A month or two back I was following with great interest GM54-120's discussion of making some barrel sizing dies with barrel drops from Green Mountain Barrel. He pointed me to their website and I found this during my surf:
http://www.gmriflebarrel.com/productdetail.aspx?id=324031
Well as soon as I saw the words "Special Project Muzzleloader Barrels" I knew I would end up buying a .45 cal. barrel to replace the .50 cal. in my Traditions Buckhunter Pro. I bought that gun as a rescue 10 or 11 yrs ago and found it in the condition that makes ML lovers cringe. After much tender care I got it shooting great and actually came to like that particular rifle a lot. Simple, plunger action, very reliable & accurate shooter that never failed to put meat in the freezer. The old gal had a terminal case of pitting however, in the powder column area and despite lapping and polishing I could never truly stay ahead of the corrosion. It was only going to be a matter of time before I felt that the pitting was too deep to shoot safely. Then I saw these barrels. $35 for a GM barrel originally headed for a Knight Disc Rifle. MAN! I couldn't pass that up. I bought it and said a little prayer for a 1:20 twist. Five days later it arrived and after a careful swabbing of the bore with a tight patch - TA DA! 1:20 twist (PTL!)
The cosmetic appearance was a little rough, a few minor dings & scratches and a little spotty corrosion which I just chalked up to it still being in the white. (un-blued regular steel barrel) It wasn't until I chucked it up in the lathe that I discovered what I think was the main discrepancy: the bore was non-concentric to the OD at the breech end, but not a lot. The good news for me was since I was going to take a little material off to match the OD of the original barrel I was able to more or less fix this by taking material off about half way down the barrel. The muzzle was pretty much dead on center. I did diminish the amount of taper by about 50% but since the old barrel wasn't tapered at all I feel like I came out ahead anyway.
Here's a few pics of the project:
The hardest part of this project was the bluing. I used Birchwood Casey cold bluing solution. It turned out pretty well but it was tricky to apply evenly. I haven't had a chance or the weather to go out and shoot it yet but I am really looking forward to my next range trip!
http://www.gmriflebarrel.com/productdetail.aspx?id=324031
Well as soon as I saw the words "Special Project Muzzleloader Barrels" I knew I would end up buying a .45 cal. barrel to replace the .50 cal. in my Traditions Buckhunter Pro. I bought that gun as a rescue 10 or 11 yrs ago and found it in the condition that makes ML lovers cringe. After much tender care I got it shooting great and actually came to like that particular rifle a lot. Simple, plunger action, very reliable & accurate shooter that never failed to put meat in the freezer. The old gal had a terminal case of pitting however, in the powder column area and despite lapping and polishing I could never truly stay ahead of the corrosion. It was only going to be a matter of time before I felt that the pitting was too deep to shoot safely. Then I saw these barrels. $35 for a GM barrel originally headed for a Knight Disc Rifle. MAN! I couldn't pass that up. I bought it and said a little prayer for a 1:20 twist. Five days later it arrived and after a careful swabbing of the bore with a tight patch - TA DA! 1:20 twist (PTL!)
The cosmetic appearance was a little rough, a few minor dings & scratches and a little spotty corrosion which I just chalked up to it still being in the white. (un-blued regular steel barrel) It wasn't until I chucked it up in the lathe that I discovered what I think was the main discrepancy: the bore was non-concentric to the OD at the breech end, but not a lot. The good news for me was since I was going to take a little material off to match the OD of the original barrel I was able to more or less fix this by taking material off about half way down the barrel. The muzzle was pretty much dead on center. I did diminish the amount of taper by about 50% but since the old barrel wasn't tapered at all I feel like I came out ahead anyway.
Here's a few pics of the project:
The hardest part of this project was the bluing. I used Birchwood Casey cold bluing solution. It turned out pretty well but it was tricky to apply evenly. I haven't had a chance or the weather to go out and shoot it yet but I am really looking forward to my next range trip!
