shortening and threading barrel for suppressor at home......

[rodent.22]

Hi everyone. I see questions constantly about getting a barrel shortened and threaded. So far I've done a Remington Viper, a Mini 14, and a 10/22- all cut to 16 1/8'' and threaded 1/2''X28tpi. It's not too difficult, don't measure the barrel itself for the cut, remember to measure from the closed bolt face, it's gotta be 16'' minimum with a threaded unpinned and unwelded brake or suppressor. No I don't have a lathe at home and I'm rather loathe to dissassemble the barrel from the receiver so I start out with the barrel marked at the 16 1/8'' mark. I tape an 1/8'' ridge, skip a 1/2'' wide area ( where the barrel will be turned down and threaded) and then tape another 1/8'' ridge. These tape ridges serve as a guide for the sanding operation to come. I purchased a 60 yard roll of cloth-backed emery sandpaper #80 grit 1'' wide at the auto parts store for $12.00 or so. Tear off about 4'' of the paper, fold it in half lengthways with the cloth backing to the inside. Now wrap it around the 1/2'' wide area between the tape ridges and take a new or as new set of 6'' or 9'' visegrips and lightly clamp the the paper around the barrel. Turn in one direction only. Don't clamp too tight or the visegrips will cut the emerycloth into pieces. After 3 turns or so the paper must be changed or turned over. This is by far the most difficult part of the job. It takes about 3 hours of steady turning to turn the average barrel to 1/2'' so it can be threaded. Check the barrel frequently with your micrometer. Once you reach the 1/2'' diameter needed for threading, you can square the shoulder of the turned down section of the barrel with a good mill bastard file. This is not required, the suppressor can be tapered internally to ''fit'' the rounded shoulder. I purchased a 1/2X28 die, a thread centering guide, and a handle from Brownells. EXCELLENT customer service and prices, the tool quality is very good. Around $50.00 for everything. Now saw off the unturned section of barrel leaving the 1/2'' long turned down area at the end. Face the end of the barrel square with a flat file. The barrel can be crowned with a round stone in a Dremel tool. Just a touch to clean the ends of the rifiling. A recessed crown is not necessary since the barrel end will be covered. The die is a split die, turn the screw in to open the die up for the initial cut, use a heavy oil and turn the die off the centering guide onto the end of the barrel. I'm a big boy with a good grip, so a barrel vise wasn't needed. A friend holding the gun while you turn the threads may be necessary. Back off and clean the metal chips from the die frequently. After you have turned it all the way to the shoulder back it off , clean it out, reoil and unscrew the screw in the die to cut the threads to their proper 1/2'' size. Check the threads by screwing on the brake, when you can screw it on by hand the threads are deep enough. You will probably notice that the bore will not be concentric with the outside barrel, this is very COMMON and no need to be alarmed. When the barrel is turned down enough to thread the die will take the material off evenly and your accessory will be concentric to the bore. Clean all oil off the threads, cold blue and reoil overnite. The brake can be tapered internally a little at a time to index the brake properly, or you can use red threadlocker. It won't move after it sets up. only use a small amount on the threads ONLY. I'm out of attachment room so I'll post a finished photo under the title finished barrel. This mod turns out well with a little thought and care....

[imschur]

Fantastic, thanks for posting. Need to be certain Cyclone sees this. Im going to sticky it.

[lmao_37]

iam now gona make myself look a little stupid!!!  i was told by a relative a long time ago that suppressor's were illeagle here in the usa but i have seen quite a few sites with them on iam a little  :confused: or is it a texas law not that my gsg ak needs on as it doesnt make a huge bang when its fired but i would like to know so i dont look stupid to someone else  ;D

[Madhouse]

Suppressors are not illegal, but they are regulated by the BATFE as an NFA item.  This means that you have to pay the BATFE a one-time fee (called a tax stamp) of $200 for any NFA item you want to own.

:thumb:

[Microgunner]

Great tutorial rodent.

[rodent.22]

Thanks- a flash suppressor is totally legal except for a couple of states and localities that define a threaded barrel as an ''evil feature''. A noise suppressor ( read SILENCER or functioning CAN) is totally illegal unless as Madhouse explained a tax stamp is obtained. This is not automatically approved, you must go thru a process besides the tax payment. :beer: