I throated an UZI barrel in the most BS way possible and it works great.

[Dirk Hawthorne]

It occurred to me that the chamber end of a mil-spec UZI SMG barrel is kind of crummy for feeding FP rounds. The "funnel" part is too small.

I made some very careful measurements and it turns out that you can open the "funnel" at the breech end of the barrel quite a bit without cutting into the chamber at all.

So I took BWE barrel and used a drill press and a dremel grinding wheel to grind the "feeding cone" out wider.

I had two criteria:
1. NO cutting into the chamber (so I left the bevel between the factory funnel and the chamber intact - See C in the photo)
2. NO shortening of the overall barrel length (so I left part of the flat at the end of the barrel intact - see A in the picture)

Doing this kind of work without the proper equipment is practically guaranteed to just ruin the barrel, but it came out great.

It's not pretty to look at, but IT WORKS FANTASTIC. The barrel feeds EVERYTHING now. My IMI factory barrel only feed RV and conical bullets, but this one feeds literally everything.

The reason that I did the work myself instead of sending it out is because every gunsmith that I ever sent work to made me wait 9+ months. Except, ironically, for the one who did horrible work.

 

[Dirk Hawthorne]

Those photos are:
Before
After, but before emery papering. Note that original chamber is intact.
My BS dremel wheel and drill press method
Finished product installed in gun

 

[Dirk Hawthorne]

I also have a barrel from US Barrel Shrouds which has a HUGE throat and will feed ANYTHING. It will even feed an empty case.

When they sold it to me, they said that it would bulge brass sometimes, which is doubtlessly true, but I haven't observed it yet.

It's actually a really good barrel, it shoots very well. I don't notice any difference between it and my BWE barrel or IMI barrel.

(The dents and abuse on the end of the barrel are from me. For some reason all my UZI barrels are beat to crap on the chamber end.)

 

[Dirk Hawthorne]

I do have the solid billet BWE feed ramp in my Vector, but it doesn't seem to help my IMI factory spec barrel feed all that much better, it still hangs up on FP ammo.

The bigger throat seems to be the answer to feeding problems, it improved my Vector's feeding by 1,000%.

 

[mike]

Nice work!

 

[BobMG]

Looks good, your funnel actually resembles the South African barrels, and I have always thought they feed the best of any I have tried.

 

[dubagel]

You gotta remember, the Uzi was primarily designed to fire FMJ ball rounds. Like the Sig sauer p6 or p226 pistols. Later they changed the feed ramps to feed flat nose or defensive type ammunition.

 

[Dirk Hawthorne]

I just posted this to alert my fellow UZI fans that throating a barrel is a good thing that makes the gun feed 100% better, and can be done without compromising the chamber dimensions.

I'm not boasting about my crazy mad shop skillz, the fact that it came out so good is a complete fluke.

But it probably could be done very easily by someone with a metal lathe that has a big enough chuck for the barrel. It obviously doesn't have to be machined to NASA tolerances, since I managed to make it work with a sears drill press and a dremel bit and two blocks of wood.

 

[Dirk Hawthorne]

You gotta remember, the Uzi was primarily designed to fire FMJ ball rounds. Like the Sig sauer p6 or p226 pistols. Later they changed the feed ramps to feed flat nose or defensive type ammunition.

yes, of course.

A military 124 grain FMJ 9mm is has a bullet shape that is practically ideal for smooth feeding, so why would they bother putting a big throat on the barrel? The stock SMG barely even has a feed ramp.

 

[Generalzip]

I just posted this to alert my fellow UZI fans that throating a barrel is a good thing that makes the gun feed 100% better, and can be done without compromising the chamber dimensions.

I'm not boasting about my crazy mad shop skillz, the fact that it came out so good is a complete fluke.

But it probably could be done very easily by someone with a metal lathe that has a big enough chuck for the barrel. It obviously doesn't have to be machined to NASA tolerances, since I managed to make it work with a sears drill press and a dremel bit and two blocks of wood.

Appreciate you posting this. I bought a machined feed ramp thinking this was the answer but I’m not sure who to do the work with Richard’s passing and sounds like it may not even fix the problem anyway. I hope us barrel shrouds posts some more FBI FA barrels soon!

 

[Remo Williams 1]

Appreciate you posting this. I bought a machined feed ramp thinking this was the answer but I’m not sure who to do the work with Richard’s passing and sounds like it may not even fix the problem anyway. I hope us barrel shrouds posts some more FBI FA barrels soon!

