Problem relining a .22 barrel

[tankerman]

Here's the issue;

I have an old Remington 6 .22 boys rifle, that I have been restoring for my son. Stock is done, receiever is almost finished, just needs to be sent off for color case hardening. Barrel surface is clean and ready to be reblued.

Problem is the rifling was bad in the gun so I purchased a .22 barrel liner and the proper 18" drill bit with pilot. I only drilled a little out at a time from each side. Kept the hole clean and clear from metal shavings, used plenty of oil and let both the bit and barrel cool before continuing. When I finished drilling out the old rifling I found that the liner would only go in about half way regardless or which end I inserted it from. The hole is slightly off center right in the middle of the barrel. I think what happen is that I may have put too much pressure on the bit during the last bit of the reaming process and pushed the bit off center.

Trying to run the bit through again accomplishes nothing, it flexes enough to continue past the off center area.

How, or can I, finish removing the last bit of off centered steel that remains in the middle of the reamed barrel?

Thanks for the help.


(not mine, just a picture of what it looks like)

[Mikeb]

You might want to run a reamer though it. You would probably have to silver solder an extension on it, that could be a hangup for you I don't know.

Good Luck
Mike

[gunboat]

I presume the drill you are using is about 5/16" ? I would make a new extended drill that will go all or at least nearly all the way thru the barrel - By going from both side you have essentially made a "U" shaped bore, perhaps both horizontally as well as vertically. A good sharp 5/16 jobber length drill with extension should be able to straighten the center enough to allow the insertion of the liner. although it will be somewhat larger diameter at that orininal meeting point. I made extension drills by turning the bit shank down to about 3/16 and bore out a piece of 19/64 drill rod (for 5/16 drill) to 3/16 and solder together. The diameter of drill rod close to drill size helps provide stiffness and yet allow clearance for chips. Not being a gun drill it must be cleared often to prevent chips jamming. --

[tankerman]

I followed these instruction;

http://www.brownells.com/aspx/NS/General/DisplayPDF.aspx?f=Inst-143.pdf

[tankerman]

You might want to run a reamer though it. You would probably have to silver solder an extension on it, that could be a hangup for you I don't know.

Good Luck
Mike

Silver soldering is not a hangup for me However I would be concerned about the strength unless a sleeve was added to the connection, which I believe is similar to what "Gunboat" is suggesting below.

I presume the drill you are using is about 5/16" ? I would make a new extended drill that will go all or at least nearly all the way thru the barrel - By going from both side you have essentially made a "U" shaped bore, perhaps both horizontally as well as vertically. A good sharp 5/16 jobber length drill with extension should be able to straighten the center enough to allow the insertion of the liner. although it will be somewhat larger diameter at that orininal meeting point. I made extension drills by turning the bit shank down to about 3/16 and bore out a piece of 19/64 drill rod (for 5/16 drill) to 3/16 and solder together. The diameter of drill rod close to drill size helps provide stiffness and yet allow clearance for chips. Not being a gun drill it must be cleared often to prevent chips jamming. --

Here's where I would run into the problem, not sufficient eqipment to properly bore out a 19/65 drill rod.


The liner slides straight in both sides, when you look down the barrel you can see where the bit drifted off center a couple of inches before the two sides met in the center. What a PIA.

Thanks for a the ideas guys.


Perhaps I should take the barrel to a machine shop and see what they can do?

[Mikeb]

Yeah I like Gunboats technique of making a proper connection. Do you have a lathe available?
It's hard to believe the your very far off where you drilled from both ends. I would think the original bore would be a good guide, and keep every things lined up.
I wonder if you could polish it out with Aluminium grinding compound? It might be just a burr where the holes meet.
just a thought
Mike

[tankerman]

1It's hard to believe the your very far off where you drilled from both ends. I would think the original bore would be a good guide, and keep every things lined up.
I wonder if you could polish it out with Aluminium grinding compound? It might be just a burr where the holes meet.
just a thought
Mike

That is a good idea. Maybe work some lapping compound on the area with a fairly small diameter rod?

[Mikeb]

http://www.homegunsmith.com/cgi-bin/ib3/ikonboard.cgi?;act=ST;f=3;t=21189;hl=charlie

This is a link, I'm not sure it will work. You might have to register to view the Projects forum.
But. Charlie demonstrates making a barrel and some where in there is instruction for making a lead lap.
Basicaly you make a barbed rod, center it with cloth wraped around it and pour some lead around it. Then you can charge the lap with Aluminium oxide and run it
thought the bore.
Might work?... check out Home Gunsmiths, you might enjoy it...
take care
Mike

[gunboat]

Just how far off are the two bores? A lap will only remove a few thou, but if you think that is what you need, try using an old brasss bore brush. One that has the bristles all crushed would be best to hold the lapping compund. Remember, it is also going lap the rest of the bore going in. That should not matter as the liner is a relatively loose fit anyway. The epoxy or solder will fill a good sized gap.

[Guntech]

Now you can point the gun at someones feet and shoot them in the face lol..

[tankerman]

Now you can point the gun at someones feet and shoot them in the face lol..

The barrel is not bent and each of the ends is centered.

[gunboat]

Have you solved the problem yet? After thinking on this a while the only simple solution I see is to rebore the hole oversize and then just fill the oversize with epoxy. A bushing at each end would keep liner centered. Perhaps 1/16" or so oversize would be enough -- The liner could also be centered by threading each end of the liner 5/16-24 and using a tapered washer and nut to center the liner while epoxy cures. then cut off liner ends chamber and crown --- Not easy but doable -- There are no 5 minute jobs ---

[gunboat]

Tankerman --- did you solve this problem? I would be interested in seeing your solution --- gb

[tankerman]

Got sidetracked. Project is still out on the bench, just haven't had much time lately going to try this week.

Will update the thread.

[GuyW]

If you can get a rod that's essentially the drilled hole diameter, it will be as stiff as possible because its a) max diam and b) supported over the length of the hole. This will pilot the rod in the bore.

Then you need to make the end of it a boring bar. Boring bars will cut something like this straight, where drills and reams will tend to follow the hole...

This should allow you to actually "bore" the problem segment from each end and straighten the hole.

....fiddly work, but the end result will be fine....