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I have an old Glenfeild Mod 25 that I have used for coon hunting for years. The only problem is that it carries like crap in the woods. It's balence is awful and the barrel too long. For years I've thought about taking it to a smithy and getting the barrel cut downn but don't know if I want to spend the $$ on a gun only worth $50.

Is it possible to perform this job at home? Does anyone have any tips or links?

I know this isn't normally done but on a inexpensive gun like this it might be worth it to try. I'm not gonna be out much if it doesn't work. Thought I'd cut it down to arounf 17" so if I mess it up I can take it to the smith and have him finish down to 16"

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CB

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I have used a mouse ball and valve grinding compound. I open the chuck wide open on my 18 volt electric drill and gently start the ball turning with a slight down pressure on top of the ball. The chuck teeth apply just the right amount of grip or tension to spin the ball.I make sure the drill is vertical and strait up over the bore. In your case cutting a square cut would be critical to give you a flat face to work off of.The mouse ball and or a large round head brass screw chucked tight will give a good crown if you take your time. I had a friend crown an old 22 remington tube feed my Dad bought during the depression for $3.50.So some rifles are irreplaceable. Oh and the accuracy returned after a good cleaning and crowning.


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Start at 20" and work down an inch at a time to 16


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http://www.GUNSANDHUNTING.com/Midway_sept.html

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An electrician that works for me had an old military gun that had been rebarreled to .243 before he got it. He couldn't get it to shoot no matter what he did. Got to looking and the last 2 inches of the barrel looked jacked up to his eye, so he cut it off with a hacksaw (as square as he could), cleaned up the rifling with some needle files. He claims it is one of his most accurate guns now, and he does have some accurate guns, shoots a lot of local matches around here. Anecdotal at best, but I believe what he says.

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It's been many years ago, but I cut off a .22 barrel, then carefully filed and sanded it square, then lapped it with a round head brass screw in an eggbeater hand drill. It came out very nice. One tricky part is avoiding burrs at the edge of the bore. I checked with a clean q-tip that would catch fibers on any burr that was present. I've had crowns done by gunsmiths fail that test. Then there was the smith that crowned another .22 for me, and left so much burr that I couldn't get a cleaning rod through it, but that's another story.

Paul


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The most difficult part of the job will be getting it square. If you are good with a hacksaw and file, you shouldn't have any problem. Get it as square as you can, then use the round headed brass screw amd valve grinding compound in an electric drill for the crown.

As far as cutting it down? I don't know the legal length, but it is somewhere around 16 or 17 inches. Make sure before you cut off too much.

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To get a square cut, clamp a quality stainless steel hose clamp around the barrel as a guide for your saw blade. Use the finest steel saw blade you can find, with no offset to the teeth and no waves. Most hacksaw blades have every other tooth offset to opposite sides, and have a wavy blade, but there are fine ones that have just straight teeth. After you get done, use the hose clamp as a guide for your file, then for a whetstone.

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Originally Posted by Paul39
It's been many years ago, but I cut off a .22 barrel, then carefully filed and sanded it square, then lapped it with a round head brass screw in an eggbeater hand drill. It came out very nice. One tricky part is avoiding burrs at the edge of the bore. I checked with a clean q-tip that would catch fibers on any burr that was present. I've had crowns done by gunsmiths fail that test. Then there was the smith that crowned another .22 for me, and left so much burr that I couldn't get a cleaning rod through it, but that's another story.

Paul


I've done this myself too on several "beater" rifles (although I used a cotton ball instead of a Q-tip to test for burrs!).

I had the opportunity to do an 'after" test on 2 of the 4 centrefirel rifles that I did this on for friends, and one (a Rem 700) shot MOA, the other was a Savage 99 (before a very slight shortening, the muzzle was clearly worn egg-shaped by I suppose a cleaning rod: after it shot about 2 MOA with a scope). Both owners of the other 2 rifles were happy with much improved accuracy, but I was not able to test the rifles myself so I can't say how they shot. I've shortened the barrel on 3 rimfires, and all shot every bit as well at 20 yards with the shortened barrels as they did before (and one shot a lot better, I suppose because it originally had muzzle damage).

