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Looking for a machinist

Impressive results and looks like excellent work! So, who did you get to work on the barrel, and how much did it cost in the end? Please share if you can. Can be very useful for future reference, many of us need machining work from time to time, and it is hard to find good help. Thanks!
Arzrover on here. He worked with daystate for a bit on the art barrels. But he really isn’t looking for work. He did the work for a very reasonable price.
 
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ONLY barrel work I take on are those types / fitments having done before. ONLY when having the complete AG making sure all the operational parameters get covered etc ...
Custom barrel work is VERY costly as the time and tooling & skill required to do correctly ( Especially when looking for even better accuracy than factory barrel ) and as such getting everything right to have a chance of increasing accuracy takes some skill. BECAUSE come end of the project, if you screw something up you not only EAT the cost of the barrel, but the time invested as well.

I turn down more barrel requests than i do ... part of knowing ones limits and meeting expectations of perspective customers :cautious:
That’s wisdom
 
I will when i get it back so far he contacted me and said it’s showing promise on his first outing. He most likely won’t do 1 for you cause i think he felt sorry for me after hearing of my trouble with airgun revisions.
I’ve had only GREAT experiences with @Airgun-Revisions . When I send or ask for specialty work from ANY air gun smith I expect it will take twice as long and may cost more than the quoted price. There are huge risks as Motorhead mentioned and I always realize I’m in a cue as I’m not the only person needing hard to find services, personally I’d be thankful he sent my stuff home unmodified if he realized limitations would affect outcomes. Just my take and my experience. I hope your slugger is perfect when done.
 
I’ve had only GREAT experiences with @Airgun-Revisions . When I send or ask for specialty work from ANY air gun smith I expect it will take twice as long and may cost more than the quoted price. There are huge risks as Motorhead mentioned and I always realize I’m in a cue as I’m not the only person needing hard to find services, personally I’d be thankful he sent my stuff home unmodified if he realized limitations would affect outcomes. Just my take and my experience. I hope your slugger is perfect when done.
Well when you change your price quote in 1/2 hr and don’t start work till the day before quoted finish to me that is bull poop and I don’t think much of anyone that does business that way. If you like being taken advantage of thats your business
 
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Well we have some very positive results today he shot a couple groups and this was at 50 yards and yes thats a dime!View attachment 451411View attachment 451413

Usually the best shooters/gunsmiths have dents in their fingers. JK :p 😁

Knowing him now for a quarter century, Arzrover is a notch above most as far as people go, also in airgun knowledge, and output of quality. He always does the best he can for what he has to work with. Meaning each barrel and gun is different and also not all ammo will perform.

I try not to bother him with projects but he did a 17.7 twist barrel for my Thomas that shoots the Altaros 32.3gr great and those same Zan's well too.

Reminded me that I need to put that barrel back on for this months UFT.
 
I’m not sticking up for Airgun Revision because I don’t even know who they or he is. But when it comes to machining a barrel for an airgun guy, you are taking a giant risk. First is expectations. When a guy buys a premium barrel, he has expectations. Getting it right for what he wants to shoot and have it be better than his quality factory barrel can be a tall task because the customer thinks he is now going to set the world on fire. I’ve built a ton of barrels and I’ve learned something. When I sell a gun with a custom barrel on it, I always give the guy the factory barrel with the gun. There is a reason I do this and why I don’t machine barrels for random dudes. I also have seen topics about a guy getting his custom barrel made and all the ooo’s and aaws’s responding. Then I see that barrel for sale months later. @Solo1 , I do hope you find someone and his final product meets your expectations. It can happen depending on what you want out of a barrel and if the machinist can accomplish those wants.
Hopefully people will start mastering the conversion of match grade rifle barrels for airguns use. There is a huge demand and appears to be a disparagement on getting timely results. Theres good reason for hesitation from the people who are knowledgable about their machining. They can do excellent work that is costly but the outcome may be that its simply not the right end result base on wrong application of top quality products. So many costly mistakes to be made and few who have a vested interest or return from success thus far.
 
