What follows is a brief lifting of the lid on the workshops at Border Barrels and the people who spend their working day here. The most important part of any company is the people who work there and that is no different at Border Barrels. So this brief tour will concentrate on the guys and gals who devote their time to making you the best rifle barrels that it is possible to make. Enjoy!

Jenny runs the company. A wise boss finds himself an efficient secretary and lets her get on with it! Jenny also handles the packing and shipping and has been with the company almost ten years now. But Jenny is not a shooter - golf is Jenny's passion and in fair weather or foul, she enjoys the challenges of Newcastleton, Langholm and other Borders hill courses.

This is the face behind the voice on the phone for anyone interested in custom rifles or IOR scopes (for whom Border Barrels are the UK agents). Lee is also a keen shooter, coming in 9th in the recent 'F' Class World Championships individuals. He is also one of three Border Barrels employees who were members of the UK team that won the World Championship against all comers. Despite his successes in target shooting, Lee likes nothing better than being out on the hill shooting deer/fox/rabbit/crow and challenging distances with a variety of rifles he has built himself. There can be few people who are better qualified to advise customers on the best rifle combination for any target or game shooting requirement.

Gordon is the general Workshop Supervisor, and also runs the production barrel shop as his special area of responsibility. Gordon is a keen target and game shooter (as most Border Barrels employees). He is standing next to one of two CNC lathes on which all our barrels are contoured. The self centering steady, which stops the barrel bending and vibrating while the cut is being taken, can be seen near the cutter at the right hand end of the barrel.

"Whatever you make in life, you have to start with a hole." So said Ernie Stallman of Badger Barrels and it is Bob who starts off the barrel making operation by cutting and preparing the steel, then drilling the hole along its length. Bob is due to retire at the end of this year. He enjoys pottering in his garden and being taken for a walk by his Border Terrier.
The drill Bob is running is probably the only Archdale gundrill still in existence. The rough finish on this example is evidence that is was built in a hurry during WWII to meet the demand for barrels during that conflict. After the war, a lot of machinery became idle and Geoffrey found this one sitting in a field not too many miles from the old site of the Archdale factory in Worcester, in the South of England. Geoffrey spent a few years lovingly restoring this machine, and now runs the day long, drilling barrels.

Adam is the second youngest employee at Border Barrels, but his youth has been no impediment to him excelling in the sport of 'F' Class shooting. Adam is the current European champion, and is the second of the three Border Barrels members in the World Championship winning UK team.
Adam is standing next to one of three AEW 'Viceroy' horizontal milling machines which we use to flute barrels, Each is equipped with a special jig for supporting the barrel while a flute is cut in a single pass.
Behind Adam is the button rifling machine, built for Border Barrels by Arthur Smith of Arms Restoration Services. See the article "The Making of a Rifled Barrel" to see this machine in more detail.

Whenever plastic deformation takes place in steel, there will be stresses induced. So, after the barrels have been button rifled, it is necessary to remove these stresses before the barrels can be contoured. This is a 15kW oven which takes the steel up to almost 600°C and then allows them to 'furnace cool' slowly overnight, so they are ready for contouring the next day.

Les is in charge of our custom rifle department, and barrel replacement jobs are also in his province. Les is an enthusiastic 'F' Class shooter and has started making his own bullets!
The lathe Les is standing next to is the newest machine in Border Barrels. Indeed, Les is still finding his way around it. The big lathe gives the flexibility of being able to do some jobs that the usual 'workhorse' Harrison M1000 lathes are just too small to handle.

The Harrison M1000 lathe that Gary is standing next to is one of several in use at Border Barrels and the general 'workhorse' lathe. They are an ideal 'gunsmith lathe' in that they are long enough to do chambering or muzzle threading without putting the barrel through the head of the machine, but light enough that it does not need a man and a boy to lift off the chuck/tailstock/steady.

Along with Lee and Adam, Dan (Adam's brother) was the third Border Barrels man in the winning UK 'F' Class World Championship team. Dan has the distinction of which very few other shooters can boast - he rifled the barrel he shoots. Dan is in charge of our cut rifled custom barrel department.
Dan is standing behind a Pratt & Whitney ½B30 hydraulic rifling machine. Originally built in 1939, this was the first machine Geoffrey acquired to start the company. In the background, the distinctive hoops of two Pratt & Whitney 'Universal' Sine Bar rifling machines can be seen. These machines were originally made in 1895. Yes, that is not a typo, they are 115 years old. Starting out their service life in the Springfield factory, they were brought over to Europe following WWI and spent many years making barrels at the Shultz & Larsen factory in Denmark. When that company folded in the mid 1990's, the machines were acquired and - being in a rather 'tired' condition - were rebuilt. The sharp eyed will see a glimpse of another rifling machine in the bottom right hand corner of the photo. This is a German 'Werner' twin spindle machine which needs restoring. It will probably be used for .22 rimfire barrel production.