Fair price to crown a rifle???

P

pyscodog

Active member
Stopped in a shop where I bought my 700P and for curiosity ask how much to recrown a rifle I bought last week from you. Told me $100 bucks. Yeow, that seems high. My usual smith I use does it for free.(For me)
 
Anywhere around $50 for a walkin. Give or take $10.

I have to ship mine and it's usually costs me $70 back to my door, not bad.
I miss having the equipment though!!
 
it takes about 3.or 4 min to crown a barrel,more than 30.00 seems like way to much.and your just recrowning.i borrowed a tool and did this myself on a gun i had.it worked fine.
 
Originally Posted By: lyotehunterit takes about 3.or 4 min to crown a barrel,more than 30.00 seems like way to much.and your just recrowning.i borrowed a tool and did this myself on a gun i had.it worked fine.

I'd gladly pay to have a barrel re-crowned rather than forking over the dough on a lathe, tooling, electricty to run the machine, cutting oil, dial indicators, range rods & oh yeah.. a building to house all the aforementioned required necessities to perform the "3 minute task"! A gunsmith has to eat too!
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: lyotehunterit takes about 3.or 4 min to crown a barrel,more than 30.00 seems like way to much.and your just recrowning.i borrowed a tool and did this myself on a gun i had.it worked fine.


I don't want that smith doing mine! Have you ever seen someone "dial in" a barrel? That itself is SEVERAL minutes & that's before anything starts.

To be done RIGHT, it needs to be put in a lathe (this may or may not require barrel removal), then the barrel is set perpendicular to the cutter with two separate chucks (preferably set off the inside of bore not the outside of barrel, not all bores are centered). Depending on the smith, he may clean the end, but I'd prefer to completely part the end (cut around 1/4" off) & start fresh. Beveling & type of crown is up to the smith. A FLAT (90 degree) crown is most accurate.

$50+ is a fair price if it's done right. If the barrel is removed I can see it nearing 80.
 
Remove barrel,cut, crown, thread barrel and mount flash hider on a Ruger M77 then put it all back together. $70 by a very reputable gunsmith/machinist.
 
I never had the nerve to do it myself, but I had a local smith tell me he recrown a barrel by using a round carbide bur tool on the end of a drill. He said it really can't jump out and will leave a clean cut. I need my Weatherby done...but I'll take it somewhere else!
 
Most gunsmiths don't make their living off crowning barrels. Maybe a few extra bucks for brewski's or supper for the wife but not their sole income. They don't have to run out and buy special tools or machines just to crown one barrel Sure tooling isn't free nor electric yada yada. Any smith worth his salt can crown a barrel in a very few minutes, I've seen and had it done several times. My smith says it embarass's him to charge someone to crown their barrel.
 
Originally Posted By: pyscodogMost gunsmiths don't make their living off crowning barrels. Maybe a few extra bucks for brewski's or supper for the wife but not their sole income. They don't have to run out and buy special tools or machines just to crown one barrel Sure tooling isn't free nor electric yada yada. Any smith worth his salt can crown a barrel in a very few minutes, I've seen and had it done several times. My smith says it embarass's him to charge someone to crown their barrel.

You mentioned that your usual smith does it for free.. Why not take it there then?
 
Here is what I do...I first have a look with the borescope to make certain it really needs the crown re-cut. I would like to have a $100 for every customer that heard some genius say how much more accurate a rifle will be if the crown is cut to 11 degrees.
Not all barrels need to be removed here as I have a gunsmith purpose designed lathe with a large thru hole in the head stock spindle. I also have a spider on the backside of the spindle so if the barrel is long enough I can almost not remove anything...you don't need high rpm to re-cut the crown.
Once cut, I always lap the muzzle and inspect again with a borescope to be certain I have removed all of any burr that might have been there. Getting a burr seems more like the steel used than the procedure, whichever the case it needs to go.
All this has proven to be a good practice. I also believe giving the customer exactly what he wants. Some want 90/0 degrees flat, some want 11 degrees bevel, some want recessed, some no. I occasionally get a guy that has been reading Obermeyer and wants a little 45 degree chamfer on the muzzle. I never argue, I take the money {usually around $40.00 to $80.00} and run.

Edit: Never ever use one of those tools that pilots in the muzzle and you turn it by hand. They may cut a good looking crown, but the absolute last thing you want to ever do to a barrel is put a piece of snug fitting tool steel into the rifling at the muzzle {last thing to touch the bullet before it leaves} and spin it, in a lathe or by hand. I look at these guys that use this tool and say to myself, "your kidding me right??? You clean the barrel with a muzzle protector or from the breech whenever possible so a soft plastic clad rod wont touch that muzzle rifling but you stick a hardened heat treated tool steel pilot in the rifling and spin it????" Dude...no!!!!! As to the carbide burr spinning in a drill pilotless...I think Remington has gone to that method!!!!
 
Last edited:


Write your reply...
Back
Top