Need advice on home-cutting a barrel.

[miko]

I plan on having the barrel on my Rem 7600 .243 cut from 22 to 18 or so inches.

I had an idea - before I send the rifle to the gunsmith, why don't I cut the barrel inch by inch just to measure the impact on velocity. This way I would know how much I lose and maybe even go shorter than 18 inches. If I lose 20 fps per inch, I might just as well go to 16 1/2 like on the Rem 7600P .308 rifle.

The cuts do not have to be neat - as long as I hit the space over the chronometer it will work. The gunsmith will make the final cut and re-crowning anyway.
But I don't want to blow up anything.

What do I do? Just cut a piece off with a metal saw or a cut-off disk?

miko

 

[ScottsGT]

Sounds like a good topic for the "Gunsmithing" section of the forums. Might get a little more help on this info there.

 

[Jim K]

Since I can't imagine that any irregularities in the muzzle would throw the bullet off enough to wreck your screens, I see no reason not to do what you want. I doubt you will find anything much different from the 50-75 fps per inch that is pretty much a given.

You might use masking tape to mark a cutting line so you don't get too far off. A hacksaw should work OK, or a bench mounted cutting wheel. (A Dremel cutting wheel will take too long.)

Jim

 

[rcmodel]

You can just saw it with a high-speed hack-saw blade and touch up the burs with a file.

Cut-Off wheel would also do it I suppose, but don't over-heat it.

Could I ask why you want a sawed-off .243?
Seems a little counter to the way things work, unless you like Ferocious muzzle-blast and less down-range performance.

I would expect 50+ FPS/ per inch or more in a .243 when you get that short.


rcmodel

 

[Aries-]

im not sure if it will effect the velocity or not. but if you leave the end inside of the barrel with a sharp corner your likely to have fly off bullets and such. the inside of the end should be champhered to release the escaping gasses slowly (its a relative term) than a sharp blast when the bullet leaves the barrel.

 

[miko]

Could I ask why you want a sawed-off .243?
Seems a little counter to the way things work, unless you like Ferocious muzzle-blast and less down-range performance.

Mostly for consideration of handling and storage. I don't plan to shoot it further than 350 yards - mostly of-hand or with field-improvised support.
Losing the length and weight of 4 inches outweights the disadvantages in my view. Added barrel stiffness is an extra bonus.

miko

 

[ScottsGT]

Sounds like you're having the same problems I was having with my Sporterized Ishy Infield. It was just too damned long tp use in our hunting "shacks" on the farm. the barrel was too long to swing around and I would sometimes hit the roof shouldering the beast. I sold it and bought a Marlin .30-30.

 

[Misfire99]

A mother was teaching her daughter how to cook a roast. She said the first thing you do is cut off the tail of the roast. The daughter being smart asked why do we cut off the tail mommy. Mommy didn't know and said that is how grandma taught me. So the daughter called grandma and asked her why do you cut off the tail of your roasts? Grandma replied so it will fit in my pan.

Brownells has a muzzle crowning tool set just for this project. The cost of having a gunsmith do this will pay for the tool. Check it out. I have one and it's worth it.

 

[miko]

^^^

$460 for a tool? The whole gun cost $480 brand new.
The smith offered to cut and crown the muzzle and move back the front sight (drill and tap a hole) for $70. I believe I will go that route.

Though it seems that .243, being overbore cartrige more akin to magnum ones is more sensitive to barrel length loss than .308 of the same length. Maybe I will just trim it to 20".

miko