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January 19th, 2025

New Products Featured at SHOT Show 2025

2025 SHOT Show Planner new products

CLICK HERE for ALL 340 New-for-2025 SHOT Show Products »

2025 SHOT Show Planner new productsSHOT Show 2025, the biggest gun industry trade show, kicks off Tuesday, January 22nd, in Las Vegas. Over 2700 exhibitors will showcase thousands of new products at the Venetian Expo and Caesars Forum which together provide more than 800,000 net square feet of displays. The official SHOT Show Product Planner offers a “sneak peak” at 340 new-for-2025 products for hunters and shooters. Here are 6 cool new items in the SHOT Show New Product showcase (product profiles are based on descriptions provided by the manufacturers). That’s followed by six more interesting products featured in Shooting Industry Magazine.

XXLPR Multi-Caliber Rifle
Company: HTI.CENTER and AssoArmieri
Modern Multi-Caliber Rifle from Italy

multicaliber rifle hti.center

Kestrel 5700X WEZ Ballistics Weather Meter
Company: Kestrel Ballistics
Advanced Kestrel 5700X Ballistic Weather Meter with AB Elite ballistics solver and WEZ analysis. This unit operates seamlessly without additional electronics and can calcualte P-HIT probability. Price: $999.00.

kestrel 5700 elite wez

Vision Pro Chassis
Company: GCP Rifle Co.
The Vision Pro chassis is a Precision Rifle chassis with high-grade components. List $1599.00.

Precision Pro chassis gcp

TAPCO Tactical Henry Model X Rifle Handguard & Stock Package
Company: TAPCO
The Henry Model X stock/handguard package is a stock upgrade with modern tactical/precision features including an adjustable cheek plate and universal 6-round ammo quiver. You can fit M-LOK accessories on the tactical Henry handguard. Price is $449.98.

Henry Model X tactical Pro chassis handguard stock

Pelican Reset Case Interior System
Company: Pelican Products Inc.
The Pelican Reset interior system has customizable foam pegs in a grid frame that can be raised or lowered to create cavities for guns and gear. A middle panel can be removed for extra space. Reset foam works with 1700, 1720 and 1750 Protector cases.

pelican reset rifle case foam peg interior

SPACE Smart Safes
Company: SPACE Smart Safes
Advanced smart safe with cameras and smartphone App.

space safe

Shooting Industry Magazine 2025 New Product Showcase

New product showcase
See more cool new products in the Shooting Industry Magazine 2025 New Product Showcase. You can view all editions in the Monthly Issue Archives

2025 New Product Showcase Part Two

Savage 334 Rifle — New Camo and Chamberings
New product showcase

Savage Arms Model 334 bolt-action rifle will be available a Mossy Oak Terra Gila camo stock and two new calibers: .30-06 Springfield and .270 Win (along with 8 other chambering types). The Model 334 has a 3-position safety, a 60-degree bolt lift, and three locking lugs.

Bolt Action AR-type Rifle
New product showcase

Bear Creek Arsenal BC-15 Bolt Action Style Complete Upper and Rifle in .350 Legend and .450 Bushmaster. The BC-15 Bolt Action Style Upper fits any standard AR-15 lower.

New product showcaseRise Triggers — Match and Hunting

RISE now offers Reliant triggers for Rem 700 and Rem 700 clone rifles. The Reliant Hunter Trigger has a preset pull weight of 3.5 lbs. For Precision shooters, the Reliant Pro Trigger has a lighter preset pull weight of 2 lbs., with pull-weight adjustment from about 1 lb. to over 3 lbs. maximum. The Reliant Hunter is available in a curved blade only, while the Reliant Pro has flat and curved blade options. Additional features include unibody cassette-style installation, NoWay take-up for a clean break and NiB-coated steel key components.

