I would think that you would have to de bur the barel some how? chainsaw file? Ive seen my friends do this but Iv never payed attention to it. but that is one thing I rember them fileing out the inside of the barel..

Find someone with a lathe and a crowning tool.  You'll always leave a burr or chip on the lands  with a drill bit and that's the most important part of the barrel.

Get your barrel bobbed by someone that knows what they are doing with a lathe. Just strip the gun out, put an index mark on the reciever and barrel. pop the barrel off in a vice, easiest way to do that is to drill a hole in a block of wood that matches the diameter of your barrel. Cut block in half so that you have a set of barrel blocks. Clamp all this together in a vice and remove reciever with a wrench. Take barrel to a machine shop or someone you know with a lathe and bob the barrel back. It's not too hard to do.

 If you hack away with the hacksaw, there is no telling where your rounds will go.

I trued up a guys Rem700 that he thought needed a new crown, he put the muzzle end against a belt sander to crown it! I kid you not. Let someone who knows what they are doing do it for you. You will be happier in the long run.

I may be talking out of my ass since I've never cut down a barrel before, but it might be a good idea to put something like a wooden dowel rod in the barrel while you are cutting it. That might help with the burrs. But then again, maybe not, that's just my speculation.

Only thing I can say for certain is to use a new hacksaw blade and use some cutting oil, that should help things go along a bit smoother. Just be sure to get it as straight a cut as you can, otherwise your shot might go way off to one side or the other.

I used a hacksaw also. A miter(sp) box works better to keep the cutting straight. To crown, I went to the local hardware store and found a 45 degree grinder bit and also a reverse cone type to finish off the outside of the barrel. Just remember that the barrel metal is hard stuff and does not drill very easy.

I cut my 8mm mauser down to 16 inches. Not recomended as recoil is somewhat just short of violent.

Hacksaw the thing off. Recrown with a Brownells muzzle facing & chamfering tool. About $55 with the correct pilot for your caliber.

Your method will work as well as the above though. Use plenty of cutting oil when recrowning. I have made several scout rifles on mauser & enfield actions. e-mail me with questions. I saw that you were getting the Ashley kit. Do you have a drill press? You can probably tap your barrel & mount a weaver base on the flat. Stocks for the 98 mauser are plentiful and cheap. appx $50 for a synthetic.
Scott

Talk to a buddy with a lathe.  Remember the hardness of the metal used for hte barrell - you will need about a week to cut it with a hacksaw.

Anyway you cut it, you are looking at burrs.  A lathe is the best choice, second is to use a shop cutoff saw (bandsaw type.)  Use LOTS of coolant/lube so you do not alter the temper of the metal.

I know Brownells sells muzzle crowning tools, I would not improvise here either.  Doing the job right in the first place makes it easier to finish when you are done.  

If you are thinking that it would cost you more to do the cut work, check with Numrich Gun Parts, Corp. for a shortened barrel that will fit your action.  Nomrich often has good prices on the semi-oddball stuff that a few people are looking for and they always wind up with, so it's worth a shot.

FFZ

I'd crown on a lathe if possible.

But I have cut them off with a hacksaw, filed the face smooth, filed a chamfer all around the outside, and used a woodworking countersink to chamfer the inside. Get a countersink with many small teeth like file teeth, or a single-flute metalworking type. One with about 6 teeth sometimes cuts OK, but usually chatters and makes a star or angular shape instead of a rounded cone. Any small burs you turn up will shoot out with no problem. It's not really brain surgery, though you don't want it cut off at a 10 degree angle from square.

Can't tell you about crowning, but I had cut the barrels on a couple of Mini-14's when installing front sight/FS units.  Used a hacksaw, then a file and sandpaper to polish the ends.  I didn't use any oil, and the hacksaw cut through the barrel just fine.  

There was no change in accuracy ....


Chris

Barrel steel isn't hardened or anything tricky so a fine tooth hacksaw works nicely.  Just like wood working, cut so you leave that index line you scribed around the barrel(cut on the WASTE side!). Then you can true up with a flat file.  I find a good chamfer tool is to chuck a brass (ok, I've used steel too) round head screw in a variable speed drill.  Match the diameter to the bore so the head is about twice the bore( The smaller the head, the steeper the chamfer angle).  That will give you pretty close to a 45angle on the cut.  Push a patch in the muzzel to keep too much junk from running down the bore. Clamp the barrel pointing STRAIGHT up with the muzzle at about waist height. Dip the screw head in fine valve grinding compound and run the drill on slow.  Work the back and forth in a small arc, re-applying compound as necessary Walk around the barrel so you do the back and forth from all directions.  No need to press hard, let the drill weight and compound do the work.  You don't need a lot of cut, but the bright ring should be very even and extend to past the bottom of the grooves.  It's easier to see if you blue the muzzle so the chamfer shows up in white.  And a LOT easier to inspect with a jewelers loupe.  get even a cheap plastic set from northern freight.

Garand SHooter has his shit together on this project. He wants a beater truck gun for a little money. The hacksaw will work fine, 5 min & done. The 45 deg drill bit will be fine & take care of any burrs. Cutting oil will help here. The $50 odd bucks he will save frome buying a crown tool will buy him a Timney trigger. Stock, scopr mount & cheap pistol or red dot & he is in for under $225. Cheap assed ammo available or he can reload for better performance. I figure if he free floats the barrel while stocking & tunes his trigger he will get decent accuracy out of it too.
Scott