GZ, there is a guy on Facebook that post on the Uzi Owners/Enthusiast page. His name is Andrew Kalipolitis. He often post work he has done on Uzis. No personal experience with him, but the photos of his work looks good, to include adding feed ramps.

 

[arch stanton]

Appreciate you posting this. I bought a machined feed ramp thinking this was the answer but I’m not sure who to do the work with Richard’s passing and sounds like it may not even fix the problem anyway. I hope us barrel shrouds posts some more FBI FA barrels soon!

John Andrewski for the Uzi repairs google his name or send me message for contact info

 

[Generalzip]

John Andrewski for the Uzi repairs google his name or send me message for contact info

Man, this forum is awesome. Thanks man!

 

[Dirk Hawthorne]

I forgot to say - in the second picture in the OP,

A = the outer remnant of the original funnel. Actually the remnant of the flat on the end of the barrel
B = the area cut by the dremel wheel
C = the inner remnant of the original funnel. You can see I didn't cut the chamber area.

Also, I want to emphasize that I know absolutely nothing about metalworking. I was lucky that I didn't ruin my barrel.

The reason I posted this thread up was to show the dimensions of the cut I made and report the results. I figured someone might get some good out the information.

Also, I thought it was kind of noteworthy that even the craptastical version I did works great in the gun. If this mess works great, then a proper job done on a lathe by an actual machinist would work great.

The only reason that I even attempted it is because at the time I did this, I kept having to wait a really long time for gunsmiths to do work, and I was getting really frustrated. You know how frustration can get you to throw caution to the wind.

Also, I'm aware that improving the funnel (or whatever it's called) is not a new idea. I'm probably the 1,000th guy to do it. Like I said, I just posted this in case this particular data point would help someone. I googled this subject, and I could not really find much on it. If you see any good discussions on it, please post it up.

 

[gvguns]

Good job and glad that worked out for you. Looks like you mostly made the chamber lead in a little wider, which shouldn't hurt. Anything outside "C" in your pictures isn't supporting the case anyway. Your breech faces are probably getting beat up because your bolt it bottoming out on them vs the trunnion. I am pretty new to Uzi's but after building one myself I discovered this can be a common issue with them and should be corrected. My barrel I had to machine .010" off to allow my bolt to hit the trunnion rather than the breech face

 

[Generalzip]

I also have a barrel from US Barrel Shrouds which has a HUGE throat and will feed ANYTHING. It will even feed an empty case.

When they sold it to me, they said that it would bulge brass sometimes, which is doubtlessly true, but I haven't observed it yet.

It's actually a really good barrel, it shoots very well. I don't notice any difference between it and my BWE barrel or IMI barrel.

(The dents and abuse on the end of the barrel are from me. For some reason all my UZI barrels are beat to crap on the chamber end.)

These just came back in stock. I got their 8.5" FBI barrel because I plan to shoot mostly subsonics supressed so a 10" barrel makes no sense at all for me. I have threaded and non threaded 10" barrels anyway if i was to blast 115 and 124 round nose. Hope this will feed hollow points without the need to install the semi style feed ramp I bought in case.

 

[Generalzip]

I also have a barrel from US Barrel Shrouds which has a HUGE throat and will feed ANYTHING. It will even feed an empty case.

When they sold it to me, they said that it would bulge brass sometimes, which is doubtlessly true, but I haven't observed it yet.

It's actually a really good barrel, it shoots very well. I don't notice any difference between it and my BWE barrel or IMI barrel.

(The dents and abuse on the end of the barrel are from me. For some reason all my UZI barrels are beat to crap on the chamber end.)

Do you have the stamped feed ramp or the machined one in your uzi out of curiosity?

 

[AKarms]

Appreciate you posting this. I bought a machined feed ramp thinking this was the answer but I’m not sure who to do the work with Richard’s passing and sounds like it may not even fix the problem anyway. I hope us barrel shrouds posts some more FBI FA barrels soon!

I install machined feed ramps. AK Arms 6033404339

 

[AKarms]

GZ, there is a guy on Facebook that post on the Uzi Owners/Enthusiast page. His name is Andrew Kalipolitis. He often post work he has done on Uzis. No personal experience with him, but the photos of his work looks good, to include adding feed ramps.

Thank you for the referral. Andrew Kalipolitis, AK Arms 6033404339

 

[Dirk Hawthorne]

Do you have the stamped feed ramp or the machined one in your uzi out of curiosity?

I have a really nice machined billet feed ramp in my Vector.

It came from BWE.

If you look at the rightmost photo in the original post, you can see the feed ramp.