Thread: 22lr Barrel Chopping Question.

The off centre bores are easily crowned true to the bore but tend to look a bit shit as it leaves an uneven ring between the crown and barrel. If you thread it the muzzle will look good and the suppressor hides the mismatch quite well.

Yes - thread that J!-15 and install a screw-on suppressor. No-one will notice the off centre and you will have a reliable , cheap rifle.

Originally Posted by madjon_

Binned the whole project when the off center bore reared its ugly head.Later modle shit jw15

I recall seeing a genuine Belguin BLR in .243 in Buckleys sports shop in Timaru that was way more off centre than that one...be interesting where it ended up...would be somewhat challenging if anyone decided to suppress

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

I recall seeing a genuine Belguin BLR in .243 in Buckleys sports shop in Timaru that was way more off centre than that one...be interesting where it ended up...would be somewhat challenging if anyone decided to suppress

Surely fake news, everyone knows that the Belgium guns were much better than the made in Japan ones.

Originally Posted by AR7

Hi some 22 lr,s shoot better with a shorter barrel ie stiffer , less wag
most ammo will fly slower but @ certain lengths they even fly faster than when shot via a long barrel
From what ive read and tested even 12 inches [300mm ] is long enough .to get these little critters down the line
Care is needed to recrown and thread the shortened barrel to get the best results ..
Cheers to All

Yeah you are right there mate, my 12" and 22" .22s give the same velocity with the same ammo. They are about 10fps apart

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

I recall seeing a genuine Belguin BLR in .243 in Buckleys sports shop in Timaru that was way more off centre than that one...be interesting where it ended up...would be somewhat challenging if anyone decided to suppress

It happens, my shilen barrel on my tikka that came profiled from the shilen factory is slightly off centre, only by a little bit though 1mm or less

Originally Posted by NewbieZAR

It happens, my shilen barrel on my tikka that came profiled from the shilen factory is slightly off centre, only by a little bit though 1mm or less

It seems the JW15 barrel makers have perfected the off centre bore. They do it so well and consistently.

Originally Posted by outlander

It seems the JW15 barrel makers have perfected the off centre bore. They do it so well and consistently.

Haha yup, i have had a JW15 that was way off in the past too. once i cut it to 12" it was very visible. it was very accurate though, silly me sold it

A couple of thoughts: off centre bore in the 22LR does not mean off centre from benchrest at 50m. Quite common for JWs to be a little off centre, and one of mine was well off. But.. it was an excellent wee shooter capable of 0.4s at best at 50, and averaging in 0.5s for four consec groups. The others were all similar.

The other thought - we have done alot of barrel chops at home - esp Norincos where it didn't matter much to experiment. Barrel in the vice, measure 14, 15, 16" (what ever you wish), mark barrel and hacksaw it off. Then finish saw cut with fine grinder and wet and dry. Then find a brass round-head screw - larger than .22 bore, fit it into electric drill, apply lapping compound or fine grinding paste, and begin to work brass screw into bore. Rotate it, move it around. Keeping doing this until you have a neat little bevel/crown, then check bore/new crown thoroughly with cotton buds to ensure no burrs. Does it work efficiently - yes 100% so far. All of those (10-12) Norincos shot very well after this home chop and recrown. My estimate from 20-30 barrel chops (by ourselves and gunsmith) would be shorter 15-16" recrowned barrels are slightly more accurate on average.

If you have a mechanical bent this chop and home recrown is easy. I'd leave it to your inexpensive rifles but - Norincos etc. Good to see data above confirming same velocities for chopped and standard 22 barrels. That's our experience in field. I'm a great fan of little carbine length 22s with precise 100m accuracy. My little off-centre bore, chopped, 15" JW bottom of photo below - in pic of team rifles used on a 1000 bunny shoot evening - Mmmmmmm.. Deadly.



Bottom pic (if it shows) is some semis.. though Rugers dropped out. Stock 10/22s not accurate enough for 60-100m shooting.