New project, coning a barrel

[Eric Krewson]

I have a re-bore that came out badly, I had a nice Rice .50 barrel and wanted to turn it into a .54 so I sent it to "the" guy, it was flawed when it came back. The bore was so tight I had to buy a .526 mold so I could start a ball with a patch thick enough so it wouldn't tear. Because the gun isn't a great shooter, I decided to open the bore so I could thumb start a .530 ball.

I bought a Joe Woods coning tool for a .54, today I decided to put it to use.

The first step is to disassemble the gun and un-breach the barrel, having the right tools helps.



I studied the instructions carefully, once I started there was no turning back.



The kit comes with a template to cut the various grits of wet or dry sand paper to hone the barrel, the sandpaper wears out quickly so I needed a lot of precut pieces backed with double sided carpet tape.



It took a few tries to correctly orientate the sandpaper on the tool. I used a large tap wrench to hold the tool.



And off we go; I rotated the tool clockwise and the barrel an equal number of times counter clockwise.



I will use 220 grit paper until the ball with a dry patch will thumb start halfway into the barrel. Here I am checking my progress.



This is a labor intensive job, my old arthritic hands said to stop after an hour or so, more to follow.

[Eric Krewson]

Like I said; the process is labor intensive, I am in my second hour, my 3M sandpaper had to be changed out often.



Done, most of the lands at the bore have been sanded away.

 

[JW_Halverson]

I have always been leery of coning a barrel because I can easily imagine myself applying uneven pressure and ending up with gun with a bad crown.

Let us know how it turns out!

[Eric Krewson]

The instructions specify that the barrel has to be held in the hands with opposing rotation and not in a vice to prevent an off-center cone. I didn't hardly put any pressure on the cutter, it feeds itself down the bore as it cuts with the 220-grit paper, the 400-grit sits in one place because it doesn't cut, only polishes.

[Eric Krewson]

Rifle testing today, I had coned the barrel with a Joe Woods coning tool in .54.



I could thumb start a .530 ball and a .018 all the way in easily, before coning I had to pound in a .526 ball with an .018 patch. With the cone I could seat the ball with minimum effort, I believe I could have gone to a .535 ball if I wanted to

I started shooting and wasn't doing too well, I was chasing balls with what turned out to be a fairly loose back sight. Somehow, I had bent the front sight, I straightened it several times before I was satisfied with it. I was hitting left and low at 50 yards and had already drifted my rear sight as far as I was comfortable with so I gave the front sight a slight tap.

I was shooting 80 gr of 2F and shooting low with about a 3" group at 50 yards, I had trouble seeing my front sight.

I decided to bump my load up to 85 gr, BINGO!

I had a shiny front sight for the high shot, the sun came out couldn't tell exactly where the blade was, I had a spray can of sight black so I sprayed the sight and took two more shots, I think I can live with the results.

[Eric Krewson]

Because the first barrel came out so well, I started coning barrel #2 yesterday. This one is a GM drop-in for a TC Hawkin, it is made out of much harder steel (1137) than the Rice barrel that I coned the first time. I have an hour into the project so far and can tell this coning job will take much longer than the first.

[Eric Krewson]

Done; this barrel was very rough inside so I gave it 50 strokes with a square pad of red scotch bright to hopefully polish up the burrs.



I have the lands looking like a mirror after the scrub, the grooves are still a little rough but much better than they were. I expect this barrel to be much slicker to load now.

A Teslong bore scope will drive you nuts with its clarity as shown in the picture.

[Eric Krewson]

If any of you have a barrel that is very hard to load after a shot to two a scotch bright pad scrub should fix the problem, it won't hurt the barrel.

Here is a how to; I did use a much smaller square than Mike did in the video, a larger one wouldn't start in my tight bore barrel, I used a .50 jag in my .54. For scrubbing other barrels, I have found that a jag one size smaller than your barrel bore size will work, I use a .45 jag in a .50 for a scrub. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZyRD-iutus

[Stoker]

Thanks Eric for sharing this. I have a 50cal. that needs this. I'll check out the place you got yours from. Will try to find one in Canada first.
Leroy