Relined Barrels

[MI2600]

I bought a '92 Win carbine off GB, made in 1927. When I received it I found the bore looked brand new. Not one speck of use. The only alteration I observed on the rest of the gun was a shortened ammo tube. It would be nice to think it had belonged to someone who took ultra good care of it. But, I suspect the barrel may have been relined.

How can you confirm a relined barrel?

 

[243winxb]

Here is a 22 . Should be able to see it. The liner is held in by solder or epoxy. The crown is done next.

 

[Jim Watson]

What caliber? Redman won't line a .38 or .44 carbine. Maybe somebody else would.

There are a couple of ways to conceal the seam at the muzzle, look around the chamber.

 

[MI2600]

It's in 38-40. That .22 looks easily detected.

Too late tonight. Be back in the morning,

 

[MI2600]

I thought I might have to disassemble the rifle to fully see the chamber, but I was able to see a thin silver line around the end of it. I can live with that.

Is there any special care of the liner? I usually use moderate handloads with LFP bullets of about 12 Bhn in the old WCFs.

 

[243winxb]

Keep barrel temperature below 475f. Dont want to melt the solder or epoxy. No 30 round mag dumps

 

[boom boom]

There are actually several people who still due larger caliber relinings in low pressure cartridges. Track of the Wolf sells the liners made by one of the guys who makes them for it https://www.trackofthewolf.com/List/Item.aspx/637/1.

The old style way was to solder the liner in after boring out the barrel with a special drill while the newer .22 LR way uses some sort of epoxy or acraglas instead of solder.

Here is the story of one guy who got his Springfield Trapdoor in .45-70 relined and by who, http://texas-mac.com/Relining_a_Springfield_Trapdoor_Rifle_Barrel.html

 

[SGW Gunsmith]

I'm currently working on a Stevens Ideal Model 44 in .22 Long Rifle caliber. Most all of the Stevens "Boys" rifles that I do acquire have rotted away rifling, and if fired from the inside of a barn, just might hit the inside of it.........somewhere:

Here is the extra length of the liner protruding out of the muzzle. I use Devcon Liquid Steel to permanently fix the liner in place. After a 'safe' wait of a couple days the liner is then faced off even with the muzzle:

The black Devcon ring is evidence that the barrel has been relined, and the rust bluing process doesn't always conceal its presence. But, in some cases, like this Stevens Favorite, blending and crowning comes pretty dang close:

The liner at the breech end of the Model 44 still needs to be shortened and then chambered, along with having an extractor slot cut:

 

[Catman42]

a relined barrel will shoot more accurate than the original barrel as their is less barrel whip at the muzzle. if your new rifle is relined, be happy it is as it most likely will be a tack driver.

 

[boom boom]

I'm currently working on a Stevens Ideal Model 44 in .22 Long Rifle caliber. Most all of the Stevens "Boys" rifles that I do acquire have rotted away rifling, and if fired from the inside of a barn, just might hit the inside of it.........somewhere:
View attachment 855815
Here is the extra length of the liner protruding out of the muzzle. I use Devcon Liquid Steel to permanently fix the liner in place. After a 'safe' wait of a couple days the liner is then faced off even with the muzzle:
View attachment 855816
The black Devcon ring is evidence that the barrel has been relined, and the rust bluing process doesn't always conceal its presence. But, in some cases, like this Stevens Favorite, blending and crowning comes pretty dang close:
View attachment 855817
The liner at the breech end of the Model 44 still needs to be shortened and then chambered, along with having an extractor slot cut:
View attachment 855818

Just out of curiousity, do you make your long shaft drill bits for boring out the old bore or buy the ones that Brownell's sells?

 

[SGW Gunsmith]

Just out of curiousity, do you make your long shaft drill bits for boring out the old bore or buy the ones that Brownell's sells?

I use the Guhring piloted drills as they guide the drill from wandering off track in the bore. I have a 9" long drill for pistol/revolver barrels and then a 15" drill for rifle barrels. With the 15-inch drill, I'll half way into the barrel from each end.

 

[boom boom]

I use the Guhring piloted drills as they guide the drill from wandering off track in the bore. I have a 9" long drill for pistol/revolver barrels and then a 15" drill for rifle barrels. With the 15-inch drill, I'll half way into the barrel from each end.

Thanks for answering, I have a project Springfield m1922 in .22 LR that needs to be relined

 

[Kp321]

I made my own piloted drill bits by taking the appropriate sized drill bit to clear the liner and grinding a 1/2" long pilot to .218" to kits fit in the bore of the old rifling. I used a tool post grinder on my lathe to reduce the diameter, then hand ground a new cutting edge on the larger diameter. If you had to pay for a machinist to make the drill, the factory one from Brownells would probably be less expensive but I work cheap!

 

[boom boom]

I made my own piloted drill bits by taking the appropriate sized drill bit to clear the liner and grinding a 1/2" long pilot to .218" to kits fit in the bore of the old rifling. I used a tool post grinder on my lathe to reduce the diameter, then hand ground a new cutting edge on the larger diameter. If you had to pay for a machinist to make the drill, the factory one from Brownells would probably be less expensive but I work cheap!

