Thread: Barrel lining/ sleeving.

Seems to be a common thing in the states but I've never heard it mentioned here or seen any guns done.

Is there anyone that does it? I assume the original barrel is spill bored or reamed, then the sleeve sweated in. Could do it myself if I made the tooling... but for a one off...

The patient is an '18 vintage enfield 303, both ends of the tube are pretty shagged. Could send it to get reamed deeper and set it back a turn but it's pretty skinny as is.

Other thought was sleeve to 303-25.

From what I have seen , sleeve is usually done for low power cartridges like 22 lr, and 25 and 32 calibre cowboy calibres ,often in single shot or lever action rifles.
Unless you were going to shoot trailboss and cast lead projectiles in your 25-303 I am not sure it would work.

But wait to see if some more knowledgeable guys from the forum have a different view on the subject.

Had a BSA single shot .22WMR sleeved to .17HMR

Sleeving was a common enough practice in NZ, starting in the 1920's with English tubes by A G Parker (Parkerifling) but after WW2 the demand had dropped off because the smokeless ammunition had been in use for many years and rusted out barrels were no longer a problem. I started doing it in the 1970's using US tubes from Brownel'ls but haven't done one in the last 10 years. As Friwi has mentioned, only low power rounds can be sleeved (rimfires and some of the old black powder rounds). Rebarreling is the only course of action for your old .303. New barrels are available at a price but good used barrels are still turning up at far lower prices (I still have a couple).

Originally Posted by gundoc

Sleeving was a common enough practice in NZ, starting in the 1920's with English tubes by A G Parker (Parkerifling) but after WW2 the demand had dropped off because the smokeless ammunition had been in use for many years and rusted out barrels were no longer a problem. I started doing it in the 1970's using US tubes from Brownel'ls but haven't done one in the last 10 years. As Friwi has mentioned, only low power rounds can be sleeved (rimfires and some of the old black powder rounds). Rebarreling is the only course of action for your old .303. New barrels are available at a price but good used barrels are still turning up at far lower prices (I still have a couple).

I'd be happy to make this BP only. It kinda already is.
I'd much rather keep the exterior all original (such as it is... sporterised :/)
Sell your best barrel?

you can get all the stuff from brownells for resleeving a barrel. basically the rifling is drilled out and the new barrel is glued inside. yes, it sounds hokey but it works. i did it on a marlin .22 and it shot better than when it was new. also works on revolver chambers and barrels.