One for myself and 4-5 for the shelf, so I can build them as customers ask.

I also like the 9.3X57, and would take it in preference to the 358 Winchester (also good) just because of the better .366 bullets available. Making a 9.3X57 is super easy on any KAR or GEW M98 Mauser and they are excellent rifles for hunting in brush and timber. Good for everything from Whitetails to moose.

Green Mountain's number is 603-447-1095
Call them and tell them that you read Steve Zihn's post asking if anyone would be interested and let them know you are.

As I said, we are just in the talking stage now, but if they don't know people will buy they won't make them. But making only 100 will not be very hard for them to sell I am sure.

Tell other gunsmiths too.

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Hum... have you received any more responses ? Any more info from GM ?


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I will stick with my Shilen. They always have had them.

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Steve,

My first thought is that at $125 a shot, one has to presume that these would be CM blanks - correct?

My second thought is that an un-tappered barrel might be something that many might not be able to handle. Tapering a barrel on a lathe is not a task to be taken lightly. It takes time, patience and lots of support to minimize chatter. Many lathes (new and old) are not equipped with a taper attachment making the task of tapering more difficult. Off-setting the tail-stock is an option, but one that many would think twice about.

That said, one might get a higher response rate if say the barrels were to be offered contoured - limited to say Rem Mag Sporter or #3 - at a slightly higher cost.

JMHO



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szihn Offline OP
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WiFowler, you are 100% correct. These would be untappered blanks, CM steel at 27" long and 1.2" in diameter. Not for hobby builders, but for gunsmiths with a lathe that know how to use it well. That's why the price would be as low as they are saying. They come in at (I believe) $114 each and would cost about $11 shipping per barrel, so the guess of $125 each is just about right. That's going to be very close to the total price to your door.

I have not been in contact with GM for about 3 weeks now. I told them I'd put the word out and see if there was enough interest in the barrels to cause them to commit to making 100 of them. I am asking interested persons to call Green Mountain directly instead of contacting me so they can hear directly from the buyers instead of someone involved in wishful thinking.

I have an 8 foot LeBlond with a taper attachment, but I did this kind of work for many years on a very small lather and I can cut tapers on it with no taper attachment. What you do is to figure the amount of taper you need in thousandths per 6" section. You turn a ring at the muzzle of the desired diameter and one at the large end of the taper of the correct diameter. I leave them about.005" oversize for a bit of meat for final finishing.
Now lets say you need .030" per 6". That would be .015 at 3" and .0075 at 1.5 inches. So if you use a market and "stripe" the barrel every 1.5 Inches you can hand dial it in every stripe .007 to .008" Start at the muzzle end and come back 3"Cut the first traverse toward the muzzle dialing in the tool about 7-8 thousandths in the 3 inch long cut.

Next go back 6". Do it again but for the 6" of traverse. Next is 9" and so on.

You can even do it in small steps. It's actually pretty easy.

When the barrel is tapered you draw-file it and polish it, and the finished product is as good as one cut on a big lathe with proper support.

It takes more time for sure, but for a hobby builder doing this kind of thin 1-3 times a year, and few extra hours is not important. It is even fun.

And again you are correct, contoured blanks are going to outsell raw blanks, but Shilen and Douglas already do those (for a LOT more money) so GM doesn't think there is enough demand for contoured barrels to justify trying to take that piece of the market away from those other 2 companies, but if full service gunsmiths need blanks there is no reason to pay 2X or 3X the money especially if you are coping the early British and German contours. Shilen and Douglas do modern "American" contours and so if you need to make the 1900 to 1920s style, you would pay the extra money for the nice contours from Shilen or Douglas and then cut them away anyway, so that would be a large waist of money.

I know (and so does GM) that this is going to be a barrel for a small section of the market. But I am guessing that the section is still big enough to get all their barrels sold in short order as long as gunsmiths know they are available. So that's the over view.
As I said before, it's in the talking stage right now, and only interest from consumers is going to make them decide to produce them.
That's the entire reason for the thread in the 1st place.

Last edited by szihn; 01/06/17.
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I've done all of that Sir, I will use a Shilen or Douglas.

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A while back I bought an 8mm blank from GM for an 8x68 build. I paid $100 + $20 for shipping. After spending a day contouring it, I swore that I would never buy an untapered blank again. It is still too heavy, but I am dreading putting it back in the lathe to take more off.
In a 9.3 most will not want a "mountain weight" contour. If I were going to risk my capital for a large purchase I would want them F54 contoured for $125


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I would love to have an inexpensive blank but my time is worth more that the extra that it costs me to get a Shilen. If I had a tracer lathe I wouldn't worry so much but doing them by hand is not what I would call fun.

Also, I thought the standard twist for 9.3 was 1:12? No?


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szihn Offline OP
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The standards for most modern 9.3s is either 1-12" or 1-14"
Ruger did their 9.3s at 1-10"
I have a #1 and it's much more accurate than I thought it would be. It's one of my all time favorite hunting rifles.

CZ lists their 9.3s at 1-14"
Merekel shows theirs at 1-12"

My friend Johan in Mannheim tells me that his new Mauser is one turn in 1 turn in 28 CM. That's about 1-11" but not exact. I don't know if that info is accurate, but it probably is.

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Anyone know if this ever panned out?

I am pondering a wildcat.

Please drop me a PM if you have info or barrels.


If you are not actively engaging EVERY enemy you encounter... you are allowing another to fight for you... and that is cowardice... plain and simple.



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Last edited by Cabriolet; 11/25/21.

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Found these completely by accident... $195 with Black Friday sale... CM or SS up to 28" 6 groove 1-14

https://preferredbarrelblanks.com/product/unturned-barrel-blanks/

A very good friend of mine passed away 2 days ago... although my gun building days are behind me (couple hundred barrels)... been pondering a new caliber in his honor "9,3 Jimbo"... if any $ is ever made... 100% to his widow.

Basically a slightly faster and flatter version of .375 Raptor with a PO Ackley shoulder (maybe). FYI, are getting amazing results with the .375 Raptor... almost identical math to the .35 Whelen. 10 for 10 on 2 MOA steel at 400 with 270s.

But scarcity of everything is a huge "pause moment"... but still thinking.


If you are not actively engaging EVERY enemy you encounter... you are allowing another to fight for you... and that is cowardice... plain and simple.




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