Tuning How do you choke a barrel ?

Bushings and press are the only way. I don’t taper mine just well fit,<.005to .007 and ten ton press. Rotate a few times during pressing ,check for snugness and adjust pressure if needed ,until you get the desired choke tightness then re crown the leading edge for uniformity.

I just wrap my hand around it and use my thumbs......oh wait, that's not what you meant, sorry.

Quite a few years ago there were often posts talking about choking barrels and usually someone would always mention heating the tip of the barrel cherry red and quenching. I'd like to read more about this method and what it actually takes to do right, if that's even possible, without screwing up the metal.

PumaCarl said:

Quite a few years ago there were often posts talking about choking barrels and usually someone would always mention heating the tip of the barrel cherry red and quenching. I'd like to read more about this method and what it actually takes to do right, if that's even possible, without screwing up the metal.

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The question is quenching in water or oil? IMHO odds are it'll bend and you'll be spending a lot of quality time descaling it. It'd be a interesting exercise on a barrel you don't give a hoot about.

I have seen a video where some Brit's flamed a springer barrel and got a good result but I wondered what it was actually doing to the metal and what would be the long term effects. Never saw or heard anything about that.

I’ve also read where you machine down the last 1 inch to say 8 mm and make a undersized sleeve to be .005 smaller ID , and heat it and slip it over the small end and when it cools it shrinks but I’ve not tried it

I’ll do a test this week to try it.. Don’t seem like enough pressure but test will confirm.

mubhaur said:

Please do share the results in terms of accuracy.

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Will do brother

Never tried but maybe heat the inch of muzzle cherry and douse it it cold water to force it to draw tighter ? Then I guess you have no sizing control . Like how much choke is needed as far as too little or too much then set that goal .

Stubbers said:

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Dang ... If that's how to choke a barrel my guns can gets me angry enough I should not be able to see daylight through it more or less a pellet get through .

I've witnessed first hand how a Very high end AG manufacturer does it .... Using a collet in his CNC lathe head stock ( Pneumatic or Hydraulic not sure ? ) adjusting of the pressure of the collets clamping force places a crush on end of barrel with great control.
Watched several un-choked barrels get a tad bit of choked added in this fashion.

I heard that HW barrels were choked by stamping the front sight dovetail into them. I looked at the barrel on my 95 and sure enough the dovetail is stamped and not machined. A pellet tells me the choke starts right where that dovetail is.

I have no idea if that's true. But it seems plausible and there is circumstantial evidence to support it.

Hammer forged barrels are formed around a mandrel with a choke on it. At least that is what YouTube says. If you had that forging machine you could do it however you wanted to.

I've always wondered how a button rifled barrel was choked. I assumed rolling it between 2 shoes in a press or pushing a hot blank into a tapered die. But that is just an assumption based on zero first hand knowledge.

Barrels are soft stuff. A good hammer swinger could put a perfect choke on a cold barrel. It would screw up the finish but I'd bet it would work.

I'd drill me a hole in an anvil and hone a little taper into it. Heat the barrel up sub red and tap it down into the taper. Drift it out when it cooled and see if it worked. If it didn't I'd do it again and tap it farther into the taper. I bet you could get a good choke with just a little experimentation.

I'm not sure how much reduction in bore diameter you would need. Nor how much length. I've read a little about it and it seems to be a bit of a black art.