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How To Crown A Muzzle By Hand The Right Way
this is one of the deciding factors on an old barrel to get those groups back.
Check the muzzle crowning ,this can be done by simply looking at it.You should see an even bevel around the rifling lands and sharp cut on the lands and grooves if not,re crown it.This can be simply done with a ball bearing and some valve grinding compound and here is how to do it: Take the barrel out and wrap it in leather,now put it in A vise muzzle up ,now take a few patches and stuff them in the bore to keep the excess compound from going any further.Now for the ball bearing,I use
one from A mouse with the rubber sheath cut off of it.The size is close to the 11 degree taper I want which is optimum for the crowns bevel. The best way to do this is by hand and at the most it will take 10-20 Minutes unless the crown is really shot bad and you have to cut a bit Further,Take the ball and coat it in valve grinding compound and oil,Now Put the ball on the muzzle and start turning it by hand in all directions to Get a nice even cut.Brownells.com has A nice crowning tool but is drill powered.I do not advocate using that in A hand drill but in a lathe with The barrel and tool centered correctly,if not you can end up with A crown offset which is useless to you,by hand you will get A nice even crown with the method I described.when the grinding sound stops; ,wipe the muzzle and look at it.Add more compound and continue if neccesary untill The crown is A nice even bevel and the lands and grooves look sharp.Now take the patch out of the barrel and clean it well getting all the compound out and hit the range ,You should see a noticeable improvement on your groups as compared to before it was recrowned.this method works best when you cant have access to a lathe and bit and also when the barrel cannot be removed from the action. |
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