[art luppino]

During lunch with the late Bill Bassett in Drripping Springs, Texas, which is a old Texas Town close to Austin and getting closer every minute. Bill Bassett, a Benchrest shooter of some repute, at least in Dripping Springs, related this tale.

Packing his hand built BR rifle into his VW Bus headed North to participe in a Match in which some heavy hitters were scheduded to display how the Big Boy's do it.

Bill was informed the barrel on his riflle exceeded the overall lenght rule, being the leading Machinist in Dripping Spring, Texas, Bill solved the problem quiickly. Holding the barrel with one hand whille hacksawing with the other brought the barrel into acceptable lenght.

Bill did not win the Match, but placed, the real reward, as he stated, " Was answering the importance of Muzzle Crowning importance"... Art

 

[Dougboffl]

Can only imagine the looks on everyone's faces when a guy starts hacksawwing his barrel, LOL

 

[M14wannabe]

Art I have heard stories of special forces guys useing less than scientific techniques to cut down weapons but before some body decides to turn his m1a standard into a 16 inch socom ,I just want to ask .You are talking about the Bill Bassett designer of the Bassett mount ?

 

[XM25Ren]

Art I have heard stories of special forces guys useing less than scientific techniques to cut down weapons but before some body decides to turn his m1a standard into a 16 inch socom ,I just want to ask .You are talking about the Bill Bassett designer of the Bassett mount ?

Yes.

 

[POLACK]

bet that hurt

 

[M14wannabe]

Hey I'm just sayin ,Bill Bassett with a hack saw could probabally do things a regular guy can't . I have lots of respect for Art Luppino and own a Bassett mount that I enjoy . So I hope my question didn't come out like I was being disrespectful at all . But if anyone other than Art ( as that is who my question was to ) was offended ya can kiss my butt ,if ya weren't offended you should have been a little more polite actually the both of ya . If that hurts tough man up .

 

[innocent bystander]

Hey I'm just sayin ,Bill Bassett with a hack saw could probabally do things a regular guy can't . I have lots of respect for Art Luppino and own a Bassett mount that I enjoy . So I hope my question didn't come out like I was being disrespectful at all . But if anyone other than Art ( as that is who my question was to ) was offended ya can kiss my butt ,if ya weren't offended you should have been a little more polite actually the both of ya . If that hurts tough man up .

Just an observation from a third party observer here: your question didn't come out as disrespectful at all, but this reply did. To my reading, someone answered yes to your question then someone else commented on how it must have hurt to have to hacksaw a barrel. If it assumed that these replies came because you somehow offended others, maybe we need to reexamine where the estrogen lies in this thread. It's not always about you.

 

[Phil “Murphy” McGrath]

But if anyone other than Art ( as that is who my question was to ) was offended ya can kiss my butt ,if ya weren't offended you should have been a little more polite actually the both of ya . If that hurts tough man up .

What are you dithering about, XM25Ren and POLACK's reply? Take a deep breath, maybe switch too some decaf and reread the posts, there not out of context so lets not twist them into something that isn't...

 

[innocent bystander]

What are you dithering about, XM25Ren and POLACK's reply? Take a deep breath, maybe switch too some decaf and reread the posts, there not out of context so lets not twist them into something that isn't...

heh heh, I haven't seen someone use 'dithering' in a complete sentence in years. Gold Star AND a smiley face on your report card today Phil!

 

[smoothy8500]

I had linked an article that tested results of crown damage. It appears that crown damage does not create "gross inaccuracy":
http://m14forum.com/accuracy/193277-crown-condition-overrated.html

 

[M14wannabe]

You guys are right ,sorry didn't mean to be butt head it's just that my breasts are tender since my estrogen shots huh I didn't say that out loud did I mean I'm a man a real man a m freekin 1a shooting man.seriously sorry bout takin anything wrong I just been watching too many westerns . Lol ok .

 

[art luppino]

Bill Bassett

Art I have heard stories of special forces guys useing less than scientific techniques to cut down weapons but before some body decides to turn his m1a standard into a 16 inch socom ,I just want to ask .You are talking about the Bill Bassett designer of the Bassett mount ?

Yes, the one an only, he did make the Bassett mounts, I think his Son took over... Art

 

[M1A's r BEST]

Quite often, something happens (good/bad, doesn't matter) and people will try to understand why it happened. It's sort of like betting on a ball game. Some will win (be right, or nearly so) and some will lose (be wrong.) Even those who chose/decided correctly might not really understand why, they just guessed right.

