Forcing cone lengthening, can I or should I do it myself

[Rob62]

Having recently shortened a rifle barrel, and re-cutting the crown with a hand tool. And doing a pretty good job of it, if I do say so myself. I now feel I am ready to continue with my metal working experience by lengthening the forcing cone on some "beater" 12ga's.

Anyone here do this work on their own? What was your experience?

I do not have the forcing cone lengthening reamer yet, but I have checked the Brownells catalog and they have them beginning in the $70 range IIRC. Doesn’t seem like too bad of a price considering that if I were to have this work done professionally it would cost that much for just one gun/barrel.

Thanks,
Rob

 

[Fred Fuller]

Anyone here do this work on their own?
=============================

Nope. I don't think it's something I would undertake with just hand tools.

Besides, it's always been a pleasure to see the folks at Colonial Arms when I got home for a visit, and I have always let them do my barrel work for me. But with their move from Selma down to Bay Minette, AL, I guess my drop-in visits are over unless I get down toward the Gulf Coast. At least the USPS still works, but I'll miss seeing them and checking out what's for sale in the shop when I get by there.

lpl/nc

 

[Rob62]

Howdy Lee,

Thanks for the comment. But I am a little perplexed by you saying that this is something you would not "undertake with just hand tools.".

I thought that no matter who did the work, mostly all forcing cone lengthening was done via hand tools. I guess some gunsmiths might do this work via a lathe/machine, but for the most part if I understand the proceedure correctly it is done by hand?

Regards,
Rob

 

[Fred Fuller]

I will admit to relatively limited knowledge about the process. There are indeed reamers set up for use with T- handles, but I'd rather have mine done on a lathe by someone who knows machine work than cut freehand with a reamer whose pilot might not run true in the bore. That's a personal preference based on my own lack of experience in altering internal barrel geometry, not a universal statement that that's the only way to do it. Others may prefer the DIY approach.

The question was whether anyone did this on their own- I don't. I'll be interested to hear if anyone here does.

lpl/nc

 

[Dave McCracken]

The ones I've had done were done on lathes by three different smiths. Two muttered darkly about non-concentric, botched jobs done by citiots with hand tools.

IMO, a job for pros. A messup could result in not enough barrel metal a few inches in front of your face.

As I keep saying,grenades and shotguns have similar working pressures...

 

[Chris Rhines]

If you are careful, you can do a good job with just hand tools. Reamer and T-handle, barrel mic, polishing extension, and a sturdy vise with barrel jaws.

BTW, forcing cone reamers are almost never piloted - I've never seen a factory one with a pilot. They are generally tapered so as to self-center in the bore, with a minor diameter slightly under the bore diameter. The dimensional specifications on the forcing cone are loose enough that a pilot would be pointless. Now the actual chambering reamer, that is piloted. You can't cut a chamber by hand - you need a lathe.

Go for it, the absolute worst possible case is that you end up with a barrel that doesn't shoot so well. It's pretty much impossible to remove enough metal with a forcing cone reamer to cause the barrel to breach.

- Chris

 

[Rat-30]

Use the Brownells Reamer

I have used a hand FC Reamer from brownells, with a large vise, large T-Handle tap wrench, lots of cutting oil and lots of time.

Not a job to rush, worked fine in an 1897 Winchester, several 870s.

The important thing to do for me is to keep chips to a minimum, keep the reamer sharp, sharp, sharp. I stone mine before, during and after to keep the best edge on it. This will minimize chipping, and help with the cutting.

Another tip, if it feels very tight and difficult, you're trying (pressing) too hard. Let the reamer do the work, and it will if it's sharp.

Did I mention keep the reamer sharp? Helps avoid this...:banghead:

Last tip - start with a scrap barrel. Hurts to learn on Grandpa's heirloom.

Best regards,

John

 

[Rob62]

I guess I am going to try to DIY

I just mailed out a money order to one of the forum members here that just happened to have an older used reamer laying around.

This project is backed up behind more projects which of course are a long way off due to the current project I am working on.

(I think I have too many projects planned. )

But when I do get this project completed I will post my results here for anyone to see. I've got several beat up 870 barrels that I can use. No big deal if I mess up one of them.

Regards,
Rob

 

[GRP]

I would give it a try, on a beater. When I was at the Grand American years ago I would watch them lengthen the cones and the smiths there used a hand reamer. Now, I had a couple of guns done at Pro-Port. I realy didn't see any difference in recoil or pattern ability, so I considered it a waste as well as the porting(Pro-Port) they did on the barrel.

 

[Rob62]

I received my LFC reamer and did what I think is a respectable job of lengthening the forcing cone of an older barrel.

I went slowly and took my time. This was a messier job than I thought it would be. I ended up with cutting oil over a lot of surfaces I had not planned on getting it on.

Although I have only had 1 range session with this modified shotgun. The end results were very impressive. Before the modification at 10-15 yards buckshot patterns were in the 6" range. Unbelievably after the modification "OO" buckshot patterns are now in the 2-3" range. I could not believe this much of an increase in the pattern and stared at the target for some time. Slugs continued to shoot to the point of aim.

I wish that this tight of a pattern carried on to the 25yd line. However, that was not the case. The same "OO" buckshot patterns at aprox. 25 yds were so wide that I could not keep all pellets inside a standard FBI Bottle type target - about a 18-24" pattern.

I will have to get out and try different types of buckshot. The only type used so far was Federal Tactical 2.75" "OO" buckshot.

Rob