About a month ago I got a call from Pac-Nor that there was a problem. The solution was simple. I took a couple full length sized cases to use as a gauge. The barrel was in the lathe when I arrived. Once it was chambered they were going to thread it for a brake. Today I called to see where it is in production. It is ready for the brake to be installed and will probably be shipped later this week.

My question is: If you have a barrel in the lathe for chambering would you turn it around and thread it for the brake while you have it in your hand? What am I missing?

Not necessarily. Some shops will have a machine or two dedicated to fitting and chambering and the other work might be done at another station. Alternatively, shop methodology might dictate running batches of a particular job.
In other, words, each shop has their way of doing things.
In many barrel maker's shops, the set-up for fitting and chambering doesn't lend itself well to a quick brake installation. GD

+1

In a small shop, it would make sense to turn it around and be done with the job but in a large production shop, setup time is more important and they may wait to do a batch run of brake installs.

With that said, a month seems a bit excessive but not knowing the work load, may be the norm in that shop.

I normally crown my barrels after I cut the chamber. It would take another fifteen minutes to thread the barrel for a brake. Ifin it were my gun I'd call pac-nor and raise holy hell...

Thanks, guys.

If they're using a sized case as a substitute for a gauge you have bigger problems than time. A case is not a gauge.

It worked last time. What's the problem?

I am a 1 man operation and yes I do the brake on the same machine . I will put the action and lug together tight then thread for the brake so they will index correctly...
Most barrel shops have multiple machines and multiple employees...it's just more efficient to do more operations with one set up...I don't have the overhead so it's not a big deal...