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MACHINING FIREARM COMPONENTS
Supplied by Allied Machine & Engineering
The firearm industry has made major advancements from its earliest known ancestor, the fire lance—a bamboo tube containing
gunpowder as well as pellets or pottery shards that could be ignited to eject a stream of flames with the projectiles. With centuries of advancements, modern firearms now make up an ever-growing industry with nearly 40 million firearms sold in the United States in 2020 according to USA Today. The progression of this industry can be traced back to the precision machining process. From surface finish to tool life to material used, machining firearm components relies heavily on efficiency and accuracy.
Previously, when machining firearms, some processes were manual or utilized numerous different tools; however, as tooling innovations have developed, the process of machining has evolved. Oftentimes, tools now are far superior to those used in previous firearm production methods. This provides the opportunity to combine operations into a single cutting tool, eliminating the need for additional tooling in the machine shop. In addition,
new innovations in tooling provide manufacturers with a better output like improved surface finish or decreased cycle time. Nevertheless, there is still a need to work toward standardizing tooling in the firearm industry. While manufacturers often have their own take on radius, angle change, etc., standardization is becoming more common. For example, a standard reamer could be used for all one-inch diameter holes in an AR upper receiver; however, there could still be a delay in acquiring the tools if specific reamers are needed because of the needs of different specs.
Holemaking and hole finishing are part of the machining process for numerous firearm components. One example of this would be revolver cylinders, which in some cases require a three step process: pre drill, pre ream and finish ream. Form is critical throughout these applications because it must match the bullet casing. Other firearm components that need holemaking and hole finishing applications include AR upper receivers, gas blocks and bolt carriers, which house the firing pin and bolt itself.
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