« previous next »
Pages: [1]   Go Down

Author Topic: .36 or a .38?  (Read 3814 times)

Offline Leatherbark

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 346
.36 or a .38?
« on: May 01, 2017, 12:16:08 AM »
I've acquired a "Poor Boy" southern style percussion long rifle recently. Heck when I looked it over I thought it was a .40. The bore was shiny so then when I got home I tried to swab it out and the jag wouldn't fit the bore. So I said to myself. "I'll be darn that gun is a .36". So I found .350 balls.  In the meantime I took the gun apart to see what brand barrel it was. There are no markings but the rifling looks as well done as Green Mtn. or Douglas.

A .375 ball will roll down the barrel but a .395 ball will rest on top of the hole.  I"ll slug it soon to find the bore size, but I took it to the range an luckily I took some .375 ball in addition to the .350 balls.  The .350 with a regular pillow ticking .018 patch loads with no starter.  Way too loose.  I'm not used to that.  The .375 balls load normal with a rap of the starter and then they slide down easily and shoot way better than the .350's.  The only .38 barrel I remember was a Richland Arms half stock back in the day.  Did anyone  recently make 38 caliber barrels? 

What is the normal "bore" dimension for a 38 caliber barrel?

Thank you

Bob
« Last Edit: May 01, 2017, 12:18:14 AM by Leatherbark »
Logged

Offline Mike Brooks

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 13235
    • Mike Brooks Gunmaker
Re: .36 or a .38?
« Reply #1 on: May 01, 2017, 12:41:07 AM »
Hoyt makes them.
Logged
NEW WEBSITE! www.mikebrooksflintlocks.com
Say, any of you boys smithies? Or, if not smithies per se, were you otherwise trained in the metallurgic arts before straitened circumstances forced you into a life of aimless wanderin'?

Offline diamante

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Posts: 53
Re: .36 or a .38?
« Reply #2 on: May 01, 2017, 12:55:18 AM »
Charles Burton makes .38 barrels

fcibarrels.tripod.com
Logged

Offline P.W.Berkuta

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2159
Re: .36 or a .38?
« Reply #3 on: May 01, 2017, 01:25:57 AM »
Some years back (quite a few) I ordered a .38 cal X 42" swamped from Ed Rayl. I waited a long time for it - he sent it out but I never got it someone stole it during shipping. I got another barrel from Rayl but this time it was a .40. Sure would have liked to try a .38 but the wait was too long as I already had waited over a year for the one that got stolen.
Logged
"The person who says it cannot be done should not interrupt the person who is doing it." - Chinese proverb

Offline Daryl

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 15054
Re: .36 or a .38?
« Reply #4 on: May 01, 2017, 01:49:05 AM »
.375" ball is perfect for a .380 bore.  Hornady sells swaged .375" balls, but calls them .36 Cal. - probably as they are for the .36 Cap and Ball revolvers, which 'take' .375" balls.

Lucky you, if you don't want to cast your own.

I have a Lachmiller mould in my one of my mould drawer's, for .375" RB. I seem to remember it is a 3-cavity, with the middle cavity bored out to cast conical bullets in 3/8" copper pipe sections.  The flashing from my dull pipe cutter's wheel makes the base and crimps the bullet inside the tube. A bit OT, I guess. ::)
Logged
Daryl

"a gun without hammers is like a spaniel without ears" King George V

Offline Hungry Horse

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 5414
Re: .36 or a .38?
« Reply #5 on: May 01, 2017, 05:30:44 AM »
A .36 cal. Revolver mold will be about right.

