your thoughts

joed

Well-Known Member
I have had to send my weatherby off to Mike at Brock and Norris and heard back from him today that the rifle is sorted.
Cut a long story short, I bought it off Ross on here, but it wasn't screw cut, so I did some research and found someone to do it. Since the screw cut was done, the rifle has been a pig, I started to fail my dsc1 shooting assessment and tbh was a bit embarrassed on the day (thankfully this was resolved with the estate rifle).

Mike has basically sorted the trigger, but has also recrowned the barrel as this was never done and in fact the screw cutting had seriously affected the accuracy of the rifle, meaning it would never fire true in its previous state.

Is the gunsmith at fault here? Should the recrown be done at the same time as the screw cutting?

I would like to thank Mike for doing the work properly and I can't wait to test and zero on Wednesday. I have a target from my last zero attempt and I'll show a comparison after Wednesday.
 
Joe if I am guessing correct as to who threaded the rifle for you in the first place all I will say is that you took the rifle to a RFD and not a gunsmith. Too many RFDs think it is a quick and easy job to thread a barrel for a moderator and don't really know what they are doing. At least it should be properly sorted now after Mr Norris has dealt with it.
 
Ahhh Mike, on this occasion I didn't go where you think I did. I made a trip in my car up the m5. I know what to do in the future though! Still I would have thought a gunsmith would do the necessary and ensure the rifle was fit to shoot before it leaving the workshop.
 
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You should not have to recrown the barrel when getting it screw cut but you will have to if you are having the barrel shortened.
It looks like the person who threaded it messed up the crown in the process.
 
Assuming the rifle shot well before threading, the odds are that the eejut that screw cut it stuck a centre in the muzzle to centre it, damaging the crown. - Very bad practice!
Mike will have checked the concentricity of the thread (he is consciencious & thorough like that), inspected the crown, saw it was damaged & recut it. Along with the trigger job I'm sure the OP will be happy with the result. Mike does fine quality work.

Ian
 
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Intially, I thought it was just the trigger that was needing reworking, but just speaking to Mike on the phone he suggested that the crown was probably damaged during the screw cutting and how right he was.

Well it is a shame a guy with a decent rep has done a bad job, but I'm glad I've got a proper job done now
 
Assuming the rifle shot well before threading, the odds are that the eejut that screw cut it stuck a centre in the muzzle to centre it, damaging the crown. - Very bad practice!
Mike will have checked the concentricity of the thread (he is consciencious & thorough like that), inspected the crown, saw it was damaged & recut it. Along with the trigger job I'm sure the OP will be happy with the result. Mike does fine quality work.

Ian

Have you watched Mike screw cut a barrel in person, or on video ?

Mike turns out a good thread, but he doesn't do it without messing the original crown up.

Neil. :)
 
It's time that the first guy's rep was put right by the sound of things. Ask for your money back & maybe name him if he won't refund - you shouldn't suffer the shame he should! Get the shot targets to prove it was badly done & confront him.

Ian
 
I also got a thread cut by a reputable gunsmith in that direction (I'm not naming and may not have been the same one) a few years ago now. I was surprised when it came back with metal filings and burrs still on the thread. I think one or two are focusing more on quantity than quality but this soon backfires.

.... perhaps an understudy it being left unsupervised?
 
The reason mike turns between centre's is it ensures the thread is concentric with the bore

No, he does it like that to save time, yes it should end up concentric with the end of the bore, but that doesn't make it the right way to do it.
There is no reason to turn between centres, it just save having to clock the barrel up in a 4 jaw chuck.
That said it doesn't mean the thread will be true, only that it will be true to the centre of the bore, not
necessarily to the axis of the bore, which is actually what we need.

Neil. :)
 
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Good Morning gents, Have just read this post and feel that a reply is justified.
The reason I thread the way that I do is NOT to "save time". as one gentleman put it. Although it is an expedient method . If one pulls the barrel from the action there is always a risk of marking barrels or actions and then there is the incurred delays and costs of refinishing. Clocking up barrels in a four jaw chuck is not without its problems also as most barrels have a taper on them and again you can mark the barrel very easily when clamping them and clocking them up true to the bore . Using a precise mandrel for the action , as we do ( and I have about 30 of them for various actions) which is held in a set true chuck running at 0.0001 run-out and with the muzzle running on an extremely accurate live centre. ( the muzzle has a 60 degree centre cut with a live pilot reamer) the axial run out is absolutely minimal.
We always re-cut the crown as a matter of course as Any bruising in that delicate area will result in a significant loss of accuracy and consistency . We do not leave it to chance. The rifle in question here had an annular burr pushed into the bore where it would appear it had been run on a dead centre and not re-crowned after. The matter was addressed and there should be no accuracy problems . For screw cutting for moderator is concentricity to the bore that is one of the primary concerns, and the od. of barrel is very rarely concentric to the bore. We must also ensure that the clients rifle is not marked in the process. We also gauge check the threads to ensure that they are within spec . The method that we use works......and works very well. I can see no reason to change it . As we screw cut upwards of 3000 rifles a year.......we must be doing something right. Yours respectfully Mike Norris Brock and Norris Custom Rifles
 
Just a little more, got the rifle back today (can't zero until tomorrow evening) however, the trigger, which was the intial issue feels superb. Can't wait to get it to the range and see where we are at. Thanks Mike for firstly a very fast turnaround, secondly for a great bit of work on the trigger and lastly for the thread protector (small thing, but much appreciated) I'll make sure I get something up after zeroing.
 
Exactly the way most of us do it, your quote on barrel O D to bore concentricity is true had one of those most accurate blah blah rifles to thread and it was 21 thou out, glad the customer wanted a muzzle can. To be fair that is the worst I have seen.
 
Well back from the range, not exactly what I wanted from the evening but a load of pluses. First plus is the trigger, it as good live firing as it seemed to be when dry firing. It is crisp, breaks beautifully and has 0 creep. 2nd plus, I now know what the blooming windage and elevation are on my turret (h and t on a Schmidt!) After finally bore sighting properly I had only a few rounds left to properly zero. Got 2 within an inch and third was 2 inches low - mod had come loose!

Overall, after getting it sorted I am much happier now. When I get to the range next time, possibly Sunday, I'll try to get a proper job done and put it up.

Main thing is - one happy customer. Top stuff Mr Norris thank you.
 
As we screw cut upwards of 3000 rifles a year.......we must be doing something right. Yours respectfully Mike Norris Brock and Norris Custom Rifles

Thats an awful lot of muzzle threading Mike, works out at 11 a day for a five day week, i can only presume you have another employee who is threading muzzles full time?
Doing that much muzzle work per day would not leave you any time for anything else?

Ian.
 
Ian once we have everything set up I will run 45-55 a day. Plus I work a seven day week from six am to six pm.Everything is cut by me , but I do have Ian stripping and re assembling as we go . we are often doing 300 rifles per consignment, and we have a LOT of consignments come through. No mystery here just bloody hard work that pays the bills.
 
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