Has any barrel company ever made replacement barrels

[roverboy 0]

I wondered does anybody know of a company that has made Johnson replacement barrels?

[Ed Johnson 0]

One of our site users, "Tanker 48" has been considering this.

[roverboy 0]

I remember someone talking about they asked a tech from a barrel company, and they said it would have to be at least 1000 barrels before they would set up.

11 hours ago, Ed Johnson said:

One of our site users, "Tanker 48" has been considering this.

Thanks, Ed. That's nice to know. 

[Ed Johnson 0]

It would require hand tooling and specialized machining.. You are dealing with several steps to make just one barrel, including drilling the hole and then rifling that hole. I would not expect a commercial barrel shop to do small quantities.

[Joseph Scott 0]

Years back when I made barrels;  I bought a manufacturer's lot of .30 cal straight rifled blanks from Shilen and had them profiled/threaded at a CNC shop near Ft. Worth.  Then I had to chamber them and bevel throat.  Tightened on rear collar to establish bottom, this gave me the position for the extractor cut.  Reinstall rear collar tight and then install guide collar and front sight.  I have a factory original test bolt for head-spacing purposes.  After some experiments, I made an adjustable reamer stop and can get correct head space every time.  Took me about 10 years to sell 50 barrels.  The demand is too slow for a manufacturer to make them.  The profiled blanks for bolt guns are too heavy.  A Remington 700, .30-06 take-off barrel is close and I have made several with them before eye sight problem arose.  M1 Garand barrels were used when they were cheap.  I tried to cut one and lathe jumped all over on the interupted cut on M1 chamber area. 

If any one is wanting to do this route, the barrel steel come in 12ft lengths, ask the barrel shop cut them into 24" lengths instead of the standard 27".  This reduces waste and still give 1" at each end for trimming to the 22" Johnson length.  When the rifling button goes in or comes out, the bore is large and the ends must be trimmed.  If you make barrels, stamp caliber and your mark, please.

[M48TANKER 0]

I've made a few barrels for myself out of 03 and 03A3 barrels. I've also altered a few Winfield Sporter barrels by the addition of the original front sights and bayonet lugs.

Putting the front sight and bayonet lug on a Winfield Sporter barrel is the easiest way to go for me.

There is a lot to consider when making barrels for commercial sale. Liability insurance would be prohibitive considering the very limited number of barrels you might sell.

If, God forbid, there was ever an accident with the rifle, you would be bankrupted by lawsuits whether the barrel was actually the cause or not.

If I needed a replacement barrel, I'd watch the board here and also on Gunbroker for an occasional barrel to show up. Be prepared to pay close to $1000.00 IF you find one.

A decent gunsmith, or anyone with the skills and a lathe, should be able to install an original sight and bayonet lug on your barrel without much trouble.

Joe Scott is legendary for the barrels he has produced. It takes a lot of skill and expensive equipment to make, chamber and headspace a new barrel.

I'm always on the lookout for decent original barrels or Winfield barrels which I can return to military configuration. You might check with me from time to time to see if I've found a usable barrel to sell.

I'm always glad to be of whatever help I can, as are Ed and Joe....and just about everyone else on this board.