2025 New Product Showcase Part One

MDT CRBN Rifle Stock
mdt carbon crbn lightweight stock bargain shot show 2025

The new MDT CRBN Rifle Stock is a lightweight carbon fiber stock with an internal mini-chassis weighing 27 ounces. Crafted from foam-filled carbon fiber, the MDT CRBN Rifle Stock features an ARCA rail, adjustable comb, adjustable length-of-pull, M-LOK slots, QD attachment points, and a 20-degree grip angle.

Silencer Central
Meat-Eater Suppressor

silencer central banish suppressor silencer bargain shot show 2025

Silencer Central has worked with Banish to develop a new 30-caliber “Meat Eater” suppressor for cartridges up to .300 RUM. The maker claims this suppressor can reduce sound levels by 32 decibels and reduce recoil by up to 40% via its integrated “anchor brake”. This light-weight suppressor weighs 10.3 oz., and measures 5.85″ long. It employs an industry-standard hub mount.

Vudoo Gun Works
Precision Rifle Bag

silencer central banish suppressor silencer bargain shot show 2025

The impressive Vudoo Precision Rifle Bag has thick foam padding on all sides, 3 Zippered mesh pockets, removable scope cover, muzzle cover with bungee, Velcro interior walls, and cleaning rod sleeve. The fully customizable compartments keep gear organized, while thick, high-density padding shields your firearm from the toughest conditions. This case costs $225.00.

CLICK HERE to read the full monthly digital editions of Shooting Industry Magazine online. Access to ALL articles is free via these Online Editions.

Permalink Gear Review, Gunsmithing, New Product No Comments »
January 16th, 2025

How NOT to Headspace a Barrel — Gunsmithing Gone Bad

Locktite Red barrel shoulder headspace Thomas Speedy Gonzales
This barrel’s shoulder was 0.025″ off the action because Red Locktite had been used on the threads.

Gunsmith Thomas ‘Speedy’ Gonzales offered this interesting report about how NOT to headspace a barrel. Hopefully you never discover something like this…

“A good friend and customer sent this rig in for repair after FedEx damaged the rifle during inbound transport from another smith. After repairing the stock and rebedding it, I decided to re-polish the barrel to make the repair perfect. Well this just added insult to injury as the barrel did not want to come off. After a few choice words, the barrel finally broke free only to reveal something very disturbing. It seems the barrel had been ‘headspaced’ by using RED Loctite to hold it in place.” [Editor: That’s definitely NOT how barrels should be fitted.]

Speedy was not happy: “I hope the smith that did this sees the photos and realized what jeopardy he put my customer in or anyone who shot the rifle for that matter. When cleaned up, the shoulder on the barrel was over 0.0250″ (25 thousandths) away from the face of the receiver.” [Editor: That’s a lot in this business]. Check out the images below to see how much the barrel rotated further inward when cleaned up. The barrel spun in nearly another eighth-turn or more. Not good.

Locktite Red barrel shoulder headspace Thomas Speedy Gonzales

Locktite Red barrel shoulder headspace Thomas Speedy Gonzales

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January 15th, 2025

Bedding Compounds Recommend by Speedy

Marine-Tex Pillar Bedding Marine-Tex Bedding Block Aluminum Actions

A customer of well-known gunsmith (and Hall-of-Fame shooter) Thomas “Speedy” Gonzalez recently asked Speedy about bedding compounds. Speedy offered some interesting advice based on long-term testing of various materials. Speedy favors Marine-Tex because it is very stable over time, while other materials can shrink up to 6% dimensionally. A good bedding job should be a perfect fit to your barreled action. If the bedding material shrinks over time, that is NOT a good thing….

Speedy’s customer asked: “I know you’re not a Devcon man in regards to bedding compounds but I respect your input in such matters and my question is this in regard to aluminum actions. If Devcon was considered, for an aluminum action, would you prefer aluminum compound formula or steel formula? I personally prefer Devcon steel and Marine-Tex for steel receivers but my experience with aluminum is limited. Also do you have a release agent preference that works better with aluminum?”

