Roll your own barrel

[spareparts]

Anyone ever try to turn their own barrels on a lathe from blanks? I'm wondering if a fluted barrel would help with cooling and save on weight?

[42rocker]

Sounds like an interesting idea. Please share a lot of pics with us if you give it a try. Apex had barrels made for them. So Good Luck on this one.

Later 42rocker

[amafrank]

Anyone ever try to turn their own barrels on a lathe from blanks? I'm wondering if a fluted barrel would help with cooling and save on weight?

I've turned a lot of barrels from blanks including a couple MG42 barrels. What you find is that you cannot buy blanks that were intended for use with machineguns. This means the barrels don't last very long before the rifling is gone. Original MG42 barrels were hammer forged to the best of my knowledge and were excellent quality and long lasting.
As for fluting you will find that enough fluting to reduce weight noticeably will weaken the barrel and not help with cooling. If you're shooting an MG just use original barrels. You'll be much happier. If you are shooting a semi than it doesn't matter anyway. Saving 20 grams by fluting won't make enough difference on a 26 lb firearm to make it worth doing.

Frank

[JBaum]

Take notes on what happens with different barrel weights and post it here. I/we would like to see what happens.

Correct weight of the barrel is necessary for the proper interaction with the other parts, such as the recoil booster, which affects the bolt unlocking, which affects the operation of the bolt. It's all inter-dependent.