AmericanLongRifles Forums
General discussion => Gun Building => Topic started by: dannylj on July 02, 2008, 07:34:22 PM
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Having never owned a smoothbore I am thinking about converting one of my rifles. A couple of questions. How large a bore can I safely go with an existing 15/16 .50 and use moderate loads? Is this something I can do myself with the average amount of tools? I can make up a long drill - what size would be best. Would I be better off just building one? Thanks Danny
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Danny,
I'd say keep the rifle and get a nice smoothbore barrel, lock, stock, etc. Have fun building it, then have fun shooting it.
-Ron
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Personally, I would build a proper smoothbore. That 15/16 barrel MIGHT, or might not be safely reamed to 54 cal, depending on how deep the dovetails are cut.
IMHO, having the barrel bored and reamed will probably cost about the same as a new barrel.
I would suggest keeping your rifle as is, and researching different styles of smoothbores to see what you might like. Then build yourself a nice gun to fit your needs.
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Having never owned a smoothbore I am thinking about converting one of my rifles. A couple of questions. How large a bore can I safely go with an existing 15/16 .50 and use moderate loads? Is this something I can do myself with the average amount of tools? I can make up a long drill - what size would be best. Would I be better off just building one? Thanks Danny
I would just replace the barrel with a 50 cal SB barrel.
The other problem with boring it larger is breechplugs on thin barrels.
Dan
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Well now, I would say keep and shoot the rifel gun and get yourself a smoothy!
That way you travel in to a shoot, shoot the smoothy match,matches then drag the rifle out of the car/truck and shoot the rifle matches... works for me.
After all you can't have too many guns ;D
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Many years ago when I built my first flint rifle I decided that I would try shooting shot from it for small game.
I made up paper shot cups By rolling a tube that would fit the bore crimping the bottom of it to hold the shot like a modern day plastic wad. I loaded my powder in the barrel then pushed down a hard card .125 wad on top of the powder. then the shot cup with the shot in it (In my case it was 3/4 oz) then on top of the cup I loaded another card wad to prevent the shot from pouring out.
Darn thing worked great ( but I had a problem with the rear sight blocking my view when trying to aim like a shotgun)
Too Rabbit , Squirrels & some doves with it.
Jim
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Well, I'll throw this in as related. When I was in high school, a friend of my folks named Don (last name withheld) found out I had built a couple flint rifles, and asked if I could repair his rifle. I said I'd at least take a look to see what was up. What he had was an original half stock rifled caplock. Plain as a yard of pumpwater. Maybe a slight perch belly. Capbox on the side. Maybe 36 cal. No name.
So Don's story was he shot it all the time, often with shot. He was out with a friend shooting/hunting with shot in the barrel, when he said to his friend "Nuts, I can't shoot this. I forgot to patch the shot." To which his friend replied, "What do you mean, you can't shoot it?" Don says "I didn't patch the shot. If you don't patch the shot, you'll blow out the drum." Friend says, "You're crazy. No, it won't." Don says, "Sure it will. Watch." He pulled the trigger and proceeded to blow out the drum.
Well, out of the deal I got to handle an original for a while. I replaced the steel ramrod with a proper wooden one. But I did not try to replace the drum as I didn't feel comfortable with my skills at the time.
The moral of the story is, yes, you can shoot shot from a rifled barrel, but use a patch. Don't know what the pattern would look like. Don't know what would happen with a flinter and unpatched shot. I'll let Larry Pletcher test that one.
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I have shot small shot from a rifled flint pistol with no problems. Some friends have shoot shot from flint rifles with no problem. No "patch".
I not really surprised that the drum blew out. But its more a testimonial to the type breech than an indication that not patching shot is unsafe.
If it blew out with a shot charge I would think it would have failed if proved. Maybe the shot size was such it somehow "jammed" in the small bore?? Slim chance but???
Dan