Speedy answered: “My only preference of one epoxy over another is their stability over time. My buddy who works for the Texas State Weights and Measures Department had me cast several of the most common types of epoxies used for bedding into 1.000″ machined blocks. After one year of being kept in a controlled climate and measured for shrinkage monthly, the Marine Tex shrunk only 1/10th of 1% (i.e. 0.1%) whereas almost all the others (including Devcon Steel formula, Devcon Aluminum formula…) shrunk 3% to 6%. The only other compounds that matched the Marine Tex were Araldite 1253 and Araldite 2014, with the latter being quite expensive for daily use.”

Marine-Tex Pillar Bedding Marine-Tex Bedding Block Aluminum Actions

Speedy added: “The Marine Tex Grey has no atomized metal in its makeup even though it appears that it does. This can be proven by the use of a strong neodymium magnet. What is humorous to me is that people don’t like aluminum yet will bed their actions atop aluminum pillars that have twice the coefficient of expansion (COE) of steel. Like Devcon, it is what people have always done and used. Thus [they] perpetuate the same old stuff. That’s my two cents’ worth. But as I tell everyone, ‘I’ll tell you what I know or do, but it’s not my job to convince anyone to do it my way’.”

Release Agents — Try Shoe Polish
Regarding release agents, Speedy stated: “I use Kiwi Neutral or Tan shoe polish. This works great and you can find it anywhere. Do NOT use the black or brown as it will stick.”

Marine-Tex Pillar Bedding Marine-Tex Bedding Block Aluminum Actions

View More Photos of Speedy Gunsmithing
On his Facebook Page you can see a variety of other projects by Speedy. Some time ago, Speedy did a bedding job using a custom titanium bedding block. Speedy notes, “The stock was a raw blank requiring full inletting for the action to fit properly plus the titanium block. All the loading ports, bolt handle cut, bolt stop, and trigger guard cuts were done with diamond tooling to eliminate fraying and/or delamination of the wood.”

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January 14th, 2025

Helpful Video Shows How to Install or Remove Rem 700 Trigger

Remington 700 trigger replacement Timney installation

Many Remington 700 rifle owners swap out the factory trigger. This is not a difficult task, but you need to follow the proper procedure so you don’t damage any important parts during installation, and so that you don’t interfere with the operation of the bolt and safety. This Do-It-Yourself video from Brownells leads you through step by step how to safely and correctly replace your Remington 700 trigger. This installation video covers the common methods used to install most of the popular after-market Rem 700 triggers. Importantly, the video also shows how to function test after installation, and how to make sure your safety is working properly.

Many Rem 700 owners fit Timney triggers to their rifles.
Remington 700 trigger replacement Timney installation

Video find by ELR Researcher. We welcome reader submissions.
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January 12th, 2025

Blueprinting and Truing Remington 700 Action — Expert Methods

Bill Marr Rifleshooter.com truing Remington Rem 700 action accurizing

Bill Marr Rifleshooter.com truing Remington Rem 700 action accurizingYou may have heard the phrase “blueprinting an action”, but do you know what that really means? Do you know what operations are done to an action during the blueprinting process? To help you understand, gunsmith Bill Marr of RifleShooter.com has created a helpful article showing a Rem 700 blueprinting job start to finish. This article spotlights how the procedures can be done with manual tools. Bill, who runs 782 Custom Gunworks Ltd., can also perform many of these operations with modern automated machinery. In fact, Bill has written a follow-up article on Truing a Rem 700 receiver with a Lathe.

READ Full Action Blueprinting Article HERE with 30+ Photos »

READ Blueprinting Rem 700 Action with Lathe Article HERE »

Bill explains: “Blue-printing, or truing a rifle action, ensures the receiver face, threads, lugs, bolt lugs, and bolt face are square to the center line of the receiver.” In Bill’s informative article, Bill shows how he blueprints a Remington 700 short action receiver with .308 Win bolt face. He covers the following procedures step by step:

Action Disassembly
Ream Minor Diameter of Receiver Threads
Square the Receiver Lugs
Square the Face of the Receiver
Lap the Bolt Lugs
Square the Bolt Face

Bill employed a variety of tools from Brownells to complete the blueprinting job, including: Remington 700 Armorer’s Kit; Manson Receiver Accurizing Kit; Bolt Lapping Kit; Bolt Face Truing Tool; Manson Receiver Ring Facing Cutter; Multi-Vise with Jaw Pads; Silicone Carbide Abrasive; and Do-Drill Cutting Oil.

