Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Cut and Crown Hammer Forged barrel

I may have seen the technique in Gunsmith Kinks, but know for certain it was in an old Finn Aagaard article. IIRC, Finn mentioned how Phil Shoemaker had used the technique on Old Ugly.

Steyr does the same. Saco M60 barrels had a marked crimp at the muzzle, they actually shot better once that wore out. The crimp was there to induce a "cone of fire".

I've heard that shorter shotgun barrels will throw tighter patterns due to being stiffer...

I've heard that shorter shotgun barrels will throw tighter patterns due to being stiffer... [/quote]

I know mine does.


tighter patterns are good right?

right?

Theoretically, wouldn�t shortening an accurate barrel only help? Shorter barrels are stiffer. The only benefit to bullet performance from longer barrels is velocity.

The only crown you could polish is on a guy's dong.


Travis

I agree 100%. Unless the guy wants a shorter barrel.

Billy,

I remember Finn's article well! And Old Ugly is still shooting well enough to whack bears.

You are correct goat, I have cut off dozens of barrels, including cutting the 28" bbl of my 22lr 40X target rifle back to 18", and in every case the accuracy was as good or better than the original. So long as the cut is square to the barrel, or filed that way, the crown doesn't seem to matter. It is only there to protect the muzzle from being damaged..
By the way the 40X was, as is, a 1/2 moa rifle after being chopped off.

What is the offical name of that Brownells tool? The search function on their website totally sucks.

45-degree muzzle/cylinder chamfering cutter.

I recall them talking about cutting the barrels back to a specific length in story about "the Houston Warehouse" can't recall the magical length, somewhere around 20 3/4" or something like that. But point is even if they had an accurate barrel they cut it back to their magic length. If the guy wants a shorter barrel because it will work better for him overall I say go for it and good luck. Don't forget to let us know how it turned out.

The 20" barrel on my model 70 compact is the best thing about it. Cut that barrel back and let the good times roll.

I've shortened alot of barrels by the hacksaw/round headed bolt method over the years. All have shot as well and many better than before. I like to lightly score the barrel with a tubing cutter first, then cut a little forward and file back carefully to the mark to insure the muzzle is square.

I'd have no concern over accuracy, it may even shoot better via being stiffer. My concern would be overall balance and handling of the rifle. If the rifle balances well cut at 20" vs balances poorly at 20" would be my only thoughts. I've seen it cut both ways where a shorter barrel made a marked improvement and where a shorter barrel moved the balance point too far. My current favorite rifle is light and sports a 20" barrel. It handles like a dream in close quarters, yet has accuracy in spades. If given a choice to have this same rifle balance as well with the barrel at 22 1/2" vs its current 20", I'd stick with the current shorter length as it has proven itself too handy.

Hacksawing on a $500 rifle.....c'mon, he's not looking to win the Olympics.

Why not hacksaw the thing if you can finish the job? There's nothing wrong with chopping a barrel or rasping a stock to make a weapon more functional. We're not talking about collectibles here.

because a Sawzall is quicker...

The simple answer to shorting a barrel is that the barrel usually shows a improvement in accuracy.

If you are worried about balance simply cut it off an inch at a time.