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Unread 11-02-2016, 09:31 AM   #12
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B. Dudley
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I must have just been speaking with the wrong people then. I have been in communication with a number of machine shops over the last couple years or about the possibility of CNC matting ribs. They all either have no clue as to how to do it, or are scared off by the concave aspect of it. Obvously it can be done. The repros were cnc matted (straight, not tapered) and i am sure Galazan is doing the few new parkers built the same way. If i am not mistaken, anything Brad's shop has is from the failed Simmons Parker barrel making project. And my last discussions about matting a concave rib wih simmons turned the same hesitant answer.

Reprofiling original ribs may well be a good option, especially since the fact that they are being re-matted requires removing worn or pitted matting to start with. But some ribs may not tolerate re-profiling. Likely the best way to be able to consistently rework original barrels is to replace the ribs with new and then profile and matte.

The Parker matting machines at the factory did not profile the ribs. This was either a separate operation (as outlined in American machinist), or yhe ribs were pre-profiled. As evidenced by the box of original parker ribs that i have here in my shop. Some are flat and some are concave. Maybe they still ran a profiling operation on all ribs once installed on barrels regardless of the beginning state. But, either way, there was a large variation in contours possible on barrel sets. The original mechanical machines likely may have been adaptable to a changing surface as it ran.
I do know one of the gunsmiths that worked at the Lefever Arms operation and he ran the Parker machine they had a lot. He still owns guns of his own that he matted with the machine. In our discussions of the operation of the machine, this is one factor of it that we did not discuss. i will have to ask him.
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