Highlights from the Rifleshooter.com article:

1. Chasing the Threads

We use the bushings to guide the receiver tap. This chases the threads and ensures they are square.

Bill Marr Rifleshooter.com truing Remington Rem 700 action accurizing

2. Truing the Receiver Face

Using the receiver facing tool, the front of the receiver is trued. The tool is placed over the tap and turned by hand. We used Do Drill to lubricate it.

Bill Marr Rifleshooter.com truing Remington Rem 700 action accurizing

3. Lapping the Lugs

The bolt lapping tool screws into the front of the action and applies rearward pressure on the bolt face. A little bit of lapping compound is placed on the front of the receiver lugs. The bolt handle is then raised and lowered repeatedly. Note — it is critical that we do not get any lapping compound on any other surfaces.

Bill Marr Rifleshooter.com truing Remington Rem 700 action accurizing

4. Truing the Bolt Face

On this bolt, the central part of the bolt face was low. After the truing operation, this Rem 700 bolt face is now completely square to the action.

Bill Marr Rifleshooter.com truing Remington Rem 700 action accurizing

IMPORTANT: Rifleshooter.com states: “This article highlights our project and is presented for information purposes only. This provides an overview of the process and should not be attempted without the guidance and supervision of an experienced gunsmith“.

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January 7th, 2025

How to Inspect Your Barrel Crown with a Q-Tip

The last half-inch or so of your barrel is absolutely critical. Any damage (or abnormal wear) near the crown will cause a significant drop-off in accuracy. Here are ways you can check the end of your barrel, using a common Q-Tip.

Use Q-Tip for Barrel Inspection
To find out if you have a burr or damage to your crown, you can use an ordinary Q-tip cotton swab. Check the edges of the crown by pulling the Q-tip gently out past the edge of the crown. If you have a burr, it will “grab” the cotton and leave strands behind.

Larry Willis has another way to use a Q-Tip: “Here’s a neat trick that will surprise you with how well it works.” Just insert a Q-Tip into your barrel (like the picture below), and it will reflect enough light so that you can get a real good look at the last half inch of rifling and the crown of your barrel. In most cases you’ll find that this works much better than a flashlight. Larry tells us: “I’ve used this method about a jillion times. Q-Tips are handy to keep in your cleaning supplies anyway. This is a good way to judge approximately how well you are cleaning your barrel when you’re at the range. It’s also the best way to examine your barrel when you’re in the field.”

Larry Willis is the inventor of Innovative Technologies’ Belted Magnum Collet Resizing Die. Larry explains how this die works, and offers other reloading tips on LarryWillis.com.

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January 5th, 2025

Sunday GunDay: Rimfire Showcase — Multi-Discipline Line-Up

rimfire .22 LR accurateshooter forum
Rimfire benchrest rifle of Forum member Peebles24.

With the variety of rimfire disciplines, from cowboy action to Olympic three-position smallbore, there are countless different rimfire designs on the market — bolt guns, lever guns, single-shots, toggle-links and more. These may shoot the same ammo, but they certainly vary in looks and ergonomics. This is testimony to human creativity.

In our Shooters’ Forum, you’ll find a long-running thread showcasing rimfire rifles for plinking, hunting, 3P Target Shooting, Silhouette, Benchrest, Rimfire F-Class, NRL22 and more. Here are some of the notable rifles in that Forum thread, with brief build/component details.

