ACE Barrels

ACE Barrels Co designed in-house equipment using the latest in available technology and years of experience developed in the Tool and Die as well as the Gunsmith industries. With state-of-the-art equipment at hand, process development began by taking every detail into account to optimize the process for quality and repeatability. Numerous test barrels were produced and evaluated at the range after each change to the process and equipment until the desired results were produced. Even from the beginning of process development the equipment design, along with careful planning, yielded great initial results. A testament to these results can be seen in the groups shot by even their earliest barrels.

​The Process

Each barrel blank ACE Barrels Co produces starts as a piece of gun barrel quality steel complete with a certificate to verify the material properties and provide complete traceability for each barrel blank produced.
Lengths of steel are then cut and prepped for the gun drill to ensure the drilling process produces a clean hole with minimal run-out. Prior to using each drill and reamer in production they are qualified on a test barrel and checked for dimensions, run-out, and surface finished.
The blanks are then drilled and checked for run-out prior to being reamed. After reaming, each barrel is quality inspected using a dial bore gauge for the internal diameter and visually inspected using a bore scope.
Barrels are then smooth bore lapped with 220 grit to leave a smooth finish for the rifling process. After lapping, each barrel is inspected again using a dial bore gauge and bore scope. Any barrels that do not pass the requirements of this step do not continue onto the rifling process.
Rifling occurs on Ace’s in-house designed and built CNC rifling machine using in-house developed cutter head technology. One of the many keys to the high quality and repeatable process is the research and development that has gone into the cutter head design and process. The robust and high precision design of the cutter heads gives industry leading repeatability in the rifling process and the fine adjustment needed to hold precise tolerances from muzzle to breach. Each barrel is inspected with a dial bore gauge for groove diameter and visually inspected with a bore scope prior to moving to the finish lap process.
After the rifling inspection is complete, every barrel is finish lapped with 320 grit before the final inspection. Final inspect includes a dial bore gauge for final dimensions of the grooves and bore scope to verify uniformity in the finish.
Barrel blanks that pass the final inspection are then contoured following a strict procedure based on the contour selected to ensure no stress is imparted into the material as part of this step in the process. Finally, barrel blanks are polished to 180 grit and prepared for shipment pending a full review of the Batch Record for each individual barrel.