Now, this happened to me.

I think an M1 looks sort of naked (after 30 years or so of carrying/using an M14 and M1A). So, when I found a really good shooting old M1 Garand I bought one of those flash suppressors that replaces the gas lock and installed it.

Then I went shooting. Whoa!! The darn thing was shooting about 8" high at 25 meters. I cranked down on the sight. No change in POI. Decent group, just not change in where the bullets were hitting the paper. I cranked down on the sight again. Shot another group. Just making the hole bigger 8" above POA. Darn. What is going on. Crank down again, ran out of adjustment room and shot another group. No change in POI.

That's just downright crazy. The sight moved down, I made sure, I cranked up, cranked it back down, shot another group. Still no change in POI.

I get to looking the rifle over and find copper/jacket smears on the bottom "fingers" of the flash suppressor. Well, how can the bullets be striking the flash suppressor and not be getting flung all over the paper?

I gave up for the day (with the M1). When I got home I took the flash suppressor off and got a better look at it. I put it back on, ran a cleaning rod down the barrel and I was pretty sure I could "see" the misalignment.

I removed the flash suppressor again, got out my 1/2" drill, got a 5/8" drill bit, laid the flash suppressor on the back steps and proceeded to drill (hog) out the flash suppressor from the outlet/tips as far back as the drill would reach. I kept at it, just angling that big drill bit every which way to remove more metal from the bottom "fingers" than from the top. I touched it up with some flat black spray paint and reinstalled it.

That rifle is my shooter M1. It shoots rings around my M1A (with NM barrel). When people see the groups I shoot with pulled (and some new Hornady) 150 grain FMJ bullets and IMR 4895 they ask me if it's a "match rifle."

Heck, maybe I'm just lucky and did all that drilling and hogging of metal just right as the flash suppressor was held down on the step by my left foot while I aligned the drill with my Mk 1 eyeball.

Sometimes, we might be better off if we checked out some things for ourselves vs. taking what we read/hear as gospel.

 

[Dougboffl]

M1A's r BEST,

Good point, like they say, a broke clock is right twice a day. I think sometimes (in all kinds of things not just guns) there are just way too many variables with interplay between themselves, and sometimes the stars align. Other times the variables are much fewer and all it takes is getting a big wrong one corrected.

I read like others, a bad crown will send gases all katywhompus and push the bullet funny. Bill Bassett had a fresh (really fresh) finish on his muzzle that day. Likewise M1A's r BEST had removed all contact with exiting rounds. Would an enlarged & recessed crown be of value, for example boring the last 1" of a .308 barrel to maybe 1/2"ID? Has it ever been tried or is this the same idea as some muzzle devices?

 

[ekaphoto]

A local gunsmith told me about crowns.

He had a gun in his hunting camp with a big gouge in the crown, shot just fine. Another time he built a rifle and suddenly the groups opened up. look fine with the eye so he looked at the crown with a magnifier. Small dent in the right spot. Did a recrown and gun shot sub MOA again.

Lesson here.......it depends.

 

[M1A's r BEST]

I can see where a dent/gouge in the crown in just the right spot - so that it affects a land or maybe even a groove exactly at the exit of the barrel could affect a bullet. At least it wouldn't surprise me.

I have two .357 SIG pistols. A Glock M31 and a S&W M&P FS. The ammo that shot (as decent as a Glock will shoot) alright in my M31 tumbles like a lopsided football in the M&P, even at 8 or 10 yds. People told me to get the muzzle recrowned so I did. No effect. It still tumbles those rounds. Now some it doesn't tumble, but the M31 shot all of them (couple different loads with 124 grain hollow points) without tumbling.

Funny stuff sometimes. If you don't understand exactly what is wrong then what you do to fix it might help, or it might not.

I used to work for a big chemical company. When the process went south several knobs would get turned. When the process straightened out again no one was ever interested in trying to figure out which knob turning helped and which knob turning had no effect. Science. Gotta love it.

 

[lysander]

I had linked an article that tested results of crown damage. It appears that crown damage does not create "gross inaccuracy":
http://m14forum.com/accuracy/193277-crown-condition-overrated.html

It can change the POI significantly, not necessarily the accuracy.