Rimfire F-Class Competition Rifle in Eliseo Stock

anschutz rimfire f-class Harrell's tuner Gary Eliseo f-class stock shilen barrel

Here is a cool rimfire rifle featuring an Anschutz Model 1813 action in an Eliseo (Competition Machine) F-Class Chassis resting on a SEB Mini front joystick rest. This rig belongs to Forum member 10XShooter who won a Silver Medal at the Firecracker match at the NRA Whittington Range in Raton, NM. This rifle has a Maven 5-30X scope, Shilen Ratchet barrel smithed by Mark Penrod, plus a Harrell’s tuner. Gary Eliseo makes excellent metal stocks for centerfire and rimfire rifles with models for a variety of disciplines — Palma, F-Class, PRS/NRL and more. Check out all the Eliseo models at GotXRing.com.

IR 50/50 Sporter with 2500 XS Action and Muller 7R Barrel

Here is member doclu60’s Holeshot Arms (Stiller) 2500XS IR 50/50 Sporter. It features a polished action, barrel, rings/bases, trigger guard, and bolt knob. There are premium components: Bix ‘N Andy trigger, Peightal stock, and Muller 7R barrel. The optic is a Leupold Custom Shop VX3i 6.5-20x40mm wearing Rick Averill custom leather scope caps.

Stiller 2500 XS IR 50/50 .22 LR rimfire prone rifle

Anschutz BR-50 Benchrest Rifle with Upgrades

This is member BHarvey’s rare Anschutz 2013 BR50, with upgrades. This is actually a factory BR-50 stock, but the owner fitted a custom Benchmark barrel, along with a Fudd barrel tuner. That massive butt-plate is three POUNDS of custom-crafted copper, which helps with balance. This rifle was also featured in our popular Guns of the Week collection.

Anschutz 2013 .22 LR BR-50

Rimfire F-Class Rig with Curly Maple Stock

Stiller Holeshot 2500X smallbore F-Class Cerus stock.22 LR rimfire prone rifleThis handsome, ultra-accurate Smallbore F-Class rig belongs to member RMist of Team Pro-Shot Products. It has a Holeshot (Stiller) 2500X, stunning Cerus Curly Maple wood stock, Nightforce scope. Up front is the joystick co-axial SEB Joy-Pod.

How does this impressive rimfire F-Classer shoot? Amazingly well. That target at right shows TEN (10) rounds fired at 100 yards. Most centerfire rifles would have trouble beating that level of accuracy.

Stiller Holeshot 2500X smallbore F-Class Cerus stock.22 LR rimfire prone rifle

Rimfire Tactical Rig with CZ Action and McRees Precision Chassis

Here’s a modern chassis rig built with a CZ 455 action. Forum member A-Rob upgraded the CZ 455 with a SCAR 2-stage trigger. This rifle features a Keystone Accuracy-fitted glue-in barrel, Athlon 10-40x scope and McRees Precision chassis. As you can see from the target, it shoots great. Note: CZ has replaced its 455s with the new CZ 457 series with available metal chassis precision model. CLICK HERE to see full target sheet with six 5-shot groups at 50 yards, averaging 0.270″.

Remington 513T M37 82G CMP Kimber .22 LR rimfire prone rifle

Rampro .22 LR Pistol by Gre-Tan

This is a very rare .22 LR bolt-action silhouette pistol. It is a RamPro 22 LR single-shot crafted by Greg Tannel of Gre-Tan Rifles. Member Tonedaddy says this is the only .22 LR Rampro bolt-action pistol built by Gre-Tan in existence. Not the beautifully-figured wood stock.

Rampro Gre-Tan greg tannel.22 LR rimfire bolt action single-shot

Benchrest Rimfire with Turbo V3 Action and Owner-Crafted Stock

Member J.J. Coe reports: “Here is a little side project I recently finished. It features a
Turbo V3 action, Benchmark 3-groove barrel chambered by Mark Penrod, Jewell trigger, and Leupold 40X barrel in Harrell’s offset rings.” Notably, J.J. made the 5-piece laminate stock himself. Nice work! Yes this gun is very accurate as you can see from the match target. Below that is another one of J.J.’s rimfires, an Anschutz 54 in another handsome stock he made himself. This guy has talent!

