Barrel Manufacturing

− Quality control begins before the steel has left the mills. Upon receipt of Mill Test certificates we independently verify the specifications through outside testing. The steel is then issued with a batch number.

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− Steel is cut to various lengths depending on the type of barrel being manufactured from 24″ Sako to 31½” target barrels. At this stage, the barrel is stamped with its batch number.

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− Blanks are loaded into computer controlled electric fired stress relieving ovens and soaked in a controlled environment for a total heat up/cool down cycle of 21 hours. The program cycle is determined by the data from the test certificates.

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− Barrels are cleaned, faced and centered. Every piece of barrel steel is inspected and a decision made as to which end will be the muzzle and which the chamber. All work from here on starts from one end of the piece of steel.

− Deep hole drilling is conducted on a Howe twin spindle machine using a single flute drill where the barrel spins and the drill remains stationary except for being fed forward at a feed rate of 2/10″ to 5/10″ of a thousandth of an inch per revolution while the barrel spins between 2000 and 6000 rpm dependent on calibre. High pressure cutting fluid is supplied to the drill at up to 1600 PSI (11,000 kPa)

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− Drills from .161″ to 28 mm are used for barrel and action manufacture and some limited engineering work not associated with firearms, deep hole drilling being a specialty of T.S.E.

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− At this stage, the barrel blank is stress relieved again and cleaned thoroughly.

− Reaming a few more thousandths of an inch from the inside of the barrel brings the final internal dimension to size. The barrel now is held stationery while the reamer is rotated and pulled through giving a mirror like finish. Pressure cutting oil, fed up the inside of the reamer, flushes out the swarf as the reamer does its job.

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− A barrel is cleaned and inspected again by hand. This can happen up to 16 times before the customer gets it.

− Button Rifling commences when the barrel is once again cleaned and solvent dried. Then, it is lubricated with a Teflon suspension which goes in wet and is allowed to dry. A double button system is used at T.S.E. where the rifling section is some .011″ bigger than the reamed hole in the piece of steel and the following smoothing (or burnishing) section just touches the top of the lands after they are swaged into the barrel.

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− A hydraulic ram pushes the button through the barrel, while the push rod is turned at the twist rate required.

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− From here we clean again and then inspect the quality of the work completed. The barrel is then stress relieved again and another clean, before another inspection and saturation in rust preventative.

− The CNC not only does the job faster without an operator but is consistently more accurate on the sizing and less stress is created by the infinite ability to adjust speeds and feeds of the carbide cutter to match the steel and profiles being produced. We have programmed into the CNC hundreds of modern, historic, and obsolete profiles and are constantly adding more as new profiles are requested and encountered.

- Lapping a firearm barrel is a process that uses an abrasive to smooth out the interior surface, which helps to reduce fouling and improve accuracy. It removes minor imperfections, burrs, and tight spots, creating a more consistent and polished bore. At TSE, we do this by hand.

− Linishing of the exterior is conducted by hand and this finish cuts down the work needed while fitting as only a touch-up is needed before bluing or final polishing.

− Barrels then go through a final inspection before being packed with care and posted to customers, dealers and armorers. This includes measuring the bore for consistency, final visual inspection of the internals with a bore camera and ensuring that the barrel matches the customers order and specifications.

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− The barrel is then issued with a serial number, which is recorded and supplied with its warranty card. If a rifle is built in-house the serial number is engraved at the bottom of the barrel under the stock line, and the cartridge it was chambered for engraved on the left-hand side of the barrel.