Folks should understand that most of the lathes that come out of China are really "lathe kits." They have most all the parts that would make a lathe already put together, but once you know something about machining, the Chinese-made machines will drive you to distraction, because you will find X,Y and Z on the machine that need to be addressed before you can really use it. Things like burrs and casting dross on some parts (pieces of the taper attachment are famous for being barely ground before being slapped together), seals that leak because mating surfaces are not true, etc.

I have a Taiwanese lathe (a "Sharp", 13x40 with a variable speed drive), and while they're a step up from the ChiCom lathes, it still isn't a "ready to really work as delivered" lathe. I use mine for gunsmithing and light machining, and it works OK - just OK. I've used a lot of different lathes at gunsmithing schools, community college shops, other gunsmith's shops, you name it. I now have opinions about lathes, and most of my opinions about the ChiCom lathes run towards "when you get them, you need to really go through them and finish what the ChiComs started..." The Taiwanese lathes are better in fit, finish and quality, they cost about 2X what the ChiCom lathes do, and they still need finishing.

The way I tell that the Jet lathe above is from China is the price: If you see a 13x40 or 14x40 lathe in the under-$6K price range (new), it's from China. If you see a 13x40 or 14x40 lathe more than $7K, and under $12K, it's probably from Taiwan. There's only a couple of companies actually making the castings and lathes in China - the different machines you see for sale are just different badgings and paint schemes on the same basic lathes from China. The amount of quality in these machines is usually what the company that sells the machines here "inspects into" the machine.


Now, if you asked my opinion of a good lathe for a farm shop, my first choice would be a LeBlond Regal. These are, hands-down, one of the most rugged, no-nonsense, reliable, easy-to-fix lathes out there. We have one in the college shop here, and it withstands use and abuse for 15 years by students that has literally taken apart four brand-new Taiwanese lathes in three years.

When you say "threading gun barrels," I assume you mean threading the muzzle. If you meant threading the breech end, then you'd need to be chambering. Lots of people will tell you that you need a short headstock so you can put the gun barrel through the headstock. That's not so - you can thread gun barrels easily if you have a stead rest and know how to use it. I vastly prefer a steady rest that uses brass "fingers" on the workpiece, not the roller bearings. The roller bearing steady rests will emboss a groove on softer steels so quickly, you will wonder why anyone uses them. The solid brass steady rest fingers work on just about anything, and they don't leave a mark on the finish.

OK, judging a used lathe:

- turn it on, listen for bearing noises, gear lash in the headstock. Make sure the longitudinal feed and cross-feed work. Make sure all the gears in the gearbox are there.

- look for wear on the ways - dings, nicks, etc. Look for a step on the ways near the headstock - many lathes that have been used hard will have a mark on the ways where the carriage has been used up close to the headstock, and the ways were not oiled.

- make sure the tailstock is there, and functional.

- make sure that the lathe comes with all the tooling - the steady rest, the follower rest, the centers for the headstock and tailstock, faceplaces, dogs, toolpost, etc. 

Many Regals go for less than the price of that Jet lathe.

If you really want a new lathe, but are constrained as to your budget to the price of that Jet, have a look at Grizzly's offerings. Grizzly has many machines that are made in China, but Grizzly inspects them better than Jet does (IMO), and Grizzly has better support. Another outfit selling Chinese import lathes is Precision Matthews.

Your budget for a lathe should include tooling. The cost of the lathe is just the start of the budget it takes to actually make chips and get something useful done.