Turbo V3 leupold 40x benchmark rimfire .22 LR be3nchrest rifle

SAKO P94S Rimfire Trio

This trio of SAKO P94S rimfire rifles belongs to Forum member “Thomasconnor”. He tells us: “The one in the middle is probably the most accurate .22 LR rifle I’ve owned. It was about 6 pounds (without the scope or rings) before I made a heavy buttplate for it. In its current configuration it’s under 8 pounds with a giant scope and steel rings. It now has a Jewell trigger, Benchmark barrel, oversized action screws, and Alex Sitman stock”.

Sako p94s finland smallbore .22 LR rimfire prone rifle

Springfield Model 1922s

Member SnapDraw posted: “Here are my Springfield Model 1922s. One is an M1 I got from a shooting club back East. It has an NRA stock with upgraded M2 bolt and Lyman super target spot 15X scope. And the other (below) is an unmolested (except front sight) M2 with military stock. Both are amazing shooters!”

Springfield 1922 M2 M1 CMP Kimber .22 LR rimfire prone rifle

Benchrest Modified Anschutz 2013

Member Esk308 Picked up this pre-owned rifle in the summer of 2020. Along with the Anschutz 2013 action it features a 27″ Lilja barrel, laminated Shehane stock, and Nightforce 15-55x52mm scope in Kelbly rings. On the end of the barrel is a Harrels tuner with Don Blue tube. Esk308 now uses a John Loh front rest with SEB Bigfoot rear bag.

.22 LR benchrest anschutz 2013 lilja barrel shehane stock rifle

Anschutz 2013 in M. Werks Stock

Here is another Anschutz model 2013, but in a completely different configuration. This is a rimfire prone match rifle upgraded with a Bartlein gain-twist barrel and an M. Werks tuner stock. Note how the barreled action is secured. This handsome rig belongs to Forum member Jeffrey.

Anschutz 2013 .22 LR M. Werks rimfire prone rifle

Factory-Class Ruger with Big Bipod

Forum member DavidJoe from Texas put together this rig for a local factory-class rimfire series. He reports: “There’s a discipline where a factory rifle under $1000.00 gets to shoot at a bigger-ringed target. I’m going to try out this new Ruger combination in those limited matches, weighed down with an enormous Valdada scope on a Sinclair bipod.”

ruger rimfire smallbore .22 LR Sinclair bipod DavidJoe

Wood-Stocked Trio — Two Remingtons and a Kimber

Here are three .22 LR rigs belonging to member Alamo308. Note the competition iron sights on the middle rifle, a Remington M37 which features a Custom Birdseye Maple stock. The Kimber 82G was sold directly by the CMP as a training rifle. These CMP Kimbers were often extremely accurate.

Remington 513T M37 82G CMP Kimber .22 LR rimfire prone rifleCZ 455 McCrees Precision tactical rimfire

Marlin 980S Custom with Owner-Crafted Stock

The rifle is based off a Marlin 980S action with a Green Mountain 20″ fluted barrel. The action was bedded with a one-piece aluminum bedding block and Devcon 10110. Owner Kakotoch tells us: “Trigger is a Rifle Basix I took down to just over 16 oz. by using a different pull weight screw. The scope is a Japanese-made Tasco 36x that I picked up NIB for $100 and is surprisingly clear. The stock was my winter project — it’s laminated carbon fiber and walnut, finished with Tru-Oil. I cut, shaped, and polished the buttplate by hand.”

