I told the guide there was a 90% chance he had one and he produced. It was a great evening and even better hunt. I really enjoyed hanging out with pops. We saw some big deer that night.

I'm not surprised Judd could machine a great barrel. In fact, I expected that. What I am most impressed with is that he learned to do this on his own with no training or anyone showing him how to do it! Very cool to see a guy take his passion and turn it into such a precision instrument. Taking an animal with a rifle he crafted has to be a total rush. Congrats Judd!

...and it is a CREEDmor!

Nice lathe, and nice work!

Congrats on both!

Well done Juddson!

Thanks guys...still on a bit of a high and it’s been a week

Very cool. Wish I had the time to do the same. Maybe one day!

Very impressive, Congratulations

Good on you Judd...

Thats bad arse, im jealous.

Would be a dream come true to do something akin to that.

this is such an inspiration to all, that if you want to do something, DO IT

Man that’s awesome Judd, you should get a grinder and make some HSS cutters, they are easy compared to cutting tenons and threads!

Definitely get a mill it compliments the lathe, and definitely get yourself a Kurt vise for that mill.

you should be proud, this is quite an accomplishment. Fun hunt too!

Way to go Judd!

So, now that you can cut/thread/fit a barrel... is making your own action next?

Awesome work!! Looks great and a cool story with the axis to boot!

I’ve been shopping for a mill for a bit but being picky and I know what I want. I’d prefer either a Precision Mathews or Grizzly w/ DRO and big enough that I don’t have to swap sides with the stock to complete it, I want to be able to do them in one pass. That doesn’t mean that I won’t find some old Bridgeport or something that is clean that I cannot live without. I don’t want a project is the big thing, I don’t get to spend enough time on them so i damn sure don’t want to have to work on one.

No on the action...lots of great actions out there to use.

Thanks guys, I appreciate it.

Way to go, for a man that wears out barrels the way you do it makes sense. Remember "they make barrels while we sleep" now you do not have to wait on a smith to make those barrels to work for you.

Alright, now it begs the question. Is a gunsmith worth his price?

Nice!

Awesome work Judd! You said it wasn’t shooting to your liking yet. What’s the next steps to tighten it up. It’s looking good.

That is funny!!! Yes, yes they are and the tomato stakes prove that theory but he did it. The SOB did it.

I'm seriously impressed. There's no way I could figure all that out without some serious training.

Great question and interesting you say that. I’m going to answer but you already know all of this because it’s your life. The short answer, yes.

The long answer I’ll give in an example. I’ve tried like hell to buy tooling and gauges on the cheap and even used in some instances. But two weeks ago I call JGS and get 2 reamers and 1 go gauge....$500. So just to put that in perspective, the first chamber job for just tooling barely covers the cost of the chamber job. So you don’t make any money on until chamber #2....that’s not counting machine, other gauges/tooling needed or shop overhead.

So yes, worth every penny. Plus, it’s still extremely hard for me to get a single barrel done in one 8-10 hour day.

Thanks guys. I’ve got a cut off and rechamber a 6 dasher barrel to do tomorrow and next week I really need to figure out which 30 cal barrel I want to do.

Walter - it’s not far off, I don’t like flat stringy groups like above....two choices put a little more powder to it or mess with seating depth, not due which I’ll go. With 26 rounds down it, it really just needs shot more than anything.

How many rounds does it take to break in a new barrel?

All has to do with bearing surface of the bullet, and powder charge.

A little 55 gr .224" on a soft load, in a .223 will take more rounds to season in.

By contrast, I've had a 28 Nosler in the shop that I loaded with 195 EOLs, and a stout slow burn charge. It sped up in less than 40 rounds. They all speed up, but some take 200 rounds, such as a 6.5 Creedmoor or .260 Rem. I hate new barrels, and don't really like virgin brass. Both are keeping you from seeing what the rifle can really do. Shoot, clean, repeatedly is a waste of time. Clean it, foul it, find the best load, then shoot it a whole bunch more.