South Bend heavy 10 for barrel work

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Bobby Bailey
Posts: 10
Joined: Sun Dec 12, 2010 6:56 pm
Location: upper southwest Arkansas

South Bend heavy 10 for barrel work

Post by Bobby Bailey »

Will a South Bend 10L, (heavy 10) with D1-4 spindle and 3 1/2' bed, be good for barrel work and general gunsmithing. Chambering, crowning, etc. I know a 4 1/2' bed would work great, but the shorter beds are easier to find. Since most of this work can be done thru the headstock, is bed length that needed ?
Bobby
Al_Messer
Posts: 2664
Joined: Sat Jan 04, 2003 7:12 pm
Location: Mid Tenn.

Re: South Bend heavy 10 for barrel work

Post by Al_Messer »

I don't see why it wouldn't be suitable, just look at what the late Harry Pope used to turn out his fantastic barrels. Now days, his lathe would prrobably be considered a piece of junk but his barrels set some rcords that still stand 100 years later.

Al
Al Messer

"One nation, under God"
hammermill
Posts: 2938
Joined: Sun Jun 27, 2010 10:43 pm
Location: pendleton or

Re: South Bend heavy 10 for barrel work

Post by hammermill »

look at the size of the spindle thru hole is it big enough?? many blanks can go up to 2 inches, is the ditance between centers long enough 26 to 32 inch barrels are not uncomom and longer if you are into blackpowder, i am refering to the distance between the head stock and tail stocks with centers installed, that tailstock can eat up 10 inches to a foot of bed.
Wayne Shaw
Posts: 41
Joined: Thu Feb 28, 2008 5:55 pm
Location: VA

Re: South Bend heavy 10 for barrel work

Post by Wayne Shaw »

Bobby, Some consider the heavy 10 to be the best barrel lathe. I am not that familiar with them, never owned one, but I know they are used by many top notch benchrest smiths.

With a D1-4 mount you don't have the issue of a screwed on chuck. Be sure of the spindle bore size. If the spindle bore is 1.35 as a minimum,you can do almost all "normal" barrels. Yes there are bigger, but until you find someone shooting 1000 yards or the like, the 1.35 bore will be fine.

Just about all smiths order barrel blanks contoured to what they want. Turning down long barrel blanks aint easy, lots of chatter issues. So with that in mind, if you get blanks contoured, the bed length really isn't an issue. Working through the headstock takes care of that.

I have a 40" lathe, and I "finish" the barrel in the lathe. Depending on who you get the barrel from, it could come quite well finished, or rough turned. Sanding, filing, then certain polishing can be done, but usually isn't necessary. For a modest purchase, you can get a barrel spinner where you can do all this finishing stuff using a buffing wheel and such, and not use the lathe.

So if you find a short bed heavy 10, that has a D1-4 mount, has a good spindle bore, and the ways aren't worn out, don't pass it up. It should do fine.
JoeCB
Posts: 55
Joined: Thu Dec 23, 2010 7:34 pm
Location: Farmington Hills, MI

Re: South Bend heavy 10 for barrel work

Post by JoeCB »

I believe that the spindle bore on the SB heavy 10 is the same as on my SB 13" ... that is 1.385 ". this will accomodate a 5-C collet using the external draw bar thread.
Not 100% sure, but pretty sure!!

Joe B
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