Marlin 980S Green Mountain .22 LR rimfire prone rifle

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January 1st, 2025

Key Qualities of Winning Barrels — Brux Co-Owner Explains

brux barrels cut-rifle rifling Erik Cortina Krieger Ken Clemens

In this 54-minute video interview, Ken Clemens, co-owner of Brux Barrels, is interviewed by F-Class ace Erik Cortina for the Cortina Precision YouTube Channel. A lot of ground is covered, with many fascinating insights into barrel-making revealed. Watch and learn:

Interview with Ken Clemens, Co-owner of Brux Barrels

brux barrels cut-rifle rifling Erik Cortina Krieger Ken Clemens

If you are involved in competitive shooting, and especially if you compete in F-Class or long-range benchrest, we recommend you take the time to watch this interview, perhaps in a couple of sessions because it runs for a lengthy 54 minutes. Ken Clemens explains the important procedures that go into making match-grade, cut-rifled barrels. Ken also explains some factors to consider when choosing a barrel-maker and specifying length, contour, land/groove configuration, and twist rates.

For more information visit BruxBarrels.com, use the online PRICE ESTIMATOR, or call (608) 592-3324.

brux barrels cut-rifle rifling Erik Cortina Krieger Ken ClemensAbout BRUX Barrel-Making Methods
Brux starts with 4150 chrome-moly or 416R stainless steel double-stress-relieved bar stock — the best available. Barrels are bored with the Barnes gun drill, and reamed with an industry-standard Pratt & Whitney reamer. Brux uses solid carbide cutter hooks and employs special methods to achieve best results.

After the bore-cutting process is complete, each barrel is hand-lapped to high-precision standards. Multi-point inspections and meticulous hand processes (not possible in mass production) ensure extremely high quality. The Brux website says: “If there is the slightest deviation in surface finish or tolerance, the barrel is discarded.”

BRUX Specializes in Cut-Rifled Gun Barrels
Brux produces custom cut-rifled barrels, precision-crafted by professionals with extensive experience in both machine tools and competitive shooting. While Brux earned its reputation building great barrels for F-Class, benchrest, and long range competition, Brux also crafts hunting barrels. Brux states: “Hunters, big game and varmint, can benefit from the accuracy and dependability of a custom barrel made to your specifications.”

brux barrels cut-rifle rifling Erik Cortina Krieger Ken Clemens

BRUX Barrels’ Owners Are Competitive Shooters
Brux owners and machinists are shooters themselves. So they understand how important a truly top-quality barrel can be. Everything else about a rifle can be great, but you need a superb barrel to win at the highest level. Owners Ken Clemens (pictured above) and Norm Brux are both seasoned shooters with years of experience using their own products.

Made in the USA — About the Home of Brux Barrels
The Wisconsin River Valley near Lodi has a storied history of hunting and shooting. The glacier spared many granite escarpments, leaving secluded glens and a topography rich in soil and wildlife habitat, which attracted families with old-world values and skills. Many of their descendants turned raw steel and iron into the tools necessary for farming – and some evolved to precision tooling and making gun barrels.

brux barrels cut-rifle rifling Erik Cortina Krieger Ken Clemens
Wisconsin River Valley near Ferry Bluff State Natural Area.

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December 30th, 2024

How Cut-Rifled Barrels Are Made — History of Cut-Rifling Process

Pratt & Whitney Cut rifling hydraulic machine

You’ve probably heard of cut-rifling, but did you know this process was invented in Germany nearly 500 years ago? Read on to learn more about how a cut-rifled barrel is made…

The cut-rifling process, used by leading barrel-makers such as Bartlein, Blake, Brux, and Krieger can yield a very high-quality barrel with a long useful life. Cut-rifled barrels have been at the top in short- and long-range benchrest competition in recent years, and cut-rifled barrels have long been popular with F-Class and High Power shooters.

You may be surprised to learn that cut-rifling is probably the oldest method of rifling a barrel. Invented in Nuremberg around 1520, the cut-rifling technique creates spiral grooves in the barrel by removing steel using some form of cutter. In its traditional form, cut rifling may be described as a single-point cutting system using a “hook” cutter. The cutter rests in the cutter box, a hardened steel cylinder made so it will just fit the reamed barrel blank and which also contains the cutter raising mechanism.