That is what the old time gunsmiths used to do from the reference books that I have and I tip my hat to anyone skilled enough to make their own precision tooling. Just to increase my knowledge of the process, do you use soldering, acraglas, or some other epoxy resin for fixing the liners? That is why I asked SGW Gunsmith question and appreciate your contributions as well. I generally like to know the background of what I am asking a gunsmith to do before I talk with them about it.

Currently, I added another possible relining project as well as my .22 LR version of the Springfield Rifle (it is a genuine m1922 barrel obtained cheaply but has some damage to the rifling issues. Finally bought a Springfield Trapdoor barrel from Numrich to finish out an old parts rifle and depending on the bore, it might need relining too as to be shootable but then again I did not pay much for it and it can serve as a wallhanger until I get around to it.

The Springfield trapdoor barrel, I may very well send off to a specialist rather than my local gunsmith as I want to get anything that I am going to shoot to be right but on the other hand, my local gunsmith has done things like restored old Trapdoor bayonet practice rifles to firing condition and they specialize in fixing and selling old blackpowder rifles, shotguns, and revolvers.

They are currently working on three different firearms for me before hunting season demand takes over so I hate to overload them with projects. One of the projects that they are doing currently is relining a No. 2 Enfield Training rifle barrel in .22LR that I picked up cheap via Gunbroker.

 

[SGW Gunsmith]

The first few .22 rimfire barrels I relined I used hard solder to hold it in place. That was a real endeavor trying to heat the barrel so that the liner would slide into place. I now use Devcon plastic steel putty exclusively for the last 20 years, or so:



Being that when the two substances are mixed, the mixture is still black in color and does somewhat mask the slight ring around where the liner is, even after rust bluing. The mixed Devcon reaches a rock hard condition once it cures fully and I haven't ever had a liner come flying out and impale anything.

 

[Kp321]

I echo what SGW said, the first couple of liners I did I soldered, the remainder have been glued in with Brownells Acraglass dyed black. You literally don't have enough hands to solder one alone. I have had no problems at all with Acraglass.

 

[Jim Watson]

Here's how they did it in 1939. Sorry I haven't got the resolution to read it all.

 

[SGW Gunsmith]

Thanks for answering, dI have a project Springfield m1922 in .22 LR that needs to be reline

Let me explain why I went with SOLID, one piece, drill bits. Some will suggest that it's OK to use a short drill with the shank turned down and then silver soldered into an extended shank. That all sounds good until the bond gives up on the drill and shank and you then have a drill stuck in the barrel. Trust me, that will make your language downgrade in very short order. And also, the heat involved with bonding the drill into the extended shank provides no guarantee that the drill will run true to the shank, as warpage comes easy with the heat involved.

Dennis

 

[Kp321]

I silver soldered ( high temp, actually silver blazed) my piloted bit to a piece of 14/" drill rod. In order to have more contact area for the silver solder to "grab", I turned the drill rod down for a length of 3/8", then drilled a corresponding size and depth hole in the drill shank. I have done over a dozen liners with this drill with no problems. The inserted stub keeps the drill lined up with the extension during solver soldering.

 

[boom boom]

Let me explain why I went with SOLID, one piece, drill bits. Some will suggest that it's OK to use a short drill with the shank turned down and then silver soldered into an extended shank. That all sounds good until the bond gives up on the drill and shank and you then have a drill stuck in the barrel. Trust me, that will make your language downgrade in very short order. And also, the heat involved with bonding the drill into the extended shank provides no guarantee that the drill will run true to the shank, as warpage comes easy with the heat involved.

Dennis

I've had the drill bit head and shank break on some cheap (Harbor Freight quality) Silver and Deming type drill bits so I know where you are coming from. I was using the cheap stuff as I had only one intended one-time use for it and fortunately it was fixable using a pipe wrench to rotate the head out of the hole created. I was using it for making holes for retaining rods on railroad cross ties used in a retaining wall and hit some embedded metal in the crosstie.

 

[boom boom]

I silver soldered ( high temp, actually silver blazed) my piloted bit to a piece of 14/" drill rod. In order to have more contact area for the silver solder to "grab", I turned the drill rod down for a length of 3/8", then drilled a corresponding size and depth hole in the drill shank. I have done over a dozen liners with this drill with no problems. The inserted stub keeps the drill lined up with the extension during solver soldering.

My soldering skills were not good in shop years ago and even today, I would prefer to farm out soldering or welding jobs if at all possible. Due to degeneration of the nerves, I simply do not have the touch and feeling that I once did and it restricts my activities accordingly.

 

[Catman42]

so some of you guys reline barrels? what do have for a 45 round barrel reliners in what twist. i have a 50 cal slug gun i want the barrel relined to a simple 45 cal round ball slug gun. talk to me.

 

[SGW Gunsmith]

so some of you guys reline barrels? what do have for a 45 round barrel reliners in what twist. i have a 50 cal slug gun i want the barrel relined to a simple 45 cal round ball slug gun. talk to me.

More info concerning your project would be helpful. At this point, you might consider a different barrel.

 

[Catman42]

thanks

 

[jhop73]

I have a Stevens 44 1/2 that was originally a 25rf, my Grandfather had it relined and chambered in 22 mag. I am looking into having it relined and chambered in 17hrm. My grandfather did many"improvements" to the rifle so I am not worried about collectors value.