Victor3,
You've posted that you like to cut things on your lathe! ......
Why not cut an HMR barrel at 19 inches? And a Long Rifle barrel at 16 1/4"? I'd would consider cutting my LR barrels to 15 inches and even 14 inches if those were legal lengths, myself.
I'd probably cut a .17 M2 bbl to match the HMR length, not that I'd ever [seriously] want to own a .17 M2 (unless if I hunted squirrels back east somehwere and only made headshots, perhaps then I would :wink: ).
The .22 WMR would find a place in my rack before an M2 however.
And if you don't mind saying V3 ...... What kind of lathe do you have? Is is some kind of hobbyist model? Or a big full-size one?
I'd like to get a hobby-lathe myself.
I may cut the .223 and 17HMR I just bought (Haven't picked up yet), but I think it may be wise to shoot them first. You never know - One of them might be the Holy Grail 1/4 MOA H&R as is (Or with only minor tweaks). If not, then I'll evaluate the benefits of shortening based on how they handle.
I do like short rifles, but the H&Rs (As many have noted) are already pretty short as is. Probably best not to go cutting without some thought and field/range testing first.
I have a full-size Lathe and mill (Clausing lathe, Bridgeport mill). I got spoiled working for 20 years as a machinist, and was able to get the machines fairly cheap. The lathe only cost me $500 through my old company when they bought out another machine shop. There are some good deals to be found on the larger machines if you look around, and they are far superior to the hobby machines if one can afford them and has the space. Some of the hobby machines are neat, but a bit limited as to the size of parts you can make on them.