Above is a computer animation of an older style, sine-bar cut-rifling machine. Some machine features have been simplified for the purposes of illustration, but the basic operation is correctly shown. No, the cut-rifling machines at Krieger don’t use a hand-crank, but the mechanical process shown in this video is very similar to the way cut-rifling is done with more modern machines.

Kolbe Border Barrels Firearms ID

Read About Cut-Rifling Process at FirearmsID.com
To learn more about the barrel-making process, and cut-rifling in particular, visit FirearmsID.com. There you’ll find a “must-read” article by Dr. Geoffrey Kolbe: The Making of a Rifled Barrel. This article describes in detail how barrels are crafted, using both cut-rifling and button-rifling methods. Kolbe (past owner of Border Barrels) covers all the important processes: steel selection, hole drilling, hole reaming, and rifling (by various means). You’ll find a very extensive discussion of how rifling machines work. Here’s a short sample:

“At the start of World War Two, Pratt & Whitney developed a new, ‘B’ series of hydraulically-powered rifling machines, which were in fact two machines on the same bed. They weighed in at three tons and required the concrete floors now generally seen in workshops by this time. About two thousand were built to satisfy the new demand for rifle barrels, but many were broken up after the war or sold to emerging third world countries building up their own arms industry.

Pratt & Whitney Cut rifling hydraulic machine

Very few of these hydraulic machines subsequently became available on the surplus market and now it is these machines which are sought after and used by barrel makers like John Krieger and ‘Boots’ Obermeyer. In fact, there are probably less of the ‘B’ series hydraulic riflers around today than of the older ‘Sine Bar’ universal riflers.

The techniques of cut rifling have not stood still since the end of the war though. Largely due to the efforts of Boots Obermeyer the design, manufacture and maintenance of the hook cutter and the cutter box have been refined and developed so that barrels of superb accuracy have come from his shop. Cut rifled barrel makers like John Krieger (Krieger Barrels), Mark Chanlyn (Rocky Mountain Rifle Works) and Cliff Labounty (Labounty Precision Reboring)… learned much of their art from Boots Obermeyer, as did I.” — Geoffrey Kolbe

Video find by Boyd Allen. Archive photos from Border Barrels in the UK.
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December 28th, 2024

Saturday Movies: Building a AR-15 Black Rifle Start to Finish

Cheaper Than Dirt AR-15 AR AR15 building assembly video page

Cheaper Than Dirt (CTD), a Texas-based vendor of firearms, gun accessories, and ammo, has created a very complete web page on AR-15 assembly from start to finish. If you are thinking of building an AR, or upgrading your upper, trigger group, or buttstock, we recommend that you read CTD’s DIY ARs — Building Your Own AR-15 page. This illustrates all the components you will need for a complete AR build.

In addition, the page has a series of videos showing how to assemble each element of the AR-15. We’ve included five of those videos in today’s Saturday Movie Showcase. There a total of ten CTD AR-15 videos in the series. View them all on the CTD AR-15 Playlist on YouTube.

Then, as a closer, we offer another video — the Ten Mistakes to Avoid When Building an AR-15. Worth watching BEFORE you start an AR project, this useful video now has 2.6 million views!

Installing the Fire Control Group

Installing the Safety Selector and Pistol Grip

Installing the Take-Down Pin and Buffer Tube

Installing the Bolt Catch

Field-Stripping the Bolt-Carrier Group

Mistakes to Avoid When Assembling an AR-Platform Rifle
This popular Tactical Toolbox video (with 2.6 million views) is definitely worth watching BEFORE you start your own AR project. It explains the common mistakes that even careful builders can make when assembling an AR-type rifle.

The 27 Parts Needed for Do-It-Yourself ARs

Here’s a helpful CTD infographic that shows the parts needed to build an AR-15. These parts are available for purchase at Cheaper than Dirt. To learn more, click the photo to view the full CTD AR-15 Build article.

Cheaper Than Dirt AR-15 AR AR15 building assembly video page


Top photo with AR upper kit and stripped lower from Palmetto State Armory.

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