It came to me in REM sleep this morning that I've had a brass (or maybe bronze) .22 air rifle barrel blank squirreled away that I got from Ron Sauls many years ago; no doubt of Philippine manufacture. Then it occurred to me it might be small enough O.D. to go through the tail-stock of my mini-lathe. If so, I might be able to fart around and machine a long barrel for a nice Crosman 600 I beat a buddy out of. Decided since I'll probably never get around to doing anything else with that barrel, might as well try (since it only cost me $20 anyway).
The original 600 barrel measures .372" O.D. Luckily the brass barrel measured .375", and did indeed pass through the tailstock of my lathe. So (first) I straightened the barrel like I'm used to straightening arrows, then whacked off about an 11" piece. Started off by squaring the breech end, then cut the tapered forcing-cone as close as possible to the original barrel's by just eyeballing it. Gave the forcing cone a nice, high-polish.
Had to get creative to turn and sand-down the barrel O.D., half the length at a time due to limited lathe capabilities, and meeting in the middle (like the first trans-continental train-tracks). Checked for snug fit in the frame, and got lucky that it was perfect.
Then turned a reduced-diameter step for the barrel set-screw, again just trying to duplicate that of the original barrel by eyeball. Finally squared the muzzle-end, and did a rudimentary crowning on the lathe. The custom barrel seemed to come out as nice as i could have hoped, considering my almost complete lack of lathe experience and (consequently) "creative" lathery.
Cleaned the bore (judiciously), and installed the barrel in the gun. Fit like she was made for it; go figure! Not only functions perfectly but is giving the accuracy I wanted; the real impetus for this little project.
It's bit chilly for good C02 work, but she's getting 1" groups at 20 yards; about all that can be realistically expected of a good Crosman 600. At 70 degrees I'm getting 50-60 FPS gain over the original barrel (now doing 440-460 FPS with 14.3 grain JSBs). I'd expect about 470-480 FPS at 90 degrees; very small-game capable.
Looks a bit weird to have that extra 6" of brass barrel sticking out, but I'll probably have that corrected with a custom carbon-fiber shroud. That will transform the long-barrel 600 from goofy-looking to awesome!
The original 600 barrel measures .372" O.D. Luckily the brass barrel measured .375", and did indeed pass through the tailstock of my lathe. So (first) I straightened the barrel like I'm used to straightening arrows, then whacked off about an 11" piece. Started off by squaring the breech end, then cut the tapered forcing-cone as close as possible to the original barrel's by just eyeballing it. Gave the forcing cone a nice, high-polish.
Had to get creative to turn and sand-down the barrel O.D., half the length at a time due to limited lathe capabilities, and meeting in the middle (like the first trans-continental train-tracks). Checked for snug fit in the frame, and got lucky that it was perfect.
Then turned a reduced-diameter step for the barrel set-screw, again just trying to duplicate that of the original barrel by eyeball. Finally squared the muzzle-end, and did a rudimentary crowning on the lathe. The custom barrel seemed to come out as nice as i could have hoped, considering my almost complete lack of lathe experience and (consequently) "creative" lathery.
Cleaned the bore (judiciously), and installed the barrel in the gun. Fit like she was made for it; go figure! Not only functions perfectly but is giving the accuracy I wanted; the real impetus for this little project.
It's bit chilly for good C02 work, but she's getting 1" groups at 20 yards; about all that can be realistically expected of a good Crosman 600. At 70 degrees I'm getting 50-60 FPS gain over the original barrel (now doing 440-460 FPS with 14.3 grain JSBs). I'd expect about 470-480 FPS at 90 degrees; very small-game capable.
Looks a bit weird to have that extra 6" of brass barrel sticking out, but I'll probably have that corrected with a custom carbon-fiber shroud. That will transform the long-barrel 600 from goofy-looking to awesome!
