AR Sponsor
Posted: 6/6/2012 1:23:37 PM EDT
| I got a call from an AR company ( Who it was is irrelevant ) and they said they finally got some barrel's in and did I still want to buy the Ar I had requested 2 months ago. The lady was super nice so I ask her how hard could it be to make a barrel and i would run down to HF and buy whatever I need and crank her out some barrel's. Obviously i was just kidding but I did find out the majority of AR manufacturers do not make their own barrels. My question is almost every CNC shop has the machinery to build a barrel so why would there be a shortage of something so simple to build? Of all parts of an Ar the barrel has to be the easiest to make compared to an upper or BCG. Who are the major players that just build barrel's? Is there only 2 or 3? |
|
I disagree the barrel is not the easiest part.
Lots of things can go wrong during the making of it. The steel has to be heat treated correctly The rifling has to be cut If it is chrome lined it has to be chrome lined before riffling Gas port has to be drilled Barrel threaded List goes on. Granted technology has improved but if it is not made right you basically made a good baton. |
|
Quoted:
I disagree the barrel is not the easiest part. Lots of things can go wrong during the making of it. The steel has to be heat treated correctly The rifling has to be cut If it is chrome lined it has to be chrome lined before riffling Gas port has to be drilled Barrel threaded List goes on. Granted technology has improved but if it is not made right you basically made a good baton. I would think with the new CNC technology is what I was basing my thoughts on. I think I have been watching " How it is Made" too long. |
|
Make...
most good machine shops could make this part, and eventually it would even be correct. However, try and go source 75,000 feet of 4150 bar stock. This only makes about 50k barrels (MINIMUM initial production for starting a project of this nature) Where do get the money to pay for 75,000 feet of raw material? Where do you even store 75,000 feet of 12 ft barstock... ... in the out building you had special built for it! Thanks, Mike 
|
|
Quoted:
Make... most good machine shops could make this part, and eventually it would even be correct. However, try and go source 75,000 feet of 4150 bar stock. This only makes about 50k barrels (MINIMUM initial production for starting a project of this nature) Where do get the money to pay for 75,000 feet of raw material? Where do you even store 75,000 feet of 12 ft barstock... ... in the out building you had special built for it! Thanks, Mike I dont guess I could do this in my garage. LOL I guess I better take back that Lathe i got from HF |
| It is not chrome-lined BEFORE rifling. The rifling is cut a little larger to allow for the thickness of the chrome plating which is then applied. Obviously there is a lot of room for error in this process. And that is why non-chromed barrels can be more accurate. |
| Most machine shops do not have the equipment for making a barrel, this is why machine shops can't pick up the slack and make barrels. A hammer forged barrel needs a special machine (to hammer the rifling tool through the bore) which you have probably never seen, even if you visited a thousand machine shops. They do not have a drill that can pass an extremely long bit perfectly straight through the barrel stock. About all your typical machine shop has the equipment to do is turn the outer profile on barrel blanks that have already been drilled and rifled. |
|
Quoted:
Most machine shops do not have the equipment for making a barrel, this is why machine shops can't pick up the slack and make barrels. A hammer forged barrel needs a special machine (to hammer the rifling tool through the bore) which you have probably never seen, even if you visited a thousand machine shops. They do not have a drill that can pass an extremely long bit perfectly straight through the barrel stock. About all your typical machine shop has the equipment to do is turn the outer profile on barrel blanks that have already been drilled and rifled. I believe hammer forged barrels do not have the rifling tool hammered through the bore the barrel is hammered to shape around a mandrel with the reverse rifling already on it. for more common barrel making beyond the lathe cnc work you need a deep hole boring machine and a rifling press |
|
Quoted:
Quoted:
Most machine shops do not have the equipment for making a barrel, this is why machine shops can't pick up the slack and make barrels. A hammer forged barrel needs a special machine (to hammer the rifling tool through the bore) which you have probably never seen, even if you visited a thousand machine shops. They do not have a drill that can pass an extremely long bit perfectly straight through the barrel stock. About all your typical machine shop has the equipment to do is turn the outer profile on barrel blanks that have already been drilled and rifled. I believe hammer forged barrels do not have the rifling tool hammered through the bore the barrel is hammered to shape around a mandrel with the reverse rifling already on it. for more common barrel making beyond the lathe cnc work you need a deep hole boring machine and a rifling press Kinda... The barrel is drilled beforehand. Watch this video From The Firearm Blog |
|
Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Most machine shops do not have the equipment for making a barrel, this is why machine shops can't pick up the slack and make barrels. A hammer forged barrel needs a special machine (to hammer the rifling tool through the bore) which you have probably never seen, even if you visited a thousand machine shops. They do not have a drill that can pass an extremely long bit perfectly straight through the barrel stock. About all your typical machine shop has the equipment to do is turn the outer profile on barrel blanks that have already been drilled and rifled. I believe hammer forged barrels do not have the rifling tool hammered through the bore the barrel is hammered to shape around a mandrel with the reverse rifling already on it. for more common barrel making beyond the lathe cnc work you need a deep hole boring machine and a rifling press Kinda... The barrel is drilled beforehand. Watch this video From The Firearm Blog now i want one of their barrels |
|
Very interesting I wish they would sticky that. |
AR Sponsor