Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats Tikka switch barrel build started this week

Ok. So I recently squired a Mesa Precision Altitude stock and was going to put my donor 243 Win in it, with a Proof Carbon barrel, in 308 Win. When it came down to clicking "buy now", I just couldn't pull the trigger on an $850 barrel.

I figured that I'd start a big project. I pulled the "almost new" 243 barrel off the donor rifle. I then bought a new take off in 6.5 CM and the same in 308 Win. I'd really like to add a fast twist 22-250, but that will come later.

A light, Sendero barrel? So now I have three barrels(one still on its way) and have decided that I'm going to make my own lightweight, heavy contour barrels. I decided to go with 6061 T6 Aluminum for the barrel sleeves.

First I needed to turn my barrels down in my lathe. Using multiple setups with a steady rest, I was able to turn my 243 and 6.5 barrels down to 1/2 inch diameter. I left plenty of meat over the chamber and throat areas.

On Monday, I'll figure where to send my 6061 barstock for gun drilling to .515 to fit over my barrels.

I spoke with 3M, and I'm getting an epoxy with high heat tolerance and flexibility to use for the project. It also has atomized aluminum added for heat transfer. My aluminum sleeves will work like a big heat sink.

I'm kinda in the middle of this right now, so, I'll be adding more pictures as the project moves along. I'll also be ordering a Mountain Tactical trigger guard.

I'm hoping this turns out as cool as I think it will! Thanks for watching! Pix to follow...

For comparison, here is the turned 243 barrel next to the 6.5 barrel. They were exactly the same, except for the length.



Both barrels turned, next to the bar stock that I'm going to make the "sleeves" out of.

I would call this free floated! 😁

One of many setups for turning. I did it in three sections, so there was no chatter, and cut slow, semi-light cuts with lots of cutting fluid. Nice blue chips took all the heat and kept the barrels cool while machined.