New project omega

[Steelheader323]

I’m actually in the process of cutting down the barrel as we speak and got instructions very similar to yours. I’ll post pics shortly, I’m thinking with this .45 I wanna go sabotless to expand options with what u can shoot. Just trying to get a good 100yard shooter from this thing. I’ve read up in it a little bit. Some speak of knurling a bullet with a couple of files? Does this technique down size the bullet so it fits better?


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[ShawnT]

Knurling between files increases the diameter of the bullet.

 

[Steelheader323]

So hers the rifle as of now. I’ll include pics of the barrel cut and recrown process as well

pic above shows barrel after cutting with hacksaw, used a pipe tubing cutter to make a mark

Next pic is after filing level
And checking with a square

Then after using a .45 degree cone sander on my drill I started on the crown

then after that I sanded with a finer round grinder on my drill and lastly with some steel wool to get what I would call a good enough finish

final pic shows it back together, action fixed and repainted with high temp engine paint, barrel cleaned and polished still not sure what to do about a finish yet. And barrel cut down and recrowned


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[HC]

The crown looks good. Let us know how it shoots.


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[Steelheader323]

Any idea how much velocity I lost with cutting down the barrel? It’s now a 22.5” instead of the standard 28”


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[Pymahunter1]

Had to do a bit of searching, but I remembered reading a series of articles by Toby Bridges where he cut down a ML barrel a couple inches at a time, testing the MV at each step:

http://www.namlhunt.com/mltesting-4-6.html

For what it’s worth, looks like the loss of MV using BH209 is around 19 FPS for each inch of barrel cut off.

 

[HC]

Very interesting article, thanks for taking the time to look it up.


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[Lee 9]

I do very much the same except I use a ball cutter to put the bevel on because it is self centering. once I have the bevel I want I use a piece of heavy cloth covered with lapping compound over the top of the ball to polish the bevel.

 

[Steelheader323]

Heck of a good read their, thanks! I stopped my charges at 90grains of bh209, with a 20” barrel should I be ok upping the charges to see if it’s more accurate or am I wasting powder? Being this is a .45 idk is it burns faster or slower. And when I did the crown i too used a ball attachment on my drill then followed with fine steel wool over it to polish it up. I’d like to lap this barrel as it still has a few tough spots when loading just about anything. More so when i tried a few sabotless combos for sizing I noticed the hard spots were the worst with the 300grain xtp Wich is what I plan to use if I can get them accurate. Anyone recommend a good lapping kit?


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[Steelheader323]

Smalll update, back to the range with this project the other day I’m groups seem to get batter as I shoot it. Almost like the barrel is working itself in after being so ldirty and pitted, it kids well but has 2 room go spots with anything that I put down the barrel be it a sabot load or sabotless. I have lapping compound but never have I firelapped a barrel. I’ve got some 240 grain lead .451s I was going to put a light knurl on and embed them with compound. What would be a good powder charge to use? All I have is bh209 currently I was thinking 50 grains should be plenty?


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[GM54-120]

Ron I sent you another pm...as for this .45 barrel..I went back tonight..same results with a brand new breech plug..not much available around here for .45 muzzleloader stuff...it’s either these 200grain sst or the powerbelt wich I do not want to even try..just personal preference their. I’m very tempted to go to the bench and lop off that last 5-6 inches of the barrel where it’s pitted so bad, level it out and recrown it..at this point I don’t think I have much to lose :/ but while it’s on my mind. What’s it take to shoot sabotless? Can flat base bullets such as the sst, xtp, or Barnes bullets be shot sabotless on their own? And with bh209?


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SSTs and Barnes can be real PITA to get to shoot sabotless with BH209. The easiest cheap bullet ive tried is the Nosler .451 250gr JHP Sporting Handgun. Thin jacket and pure lead core.

Im not a PowerBelt fan but the 45cal 300gr Plat is just fine if not pushed too fast. Very accurate too in the rifles ive tried including a 1-28.

Ed's 350gr HP (Lyman Gould 330gr Bullet) and NoExcuses 385gr would also be great choices for loads upto about 70-75gr of BH209.