Cutting vent rib barrel?

[IndianaResident]

Didnt seem fair to put this in gunsmithing since its more of a DIY/billybob jon, but what can you do


Ive cut a couple smooth bore shotgun barrels with a pipe cutter and its been for my purposes, but that wont work on a vent rib barrel. Any thoughts besides a hack saw. I dont own a lathe and cant currently think of any friends with them.

 

[LtScott14]

Chop saw with metal blade. A new sight will be needed, maybe a fiber optic model with colored tube. Would cut to even rib, don't cut short of legal length. Probably loose choke pattern. Maybe find a different barrel?

 

[Leo]

Not all ribs are soldered the entire length. Some are designed to slightly float at several sections. You may need to resolder if cut where the rib floats.

The loss of choke constriction would be difficult to restore. I have had a fixed barreled gun machined by Briley to accept thinwall chokes. They did a great job but it was over $500 and the special choke tubes are over $100 each.

 

[IndianaResident]

Its an HD gun, not a hunting one, so not overly concerned with the choke. I understand it will pattern differently but within 20 feet im not too conerned about it.

Good tip on cutting for a whole section. I have a new sight already

 

[IndianaResident]

Little necropostifilia, but figured I'd share my solution 1.5 years later, in case anyone is looking to cut a vent rib (and so I can share my handiwork).

I ended up having a machine shop cut the barrel mentioned in the original post, and they did a good job, but it was a little pricey for an HD shotgun. It was also done by people who understand metal but not firearms, I think. Shown below:

Last week I opted to DIY after reading a few other forum posts. I used a set of magnetic plastic vice inserts that have a horizontal channel to keep the barrel in place without compressing it, and used masking tape to create parallel lines that I would cut between approximately a hacksaw blade width apart. Next time I would use two hose clamps to make a mechanical guide, but in either case I cut from all 4 sides, rotating the barrel once I had cut through the inner wall, and using a 24 TPI blade.

Following that I cut the vent rib back to the next strut and did some hand filing to create a Winchester-style rounded rib end. I practiced this on the portion I cut off first, and that one....will not be shown. This was my first time ever using a hand file and it took a little while to get the feel of it. I deburred with a smaller jewelers file but didn't attempt any sort of champher free hand. Total cost will be whatever a cold bluing kit costs.

 

[Jim McKalip]

This is an outstanding example of what used to be called "Yankee ingenuity". I guess we'll have to call it "Hoosier ingenuity". It looks great and solves the OP's problem very nicely.

 

[PGRChaplain]

Looks Good!