Scrapped the crown of my muzzle! What now?

[BIG45-70]

I must not have sipped up my gun case and my rifle fell out and hit the side walk muzzle first. There is a scrape and a little damage on the ridge of the muzzle but not near the rifling, is this a problem??? I don't want to send my rifle to a gunsmith for 3 months.

[Just Duke]

This guy did ours. Turn around one day. HERE
Pop open a cold one it's a long build and to much to post here including range reports.

[Harter66]

I don't see it causing any issue ,unless you get in trouble with the better half for going back to the range to check it out.

Not knowing how far you actually dropped it what it hit on (besides the muzzle) ,there is a possiblity that it could be out of round if ,for example,you dropped it from your lifted bogger tired pickup bed to concrete. You'll be more likely to have just an ugly ding if it was muzzle down in a dirt lot and your 5'2".

My best advice , slug it , you can check it for round and burrs. If it has a burr in it , it can be lapped away fairly simply by you.

I've done several including a cut and crown in deer camp ..........not even going to try to tell the short version.

[BIG45-70]

It was only about a 6 inch drop and drag, but enough to cause some marks and loss of bluing on the rim of the barrel. I'm in Canada and at my location a good smith is really hard to come by.

[mikeystew]

Big, it's really easy. first if its not on the bore edge you really have nothing to worry about as it won't affect accuracy much if anything.
If it's on the outer edge or face of the muzzle it's just a cosmetic repair and you can do it really easily with a strips of oiled emery cloth.

Start by stuffing an earplug in the bore to keep stuff out of it, then have at it with the with fine emery and just press it down on the muzzle with the palm of your hand, but trying not "buff" the actual crown, or inside edge of the muzzle, and sand the face down in circular twisting motions. if you have large ridges you can use a fine bastard file to bring them down.

when you have it evened out, make a few twists with extra fine oiled (penetrating oil) emery cloth till nice and smooth. then push out the earplug from the breech end and clean the snot out of the bore.
degrease the muzzle with carb cleaner or acetone and cold blue it. job done.

If you dinged up the actual crown where the muzzle meets the bore you can lap it with a round headed brass bolt dipped in clover brand fine lapping compound chucked in a drill. you can find a video of larry pottersfield from midway doing it on youtube.

I am also in a fairly remote part of Canada in BC and have had to do it a couple of times. it's a 2 hour drive and a ferry to see a smith for me.

[JeffinNZ]

I used a brass round head bolt to touch up the crown on the Carcano. Sounds really agricultural but it does work.

[wmitty]

JEFFinNZ;

Agricultural as an adjective! Man, I like that! Thanks!

david b.

[DLCTEX]

I totally understood Jeff's reference. Here in Texas we have Aggie jokes, mostly perpetrated by Aggies (Attendees of Texas A&M). An adjustable wrench is called an Aggie wrench because they use them, being unable to read sizes.

[HeavyMetal]

Take a strong magnifiy glass and examine the muzzle area carefully.

If your convinced nothing has touched the inside of the rifling or muzzle area then take care of it as needed.

I bought an 11 degree crowning tool from Brownell's years ago and most of my guns got a re crown. It's amazing what a nice clean crown can do for your group size!

[XWrench3]

there are two things to worry about. 1) if it affected the actual i.d. of the barrel at its end. slugging from the breach will tell you this as it passes through the muzzle. if the boolit is out of round, you are in it deep. and 2) if it is damaged enough that the high speed gas coming out the muzzle will push the bullet in one direction or the other. if just the very outside edge of the barrel is damaged, that is easy. just smooth it out best you can and touch up the blueing. if the i.d. of the barrel has been affected, then the best thing to do unfortunatly is get it to a gunsmith. or, if you are really handy, you may be able to get a tool from midway or brownells that will recrown the barrel. it would probably be at least as expensive as taking the gun to a smith. but in my latest experience, i think i would try to fix it myself. basicly, the muzzle needs to be SQUARE to the bore. and perfectly concentric. the actual shape (radiused, tapered, stepped, etc.) is not nearly as important.

[509thsfs]

I used a brass round head bolt to touch up the crown on the Carcano. Sounds really agricultural but it does work.

Common fix in the C&R world for burrs/nicks on crowns and muzzle. Round headed brass screw chucked into a drill and valve grinding compound. Will take the blueing off the muzzle though.

[RayinNH]

Try shooting it, if no loss in accuracy, reread the above posts to deal with the cosmetics...Ray

[82nd airborne]

+1 with what ray said. no need spending money if it may shoot just as good as before.

[geargnasher]

I used a brass round head bolt to touch up the crown on the Carcano. Sounds really agricultural but it does work.

I like it. Here in the shop we have many favorite terms and phrases for field repairs done by less-than-competent folks. As you might imagine, none of them can be repeated here.

Gear

[KCSO]

IF you do need a recrown buy a hand tool with pilot from either Brownell's or Midway. The cost will be minimal and if you work carefully you can do as good a job as a lathe.

[Changeling]

By any chance can you post a real close up picture?

[JeffinNZ]

I like it. Here in the shop we have many favorite terms and phrases for field repairs done by less-than-competent folks. As you might imagine, none of them can be repeated here.

Gear

Well, farmers are not renown for finesse with tools. My brother was a farm hand for years and his primary tool was a 12lb sledge hammer. I wish I was lying!

[Pirate69]

KCSO has a good idea for you IF YOU HAVE DAMAGE. The crown reamers from Midway or others, are cheap, easy to use and can be used many times. Did 16 Garand crowns before I sent it back to be resharpened ($25). It may be cheaper than a one-time stop at your smith.

[BIG45-70]

I tired to take as detailed a photo as possible, looking at the damage now it doesn't seem to look as bad as I though.

[Centaur 1]

It looks fine to me. Just touch it up with some cold bluing.