Wes,
You are correct, Brass is the preferred material.
However Babbit was and still is the best when the surface cannot be easily fitted by other means.
Also as pointed out by Rick "The price makes the difference"
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Rick,
You have the right idea, Blocks can be bored using the barrel as a template.
The barrel must be mounted opposite the operator ,fastened ridgedly to the lathe bed,
and the lathe tool cuts upside down on the opposite side from the operator , while following the curve on the opposite side of the barrel with a dial indicator. Manually keeping the indicator on "O" as close as possible.
With practice, One soon becomes quite adept at this method of contour cutting.
ViggoG
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