How to Crown and Chamfer a Rifle Barrel Muzzle

If your old faithful hunting rifle suddenly starts slinging slugs hither & yon, it might be time to check the crown. Any number of things can cause crown damage, including steel cleaning rods or allowing it to contact other hard objects such as stones (say, if you slip while hunting). When buying a used rifle, always closely examine the crown for any signs of damage.

In this tech video from Brownells, Steve Ostrem shows viewers how to crown a rifle barrel. What’s the crown, you ask? It’s the extreme forward end of the rifling out at the muzzle, and because it’s the last place the bullet touches before it leaves the firearm and begins its flight, any imperfection can cause accuracy problems.

Steps involved in re-crowning a gun barrel:

Use a hacksaw to chop it off ONLY if the rifling is damaged down inside the muzzle
Smooth it off with a file (if you cut it off)
Square it off with a muzzle squaring tool (if you cut it off)
Select the chamfering tool that matches your desired crown (narrow 45 degrees or wide 11 degrees)
Select pilot to match your rifle bore size
Lap it to remove fine burrs and scratches
Smooth and/or round the outside diameter of the muzzle

It’s not that difficult… but I recommend examining the crown closely with a strong magnifying lens, to ensure good uniformity. I’ve cut a few crowns, and sometimes metal burrs can form next to the rifling lands… you don’t want that, so lap them off if they occur.

That’s about it!

Russ Chastain

Editor & Contributing Writer Russ Chastain is a lifelong hunter and shooter who has spent his life learning about hunting, shooting, guns, ammunition, gunsmithing, reloading, and bullet casting. He started toting his own gun in the woods at age nine and he's pursued deer with rifles since 1982, so his hunting knowledge has been growing for more than three and a half decades. His desire and ability to share this knowledge with others has also grown, and Russ has been professionally writing and editing original hunting & shooting content since 1998. Russ Chastain has a passion for sharing accurate, honest, interesting hunting & shooting knowledge and stories with people of all skill levels.