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I went and did some load development this weekend on short siberia, and I'm fairly sure that I've got a decent load sorted, however, not quite as tight as I'd like, but probably what people come to expect from an off the shelf Rem 700! roughly 1 MOA, elevation was spot on on 1 load, but left to right was off, so with no wind flags, I'm not sure if there was a bit of wind pushing it over...

Anyways...

When I came to clean my rifle, I realised that the crown of my rifle did not have a nice symmetrical pattern to it that I get from my Target Rifle (which shoots faaar straighter than I do)... So I was thinking about re-crowning. Rather than take it to a gun smith, I was thinking about doing it myself.

I've seen some terrible videos on youtube which people claim to be good at getting a reliable crown with a brass screw and cutting compound, however I was more interested in the Military Recrowning Tool by Dave Manson


$115 it runs at, but I haven't enquired if they post to UK yet.

Has anyone done this on here, and if so, how did you refinish the muzzle of your barrel afterwards (particularly if it was painted as mine is) - I was thinking it would be easiest to just put some cold blue on the very end of the barrel as it would be a cleaner, thinner and altogether more reliable method of protecting the end of the rifle that trying to match the paint of the standard barrel, and to be honest, it wouldn't stick out that much as being a different finish to the rest of the barrel, I'm postulating!!

So, has anyone A. Done this? B.Got the tools I could borrow? C. got any advice (other than take it to a gunsmith, I'd rather learn to do it myself!)

I'll try and take a picture of the crown as it stands when I get home!

Note: I have to admit, from a purely logical standpoint, the crown of the barrel seems to be the biggest contributing fact to accuracy after the initial boring and headspacing of the barrel - which I'm not exactly doing here, the bolt and action al seem to be fairly inconsequential as the actual firing/bullets travel takes place in the barrel and out the end of the muzzle!

http://www.rimfiremagic.co.uk/remington700.html

the first picture in the link shows how un-symetrical some Rem700 crowns can be wtfwtf

As for doing it yourself by time you've bought the tool (assuming you can get one imported) it would probably be quicker, easier and potentially less risk to get a good recommended gunsmith to do it for you.

Plenty to choose from!

Just my two penneth

Alan

Take it over to Norman Clarke in Rugby. He'll recrown it and it won't cost too much. He did mine a few years ago, turn round was a couple of days.

20series wrote:http://www.rimfiremagic.co.uk/remington700.html

the first picture in the link shows how un-symetrical some Rem700 crowns can be wtfwtf

As for doing it yourself by time you've bought the tool (assuming you can get one imported) it would probably be quicker, easier and potentially less risk to get a good recommended gunsmith to do it for you.

Plenty to choose from!

Just my two penneth

Alan

$115 for the tool to be able to cut a target crown in my rifle as and when needed seems like a better deal to me to be honest. Based on how easy the procedure is, and the fact I'd rather have the skill down and not have to take it to a gunsmith (which are getting far more scarce in this country, not to mention expensive). The picture in the link you sent looks like they use the same exact tool as what I have linked to to cut thier crowns, they'll probably have the full kit rather than just the tool for 1 bore size, but the principal is the same, its an easy process...

barrel getting towards the end of its life, or maybe you just fancy a shorter barrel sometime in the future... cut it off square with a hacksaw and crown it. deburr and chamfer... job done. and I'd already have the tool.

Seriously don't see how this is specifically a job for a trained gunsmith, which is why I said any suggestions other than taking it to a gunsmith. I get why you'd say take it to guys who have done it all themselves before... but at some point its nice to take something and use it to learn a new skillset. - all the top gunsmiths had to start somewhere!

I did it myself when I shortened the barrel on my Winchester 94AE - simple job. I squared the barrel to the bore and the results were well worth it. At the moment I'm just waiting on the target crown cutter to clear customs to finish the job.

I used this http://www.brownells.com/.aspx/pid=1828 ... ALIBER-SET


A poor picture of the barrel as it is at the moment, but you can make of the uniformity of the carbon around it. This is a 12 rd group from that rifle (with one damn flyer! )

Excellent stuff Sandgroper!! Nice grouping too... what distance?

25m - standing deliberate with a a 4x32 scope. When I shot at Dromia's it was holding a 3 inch group at about 100m with a cheap red-dot on it from a rest.

So when you cut the barrel (and I won't be cutting - this time - just re-crowning) how did you make sure it was square to the bore? did you use a jig?

TattooedGun wrote:So when you cut the barrel (and I won't be cutting - this time - just re-crowning) how did you make sure it was square to the bore? did you use a jig?

No, just chopped it as straight as I could then I used the one calibre set (I linked to it from Brownells) to square it up.

You're welcome to borrow it, but you'd need to get a pilot in your calibre from Brownells and hopefully the 79 degree target crown cutter will clear customs soon.

Ah I see! I thought the cutter you linked to was the one you were waiting for.

No sweat! I'm sure the pilots do not come cheap!

did you deburr at all?