First Barrel Inlet

[jm190]

Finished my first barrel inlet on a blank. Did a complete inlet of a 44" swamped barrel. Took me about 18 hours total. I did use a drill press and a Forstner bit to start the channel then did everything else with regular chisels and two different size inlet chisels. Managed to finish the inlet with the barrel square to the lock panel side and only 1/32" lower than my layout. I think it came out OK for my first attempt. My guides were "Recreating The American Longrifle", Mark Silver's barrel inletting DVD and numerous posts from this forum. What a satisfying feeling to have accomplished this!



John

[mikeyfirelock]

Lookin’ good !

[smallpatch]

That truly is an accomplishment.  I've built nearly 100 guns, but have only inlet one barrel........ that's enough!  I can spend that 18 hours much better on the rest of the build.

[Sweeney]

jm190, will you do it again or did that satisfy the itch?

[rich pierce]

Nice. Next one in 10 hours!  Then get it down to 6!

[jm190]

jm190, will you do it again or did that satisfy the itch?

I will definitely do it again. It is a tedious job but it's really not that difficult if you take the time to lay it out accurately, keep your tools "scary sharp", work carefully and don't rush. Now that I know what I'm doing the next one will go faster.

[Mike Brooks]

Nice job, you probably have WAY more contact than you need. Hmmm, 18 hours and you still have to do the RR hole!

[Craig Wilcox]

That is a great first step!  Now for that RR.....

[Bill Raby]

Last one I did took a lot longer than that.

[little joe]

RR hole nuthin to it, just drill it.

[bob in the woods]

I do this for fun, and enjoy all of the work that goes into building a gun, even the inletting of a barrel. I'm in no hurry 
It does kind of bring the notion of a three day gun as previously discussed here, into perspective as far as the old guns are concerned.  Of course, many of the barrel channels I've seen are a lot less perfect than what is the norm today.

[Mike Brooks]

Many of the barrel channels I have seen on old guns with octagon barrels are round. Just chopped in mighty quick and moved on. You'd never guess it unless you have the barrel out.

[PPatch]

Good job, you are justified in that feeling of accomplishment.

Be sure your RR channel is straight and level before drilling. Giving the bit every chance to run where it ought to is the whole battle, and that is a matter of a proper setup and inlet of the channel. As you did with the barrel channel go slow, be sure before bit touches wood.

dave

[jm190]

Many of the barrel channels I have seen on old guns with octagon barrels are round. Just chopped in mighty quick and moved on. You'd never guess it unless you have the barrel out.

Hi Mike,
   Two of the three build books and the Mark Silver DVD all mentioned that all you need is good contact at the muzzle and breech. In between all you need is a half round that follows the contour of the barrel like you mention and maybe I'll try that next time around. I went with the guidance in "Recreating The American Long Rifle" which does not recommend this method. I guess I just wanted to see if I could do it.

Now onto the ramrod hole!

John

[Mike Brooks]

Many of the barrel channels I have seen on old guns with octagon barrels are round. Just chopped in mighty quick and moved on. You'd never guess it unless you have the barrel out.

Hi Mike,
   Two of the three build books and the Mark Silver DVD all mentioned that all you need is good contact at the muzzle and breech. In between all you need is a half round that follows the contour of the barrel like you mention and maybe I'll try that next time around. I went with the guidance in "Recreating The American Long Rifle" which does not recommend this method. I guess I just wanted to see if I could do it.

Now onto the ramrod hole!

John

I did 14 of them just like you did, didn't know I had any other options....until I met Fred Miller! Then I never did another. I thinks it's probably important to be able to do this, but if you're going to be building a lot of guns there are better ways to spend your time.

[oldtravler61]

  So far I've done eight. It is fun an challenging. Especially octagon to round or a long swamped barrel. It was fun with chisels an gouged but I figured an easier way. Shoulders just don't tolerate it anymore.
  But I'm still to cheap to send out to get done. But we have guy's on here who are amazing at doing it. Dave Ease for one..!   Oldtravler

[Cory Joe Stewart]

I inlet most of mine at this point and the first couple seemed to take forever.  I work in the evenings after I get home from work and I can normally inlet a barrel in two or three evenings which would be maybe six to eight hours.  So as you do it more it will get quicker.  It takes me almost one evening just to get all of the measurements laid out. 

Cory Joe Stewart

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

Nice inlet, and don't be concerned about how long it took.  As has been mentioned, your next will be less time, now that you know what to expect.  Always strive to make the inlet the best you are capable of.  I can feel your sense of accomplishment in your post, and rightfully so.

[SingleMalt]

While inletting a barrel isn't for the faint of heart, it isn't "rocket science," either.  I've done several.  I just keep checking square to the stock and getting the candle soot to mark the inlet.  Brownell's used to sell a scraper for octagon barrel inlets, but a homemade scraper works just as well. 

You've done a good job, keep it up with the rest of the rifle.