I sure don't suggest this if a rifle is worth spending a bit on! Take it to a gunsmith with a lathe and get it done right. However, for a rifle not worth putting money into, it is worth a try.

One tip I can add to help file the end square after cutting: bore a hole in 2 x 4 that will just take the muzzle. Split the 2 x 4 right though the hole with a saw, then clamp the muzzle in the board in a vise. It is quite easy to file the end square using this guide.

Now, I'm sure all the real gunsmiths will be cringing at the advice in this thread, and I would not disagree for a good rifle either!

John

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Thanks for all the replies so far. The hose clamp looks like a great idea, so does the q-tip/cotton ball trick. Couple questions though:

What is a mouse ball?

What lapping compound did you use and where is it available?

How does a brass screw work for crowning and cleaning up the rifling? Seems like the steal barrel would just tear up the brass screw.


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Originally Posted by Chris Brice
Thanks for all the replies so far. The hose clamp looks like a great idea, so does the q-tip/cotton ball trick. Couple questions though:

What is a mouse ball?

What lapping compound did you use and where is it available?

How does a brass screw work for crowning and cleaning up the rifling? Seems like the steal barrel would just tear up the brass screw.

CB


With effort, I will pass on the jokes relating to rodent testicles. smile A mouse ball is just the round rubber ball from a mechanical computer mouse (hard to find nowadays because they are all optical and without balls, so to speak!). I don't know how you would spin a rubber mouse ball easily -- I used a brass screw in a cordless drill and wobbled it about on its axis. You want the screw head to stay round and not get a groove worn into it.

I don't recall the grits of lapping compounds I used, but I first used a moderately coarse one to speed things up, followed by a fine one. Auto supply shops use these compounds for lapping valves. You really are not removing much metal at all so it goes fast.

The idea with the round head brass screw is that the lapping compound imbeds in the soft brass which then moves past the harder steel abrading it. It seems odd, but the steel barrel really does wear much faster then the soft brass screw.

John

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Use a round headed 1/4 inch brass machine screw. Get one about 1 1/2 inches to 2 inches long. Most hardware stores carry them.

A 1/4 inch round headed machine screw will have a head about 1/2 inch in dia. Be sure and get one made for a slotted screwdriver. The slot in the screw will help hold the lapping compound on the screw head.

I have used regular valve grinding compound available at auto parts stores. I would use a medium grit, something like 220.

As mentioned above, wallow the screw head around on the end of the barrel as you run the drill. It doesn't take much.

Before you start, run a patch from the breech end of the barrel, stopping about 1/2 inch before the muzzle. Leave the patch in place until you finish, then push the patch on through. This will clean the compound out of the barrel. The patch will keep the compound from getting down inside the barrel.

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Bryce Towsley's new book "Gunsmithing Made Easy" has a good section on cutting, squaring, and crowning a barrel. Have to buy a few tools from Brownells that might make it too expensive, but doable at home and should come out very good. Take a look as book is very good otherwise.
Jed

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Thanks for the tip, Jed. I'm just an amateur who does this for a hobby, and I'm always looking for new books on the topic.

John

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I went a little nuts a couple years ago and bought a muzzle and cylinder facing tool from Brownells. About $75 with a pilot for one caliber. I tried it on a rifle that wasn't worth too much, figured a gunsmith could take off a bit more and fix my mistakes if it didn't turn out. Actually it went very well. Very nice smooth and level muzzle and accuracy actually improved. One lesson; with this device you don't need to be too precise to get the initial hack saw cut at 90 degrees as the device evens it all up. Once you have the tool a muzzle pilot for another caliber is about $25. Use lots of oil and cut smoothly and with even hand pressure.


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