Any sure fire ways to choke a barrel at home?

[oldpro]

 I want to choke a barrel that doesnt shoot well to see how it will perform is there any way I can do it at home?

[dmeguy]

I don't remember the details, but I remember reading a post about using a pipe cutter with the blade removed.


Here it is - https://www.gatewaytoairguns.org/GTA/index.php?topic=117625.msg1139906#msg1139906

[SilentMatt]

Hammer and torch should work....   

If you made a flat wheel to replace the blade on the pipe cutter, it might work. I think it would take a lot more pressure than you could achieve though. Maybe one of the really big pipe cutters with the T handle would work?

[rsterne]

Large pipe-cutter with the blade replaced by a wheel is the method most commonly used.... It takes a lot of pressure, but you have good control over the process, and can check the muzzle diameter with pin gauges, or adjustable gauges, as you proceed.... I have never done it, BTW....

Bob

[TPL]

Forget it. You will never do it with pipe cutters of any kind except hydraulic. Unless your barrell is made of aluminium.

[mobilehomer]

Large pipe-cutter with the blade replaced by a wheel is the method most commonly used.... It takes a lot of pressure, but you have good control over the process, and can check the muzzle diameter with pin gauges, or adjustable gauges, as you proceed.... I have never done it, BTW....

Bob

And it takes a lot of time!! You are compressing steel, not cutting thin-wall copper.

[TPL]

And it takes a lot of time!! You are compressing steel, not cutting thin-wall copper.

Done it sometimes? I once tried with a lathe, chome moly barrell, thin one. I broke the study lever tightening it too much and rolled long time, just nothing else happened.

[rsterne]

I know for a fact it can be done, Sean Pero in Ontario, Canada did it all the time.... It was a heavy-duty pipe cutter, however.... We were using TJ's barrels at the time, which are CrMoly.... I have one which is .30 cal and a 1/2" OD that he choked....

Bob

[oldpro]

 I cant imagine a pipe cutter having enough pressure to compress a hardened barrel but I do have one and I will try it and report back Wish me luck!

[TPL]

It is not hardened, CrMo-barrells are in their soft state although they can be hardened as well. It is through hardening steel. Well I wish you good luck.

[thwakk]

I recall on another forum a fellow airgunner known for his experience and love of the R9 with a user name of nced used a modified higher grade nut cut in half and compressed it in a healthy vice to get his barrel choked to what he wanted. You might be able to find it in a google search to find it but I didn't keep any links.

[Gippeto]

I use a semi split die made for the purpose, a heavy 6" vise (mine is a Record from England) and a 18" snipe. Have done 7/16" Crosman and 14mm qb barrels (.177and.22) and .25 Tj's liners without breaking anything. Don't have pin gauges, I push pellets through. When rifling marks on the head are about what I'm looking for, I stop.

Die is 1"od x 1.5" long 1045 bored to fit barrel, then split lengthwise to within 1/8" of being two pieces. Not hardened, but leave it with a good surface finish at final id.

The split end goes in the vise with the split vertical, solid end toward the breech end, muzzle flush with the end of the die.

Squeeze, rotate barrel 30 degrees, repeat until all the way around. Check with a pellet. Repeat till you think you're where you want to be. Start out slow until you get a feel for it.

Then measure the muzzle in several places...it will be out of round. Find the high spot and squeeze it down. Repeat until muzzle is within .001" of round. Push a pellet through to verify and done.

Will need to re-do the crown afterwards.

Al

[shorty]

I did the wedding band method on my 22 synrod. Worked perfect the first time after messing around with soda straw .177 barrel first.

I did not even have to heat it up.

I turned down the barrel a bit, made a steel sleeve a thousandth smaller or so, broke the edge on one side of the sleeve, highly polished barrel side and ID of sleeve, and wacked that sucker on. I held the barrel by hand and wacked the sleeve on.
Re-chucked the barrel back in the lathe, turned the sleeve down to match barrel diameter, faced off, and re-crowned. Interesting part is if you choked too much, you can turn the sleeve down further (right on the barrel) and the chock will open up slightly.

Worked for me on the 22 synrod and FD-pcp in .177.

[oldpro]

I did the wedding band method on my 22 synrod. Worked perfect the first time after messing around with soda straw .177 barrel first.

I did not even have to heat it up.

I turned down the barrel a bit, made a steel sleeve a thousandth smaller or so, broke the edge on one side of the sleeve, highly polished barrel side and ID of sleeve, and wacked that sucker on. I held the barrel by hand and wacked the sleeve on.
Re-chucked the barrel back in the lathe, turned the sleeve down to match barrel diameter, faced off, and re-crowned. Interesting part is if you choked too much, you can turn the sleeve down further (right on the barrel) and the chock will open up slightly.

Worked for me on the 22 synrod and FD-pcp in .177.

Thanks Tim sounds like more of how I was thinking on the approach but ill give it a try first with the pipe cutter method and get back.

[Motorhead]

Just quite successfully did a QB 79 barrel ....

Oxy Acetylene torch taking the last inch of barrel to Red / Straw color and quenching into a quart or so of Hydraulic oil ( Dextron II used )
Did 3 cycles of this .. then a good brush scrub to remove burnt oil residue ... MUCH more accurate !!

[aluminumfetish]

That wedding band method is the only thing I have seen that seems plausible.

[ray1377]

Just quite successfully did a QB 79 barrel ....

Oxy Acetylene torch taking the last inch of barrel to Red / Straw color and quenching into a quart or so of Hydraulic oil ( Dextron II used )
Did 3 cycles of this .. then a good brush scrub to remove burnt oil residue ... MUCH more accurate !!

Scott
Did you allow the barrel to cool slowly and completely between each heating and quinching?
Or did you  reheat immediately?
And just exactly what is "straw" colored

Thanks
Ray

[screwwork]

Travis,
Send the barrel over to Jim  WAR. He does great work..
Just giving you a bad time buddy.

[Motorhead]

Just quite successfully did a QB 79 barrel ....

Oxy Acetylene torch taking the last inch of barrel to Red / Straw color and quenching into a quart or so of Hydraulic oil ( Dextron II used )
Did 3 cycles of this .. then a good brush scrub to remove burnt oil residue ... MUCH more accurate !!

Scott
Did you allow the barrel to cool slowly and completely between each heating and quinching?
Or did you  reheat immediately?
And just exactly what is "straw" colored

Thanks
Ray

Cool down ... test shoot and redo within @ 30-40 min between heat & cool cycles.
Fresh cool oil too ... one quench makes a quart of oil too hot to handle !!!

[K.O.]

Sure fire... they all sound like a bit of a gamble till you get the method down..

I accidentally choked a Crosman 2100 straw barrel with a to tight nylon  barrel stabilizer I made and then cracked trying to force it on...  was a laser with 7.4 pointed afterwards... Big Bore  Bart then used it on a 2100 pcp and reported very good results with the Winchester pellets...

I would imagine choking a hammer forged barrel is going to take more pressure than most button rifled barrels...