  Hungry Horse
Logged

Offline little joe

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 685
Re: .36 or a .38?
« Reply #6 on: May 01, 2017, 06:03:18 PM »
I have a Rice 36 and a Burton 38 and cannot tell any difference in the way they  shoot.
Logged

Offline al56

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Posts: 64
Re: .36 or a .38?
« Reply #7 on: May 04, 2017, 05:50:38 AM »
9mm maybe.  Some of the cheap guns had 9mm barrels on them.
Logged

Offline T*O*F

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 5076
Re: .36 or a .38?
« Reply #8 on: May 04, 2017, 06:19:36 AM »
Quote
Did anyone  recently make 38 caliber barrels? 
What is the normal "bore" dimension for a 38 caliber barrel?
Green Mountain makes/made .38 cal. barrels.  The bore is .375 and the grooves are .378.
My .38 cal. Schuetzen rifle built in 1900 has the same dimensions.
Logged
Dave Kanger

If religion is opium for the masses, the internet is a crack, pixel-huffing orgy that deafens the brain, numbs the senses and scrambles our peer list to include every anonymous loser, twisted deviant, and freak as well as people we normally wouldn't give the time of day.
-S.M. Tomlinson

Offline Daryl

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 15054
Re: .36 or a .38?
« Reply #9 on: May 04, 2017, 06:47:47 PM »
1 1/2 thou. deep per side is quite shallow, compared to the .004" standard, Dave - are you sure they weren't at least .380" groove to groove.
« Last Edit: May 04, 2017, 06:48:20 PM by Daryl »
Logged
Daryl

"a gun without hammers is like a spaniel without ears" King George V

Offline T*O*F

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 5076
Re: .36 or a .38?
« Reply #10 on: May 04, 2017, 07:51:31 PM »
Quote
1 1/2 thou. deep per side is quite shallow, compared to the .004" standard, Dave - are you sure they weren't at least .380" groove to groove.
No, I called their tech line when I was building my long range .38 and those were the specs he gave me for all their .38 cal barrels.  Also, since it has an odd number of grooves, it's .003 depth per groove, not .0015
Logged
Dave Kanger

If religion is opium for the masses, the internet is a crack, pixel-huffing orgy that deafens the brain, numbs the senses and scrambles our peer list to include every anonymous loser, twisted deviant, and freak as well as people we normally wouldn't give the time of day.
-S.M. Tomlinson

Offline Dphariss

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 9748
  • Kill a Commie for your Mommy
Re: .36 or a .38?
« Reply #11 on: May 04, 2017, 09:02:48 PM »
Quote from: T*O*F on May 04, 2017, 07:51:31 PM
Quote
1 1/2 thou. deep per side is quite shallow, compared to the .004" standard, Dave - are you sure they weren't at least .380" groove to groove.
No, I called their tech line when I was building my long range .38 and those were the specs he gave me for all their .38 cal barrels.  Also, since it has an odd number of grooves, it's .003 depth per groove, not .0015

Bullet barrels are not RB barrels.

Dan
Logged
He who dares not offend cannot be honest. Thomas Paine

Offline Daryl

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 15054
Re: .36 or a .38?
« Reply #12 on: May 05, 2017, 09:23:48 AM »
Quote from: Dphariss on May 04, 2017, 09:02:48 PM
Quote from: T*O*F on May 04, 2017, 07:51:31 PM
Quote
1 1/2 thou. deep per side is quite shallow, compared to the .004" standard, Dave - are you sure they weren't at least .380" groove to groove.
No, I called their tech line when I was building my long range .38 and those were the specs he gave me for all their .38 cal barrels.  Also, since it has an odd number of grooves, it's .003 depth per groove, not .0015

Bullet barrels are not RB barrels.

Dan

I'm aware of that, Dan.  Just figured 1 1/2 thou was a bit fine.  I have known of two other guns which had 1 1/2 thou. rifling. One was a bullet rifle, the other a RB gun - neither shot worth a hoot. WE did finally get the bullet barrel into 1 1/2" at 100 meters after 8 years of testing. What a chore.

.003" is much closer to what I would expect.
Logged
Daryl

"a gun without hammers is like a spaniel without ears" King George V
Pages: [1]   Go Up
« previous next »