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Hopefully people will start mastering the conversion of match grade rifle barrels for airguns use. There is a huge demand and appears to be a disparagement on getting timely results. Theres good reason for hesitation from the people who are knowledgable about their machining. They can do excellent work that is costly but the outcome may be that its simply not the right end result base on wrong application of top quality products. So many costly mistakes to be made and few who have a vested interest or return from success thus far.
To me it seems that too many self proclaimed machinists- gunsmiths are a part of the problem with airgun barrels. And just how many actual machinists- gunsmiths are out there still? The 1’s that are out there are at the top of their game with pb’s and aren’t really prepared for airguns.
Who wants to pay more for a barrel than the gun their putting it on? And the self proclaimed guy has a small lathe and mill and works out of his basement with no or little professional experience. I dont think there is any reason for a smart guy with the proper equipment to be able to make a good barrel if he actually has a means to test it which there in lies the biggest problem that and the cost of proper equipment!
 
Usually the best shooters/gunsmiths have dents in their fingers. JK :p 😁

Knowing him now for a quarter century, Arzrover is a notch above most as far as people go, also in airgun knowledge, and output of quality. He always does the best he can for what he has to work with. Meaning each barrel and gun is different and also not all ammo will perform.

I try not to bother him with projects but he did a 17.7 twist barrel for my Thomas that shoots the Altaros 32.3gr great and those same Zan's well too.

Reminded me that I need to put that barrel back on for this months UFT.
Just out of curiosity was that a 25 cal with rifling?
 
Just out of curiosity was that a 25 cal with rifling?
No a 22 in 17.7 twist. I like the Altaros because the BC is .18.

I can't remember if polygonal or standard rifling. Last time I shot the rifle with this barrel on, and this was when confirming dope at 100Y for a UFT match off bucket and sticks, two groups were .8".

It's cheaper to shoot my swaged slugs so I mainly keep this slug barrel on which uses .2215" slugs. It's one I got from Mike N a couple years ago.
 
I am in a fortunate situation where I have a full machine shop at my place of work and I have taught myself/been taught enough that I now make parts for customers at $129/hr.

I have two FX M3s and many barrel kits, heavy superior and smooth twist x. From what I understand FX presses their liner rifling from the outside with a die which is far faster and simpler than rifling in the lathe.

Even without seeing the drawing that it sounds like was never drawn... I would say $210.00 is really light. The tolerances necessary would make this part take the better part of a day in my opinion. $1032.00 sounds like you would be in the ballpark for a C grade machinist like myself. No one has mentioned the liability of the barrel taking half of someone's face off because the drawing didn't specify a straightness tolerance.

A wise man told me once: "If you charge peanuts, you get monkeys."
Same guy said to me, “You know what’s under a Buck?” -Deer Nuts
 
But tell me why a guy like kidd from cool guy guns can make a barrel for a 10-22 and sells for $200 that is hand lapped and guaranteed to shoot 1/2” @ 50 yds can do that?
That is an excellent deal. So there is something Kidd is not telling you. But if the barrel shoots great, guys won’t question why so cheap.
 
That is an excellent deal. So there is something Kidd is not telling you. But if the barrel shoots great, guys won’t question why so cheap.
So what is he not telling me? I mean he sells quite a few different types of barrels some with a lot of machining and also doing things like threads for silencers which most airgun folk say is very difficult to do without ruining accuracy.
 
A lot of Folks or Shops either OWN or have access to very expensive machines, tooling etc that can do custom work or side work outside where & how these machines make there money day in and day out.

Those who are around the modern Machine Shop and some old timers and less exotic machines know that what is required to do a correct barrel is not rocket science .... But being able to Produce a quality machined product is multi fold ... Quality machine/s and correct Tooling, Experience in doing the required task & the Time & Access to use said machines / tooling.

When i was just a Machinists apprentice way back @ 1978/79 in a Job Shop ( Custom low production Work ) the shop rate was IIRC near $80 an hour and this was nearly a Half century ago !!!

As it was then and IS now ... SET UP is many times 90% of the task ... making the Cut/s not so much. Sadly not many a job has 1 or 2 set up sequences, but many getting to a completed project. Time is $$$ .... Liability of a screw up potential takes cost of job + built in insurance meaning extra $$$

The small guys doing what they can on less than optimum equipment & tooling fills the gap of Demand weighted against Affordability. Unless said machinist is off the clock using machines etc at there place of employment .... generally :unsure:
 
So what is he not telling me? I mean he sells quite a few different types of barrels some with a lot of machining and also doing things like threads for silencers which most airgun folk say is very difficult to do without ruining accuracy.
Motorhead covered a good bit of it. I have no clue who this Kidd guy is or anything about cool guy guns. Have you physically seen this company? Not a video. Actually been on site? I once questioned how a company could build bow strings so cheap, so I drove there. And I found out rather quickly.