AmericanLongRifles Forums
General discussion => Gun Building => Topic started by: QuanLoi on April 02, 2020, 04:03:06 AM
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For my current build, I'm using a .45 caliber "Squirrel Light" Rice barrel. I dovetailed the lugs into the barrel and feel comfortable about the depth of the dovetail... but I'd like to proof the barrel removed from the stock. What method should I use... hold the barrel in a vise? Hold a lit cigar up to the touch hole?
Thanks in advance...
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cannon fuse works well.
Fleener
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Tie it to a tire, set it off with cannon fuse.
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I made a jig to hold any barrel size out of poplar and use cannon fuse to fire it.
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secured on tire works for me.
Methinks you want some give in your mounting or you'll mar the barrel.
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Tie it to a tire, and then you can either use a board , sloped up to the barrel by the touch hole, with a trail of black powder following out to a safe distance, or use a fuse. I make my own using BP , water and 100% cotton string. Water is added to the powder to make a nice paste , [ on the thin side ] and then I put in a length of string which soaks up the mixture. When thoroughly soaked, pull the string out and hank up in the shop with a cloths pin. I always have lengths of this made up for my little swivel gun.
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I would have used staples rather than being concerned with proofing it with dovetails.
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A long skinny tang might need some support, it could bend if up against the inside of a tire.
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Try using heavy tape and attach too a length of 2 by 4 , use plenty of tape then secure to a tyer or even nail to a tree .A pan made out of a old tea spoon by the touch hole and length of fuse taped in place .I once saw a old timer using a wet sack to weigh the barrel down and to retain the barrel in place just in case ,watch out where that projectile is going "down range" and onlookers, have fun doing it ,take care Steven.
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Guys,
Here is a link to how I do this.
Jim
https://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=26193.msg250152#msg250152
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Be careful! I had one shotgun barrel I tested that broke the cradle it was in and flew through the air for over 100 feet. I use a big solid block bolted to the base board with a 1/2” bolt now, behind the breech, and another solid board screwed over the top of the barrel.
I measure several places on the barrel before and after testing to see if there is any change. I normally fire the first test with a standard load, and then test with a double load. I figure a standard max load is 1/2 the ball weight of 2F black powder and a single tightly patched round ball. For the overload test I use a double load of 2F black powder and 2x the ball weight of birdshot over a wad of paper and with a card or paper over that. ( WARNING!!, this overload could burst the barrel and injure or kill anyone near it!)
I use this test for checking on anything I do to the barrel, like breaching it, or installing a vent of drum.
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If you have confidence in your craftsman ship I'd shoot it off hand. If you have that little confidence in your craftsmanship and Rice barrels in general I'd find a new hobby. Of course I live pretty close to the edge....
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Be careful when you are proofing barrels and how much powder and lead that you use. You might be putting cracks in the barrel that were not already there.
Fleener
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Here's the riggin I use which actually works quite well, haven't never had one get away from me as of yet. Them ratchet straps work quite well to holder down. I use the rest, sandbags, and a towel or two so I don't marr up the finish. Just my 2 cents worth.
Good Day, Gordy
(https://i.ibb.co/rxT29gf/IMG-20190417-134124044.jpg) (https://ibb.co/McWkdb5)
(https://i.ibb.co/SrZ48RY/IMG-20190417-134133871.jpg) (https://ibb.co/2Np1QgV)
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I to saw that old picture in the back of an old Dixie gun works catalog of a barrel being proofed in a tire. Well, it seemed like it would work, but it didn’t, and was one of the most dangerous things that I have experienced in my gun building life. I built a trade gun in 20 gauge. And because the barrel was an old unfinished surplus shotgun barrel, I decided to proof it. I proofed it with a double charge of 2F, and two patched round balls. When the charge went off, the barrel went right through the tire, and traveled about thirty yards across orchard next to my house. I now proof in a heavy wall pipe, well anchored, with a welded cap at the breech.
Hungry Horse
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Mike Brooks: I confess to using the same method as you. So far, so good.
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I am with Mike and Taylor. Just shoot it. Unless you did something totally crazy, it will be fine. Proofing makes sense if you are forge welding your own barrel, but not for modern, high quality ones.
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I am with Mike and Taylor. Just shoot it. Unless you did something totally crazy, it will be fine. Proofing makes sense if you are forge welding your own barrel, but not for modern, high quality ones.
Just keep in mind, 12L14 barrels are a pipe bomb waiting to go off. Or so I have read.
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I once tested the barrel of an Indian made musket. I loaded that puppy up to a ludicrously overloaded amount and set it off 3 times, just to be sure.
