.177 rifle barrel question please.

[Geoff555]

Hello and good morning. This is a quite new barrel and I was trueing up the muzzle end and found that there was a bright layer of metal about 2 mm. thick on the outside, steel coloured. Also the same round the bore,the 'metal' in between was grey and very course grained, not as hard as the steel , before anyone asks it was not sand but looked like course sand, the lathe tool cut as if it wasnt there but it did not crumble.
I suspose it might be normal but in my limited exspearance I havn't seen anything like it before.
What do you think chaps, is it me asking a silly question, again!
Thanks and all the best.
Geoff.
PS. rifled and non choked bore.

[hmangphilly]

Hello and good morning. This is a quite new barrel and I was trueing up the muzzle end and found that there was a bright layer of metal about 2 mm. thick on the outside, steel coloured. Also the same round the bore,the 'metal' in between was grey and very course grained, not as hard as the steel , before anyone asks it was not sand but looked like course sand, the lathe tool cut as if it wasnt there but it did not crumble.
I suspose it might be normal but in my limited exspearance I havn't seen anything like it before.
What do you think chaps, is it me asking a silly question, again!
Thanks and all the best.
Geoff.
PS. rifled and non choked bore.

what barrel ?

can you post a pic

this sounds interesting

[Shed tuner]

Very weird.

Unless it's low grade steel, with a decent quality steel outer sleeve to take bluing, and a decent bore liner ? But sounds more expensive than just making from regular steel. Not some kind of alloy to save weight ?

[air-tech]

Sounds like something you'd get on a very low end pistol, once had an "Oklahoma" that had a monkey metal barrel with a brass liner. The description of the inner layer of metal seems to fit some form of antimony / alloy with a very visible crystalline structure. Possibly the outer layer described is actually made of the same metal but due to cooling processes perhaps the outer metal remains harder and does not have time for the crystals to enlarge, while the bore is actually a liner. The cheapness would rapidly evaporate if indeed there were a double liner arrangement.

No regular steel barrel would match the description.

[Thegreg]

It sounds like a steel rifled insert and a steel outer sleeve with a core of metallic resin or cast monkey metal. Never seen anything like it and not much idea why a barrel would be made like this What gun is it off?

Cheers
Greg

[Geoff555]

Hi all. well it was a barrel blank from a well known supplier. I am sorry there will be no picture because I wondered what would happen further along and as I could afford to loose a bit I chopped off an inch or so and came upon solid bright steel! So it came to nowt really, bit of an anti climax.
Thank you for your answers, it will remain a mystery I gues.
Cheers.
Geoff.

[Captain Zero]

Hi all. well it was a barrel blank from a well known supplier. I am sorry there will be no picture because I wondered what would happen further along and as I could afford to loose a bit I chopped off an inch or so and came upon solid bright steel! So it came to nowt really, bit of an anti climax.
Thank you for your answers, it will remain a mystery I gues.
Cheers.
Geoff.

Are you sure it's not just excessive heat treatment residue - sometimes they are left like that for the centreless grinding to remove.

Mark H.

[ducati620]

Sounds very similar to a HW barrel I machined recently. Appears to have a rifled liner and half decent quality outer diameter around 1mm thick. In-between is lower quality crap. Possibly cast iron maybe.
I am going to be shortening this barrel so will have a closer look when I do.

[mattyw1987]

This doesn't sound too promising, prices going up and q.c going down faster and now cast/monkey metal barrels with liners nice one.

[Geoff555]

Hi heat treatment residue, to be honest I don't know. It looked like bright steel on the end and the only reason I trued it up was that it had a deep stamped .177 and it needed a crown. I must confess that my first thought was 'cast iron' and thought don't be daft that is impossible, may be not so. Ducati620 may have a point.
I will have another barrel to do in a few weeks ( probably the other side of Christmas to be honest now.) and will see what happens.
Thank you all.
Cheers.
Geoff.

[Shed tuner]

Sounds very similar to a HW barrel I machined recently. Appears to have a rifled liner and half decent quality outer diameter around 1mm thick. In-between is lower quality crap. Possibly cast iron maybe.
I am going to be shortening this barrel so will have a closer look when I do.

I just can't understand how that can make sense economically ?