X-Caliber Premium Rifle Barrels - The Process

08/16/2019

The Process

X-Caliber Barrel & MFG uses state-of-the-art deep-hole drilling equipment to turn cold-rolled steel bar-stock into the straightest, most concentric and precise rifle barrels possible.

It all starts with our drill. This is part of the secret to our success, and since it’s not feasible to make an accurate barrel out of crooked bore, we invested in premium bleeding-edge technology in drilling the preliminary hole in the bar stock, starting off the barrel the right way.

From there, the drilled blank gets reamed and honed, then pre-lapped with a proprietary synthetic gem-stone amalgam compound that normalizes the interior surface of the bore before we impart any rifling into it.

All of our barrels are button-pulled as the means of imparting actual rifling inside the bore. We don’t just use any button, but custom-cut, dual-bevel Ti-Al-N buttons that minimize stress and maintain extremely consistent results. And our button-puller is a one-of-a-kind, custom designed and engineered piece of equipment, and is several times larger and more powerful than what might be considered “standard” for the industry.

Then, once we’ve given the blank its rifling, it’s off to the nitrogen-purged stress-relieve station, or as the techs call it, “the oven.” Here, once the blanks are in place within the oven, it is sealed and all of the atmosphere inside is purged out with nitrogen to prevent any oxidation or scale from forming while the barrels are slowly heated to a uniform stress relieving temperature of <REDACTED>°F for <REDACTED> hours.

After heat-treat, the blanks head back to be finish-lapped before going off to the rest of their specific pre-determined manufacturing stations. After this stage, the inside of the bore is complete.

Depending on the type of barrel ordered (unturned blank, contoured blank, AR barrel or bolt-action prefit), the blanks then head over to a myriad of other potential stations to get the shank-diameter machined, chambered and headspaced, finish contoured, fluted, action-threaded, muzzle-threaded (if any) and crowned, and then off to final finish and QC inspection. All of our machinists take great pride in uniformity and consistency of the end product. We maintain that if we are putting out barrels with premium accuracy, they should be aesthetically pleasing works of art as well.

The same goes for our muzzle brakes or B.A.R.T. Tools as well. Fit, finish and function are paramount to what we do here.

If selected by the customer, the barrel then heads off to be Cryogentically treated followed by Cerakote coating (again, if selected by the customer).

To see what some of these barrels are capable of, please take a look at some testimonials here.

The X-Caliber Team