I am not worried about good quality modern barrels, but I do like to test my drums, breechplugs and screw in vents, just to be sure. I’ve seen several nipples blow out, and drums that broke off. Don’t want it to happen to me.
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I test originals that I shoot, braced, with a string. Never gave a modern barrel a second thought. Seems about like pulling a string on a M700..... but then I’m an old redneck whose busted a femur, maybe twenty other bones, and been burnt to a crisp....
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Appears that way in your photo, Bob.
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Appears that way in your photo, Bob.
Don’t let the ears fool you. I can schmooze a Whistle Pig out of his hole wearing that hat.
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Appears that way in your photo, Bob.
Don’t let the ears fool you. I can schmooze a Whistle Pig out of his hole wearing that hat.
Hmmm. Instead of a woo woo stick you have a woo woo hat. Nifty
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Instead of fuse, I use electricity. Length of two wire flex, a twist of steel wool across the leads at the business end, and a 9v battery applied to the other ends. The wire incandesces, igniting the priming powder.
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For my current build, I'm using a .45 caliber "Squirrel Light" Rice barrel. I dovetailed the lugs into the barrel and feel comfortable about the depth of the dovetail... but I'd like to proof the barrel removed from the stock. What method should I use... hold the barrel in a vise? Hold a lit cigar up to the touch hole?
Thanks in advance...
Holding the barrel tight in a vice with leather lined jaws, would work. A fuse or some tinfoil shaped into a pan and a cigar would be one method of ignition, but you would have to be close for that.
If the pole on a linstock was long enough (long pole with a burning match cord on the end), that would place you in relative safety. After all, if it's the dovetails you are concerned about, they will likely
only bulge a bit if too deep.
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You don't have to guess what the proof load should be. The British worked this out a long time ago. Go to http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukla/Vict/31-32/113/contents/enacted
(http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukla/Vict/31-32/113/contents/enacted) The text is worth reading, the proof load tables are at the end of the document.
I have used the tie the barrel to a truck tire method. It worked well, except for a 10 bore. With the 10 bore, when I touched it off, the recoil flipped the tire over. I was impressed.
Lately though, I have been using Mike Brooks proof testing method.
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For trying old barrels, I tie them to a plank. It's hard to flip a plank laid on the ground.
When we proofed a homemade 4 -bore, we tied it to a plank, and put a good heavy bale of hay behind it.
When touched off, it folded that square-bale double.
British proof charge, (No 1) was I think 27 drams and was it 3 ounces or 3 1/2? Forgot!
It'll be in the link above supplied by Jose.
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My only caution here if proofing is to make sure your stocked gun can move when touched off. I have seen modern rifles with their stocks shattered in those bench sleds, because the sled was loaded with so much weight it couldn't move. Stocks are meant to recoil back against a human and move, not against an immovable object. Something has to give, and it can be the stock.
I think this was part of the idea of using a tire, as it flexes and moves.
For a barrel out of the stock, this doesn't apply obviously.
I just hate to see someone put tons of hours into a beautiful longrifle, and then destroy the stock.
God Bless, Marc
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My only caution here if proofing is to make sure your stocked gun can move when touched off. I have seen modern rifles with their stocks shattered in those bench sleds, because the sled was loaded with so much weight it couldn't move. Stocks are meant to recoil back against a human and move, not against an immovable object. Something has to give, and it can be the stock.
I think this was part of the idea of using a tire, as it flexes and moves.
For a barrel out of the stock, this doesn't apply obviously.
I just hate to see someone put tons of hours into a beautiful longrifle, and then destroy the stock.
God Bless, Marc
Marc's advice is good. The immovable lead sled use is highly discouraged for use in shooting high priced double rifles, just for the reason of stock breakage.
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I've used the tire method and it worked like a charm. Just inserted the butt into the tire and strapped the fore end on with bungee cords. Thinking is should also work for a barrel outside the stock. Absolutely no damage to the gun. That's my recommendation.
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Back before we had tyres, (!) we used a saw-horse, as it can rock back on it's legs and save a stock too much stress, Mark.
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Awww, Richard! Before you had tyres? Well, way back when, we had to tie our barrels to a tree stump with hempen cords. Sometimes, we had to use rawhide ties, 'coz someone had smoked our twine... But we got the job done. When the wheel n tyre got invented, it was much easier!
Of course, if you had an idiot nephew or cousin, he could usually be persuaded to just hold it for us. Oft times we would run out of cousins - then back to the tree stump! The family breathed a sigh of relief when the tractor came along on it's tyres.