Making a 2guage out of a ruined 54 cal GPR barrel

[LIBERTY]

I would like to know if anyone has made a 20 guage smoothbore out of a 54 cal GPR barrel and any other comments anyone may have on the idea?

[Dan'l 1946]

Depends on how big the barrel is across the flats. Boring it out to 24 gauge ought to be safe since you would essentially be just removing the rifling and cleaning the bore up.

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

Bear in mind that the dovetails for the underlugs on those barrels are very very deep.  I doubt that there would be enough steel in  the barrel wall to accommodate a 20 gauge bore, safely.

[Hungry Horse]

 And, keep in mind that your breechplug is probably 5/8"X18 which might be a stretch for a 24 gauge let alone a 20.

                 Hungry Horse

[Old Ford2]

You had me worried when I read "2 Gauge" with a .54 barrel
A .54 barrel would not even be a breech plug for a "2 gauge"
As others have said, you would be stretching it with a 24 gauge, not to mention a 20 gauge
Fred

[Daryl]

Saw that too, Old Ford, however I discounted it as a typo. You could use that Lyman rifle's barrel for a ramrod in a 2 bore.
Here's one Steve Zihn was working on.
The ball size 1.350" and weighs 3,500gr.  Nice crown, A?

[drago]

Is that a rifled barrel? I want one, and one ball for it. One ought to be enough!

[PPatch]

That Zihn thing ought to have wheels on it Daryl!

dp

[FRJ]

Dang me!!! Some people are never happy with just a big bore they have to have humungus!! FRJ

[JB2]

well, I do believe Steve Zihn "wins"!  Would like to see more pics of that.  Separate thread, of course.

[Dphariss]

This reminds me of back in my guiding days. I would far rather the hunter have a 30-06 or 270 he could really shoot than a magnum he was afraid of and could barely keep all shots on a  hillside. Or shoot a 30" triangular 3 shot group on an elk at 40 yards with a 300 wby with no misses. Yeah, it can be done if the shots hit the right places.

As Taylor mentioned the dovetails may be too deep to make a safe 20 bore. I have seen photos of a split in the bottom of a dovetail of a TC Hawken or one of the clones it was 54 IIRC.  Dovetails, even shallow ones, are major stress risers and any barrel that has seen much use (or even no use in some cases) will usually show some "anomoly" in the bore at the dovetails unless its a really heavy barrel. A tight patch on a short jag can be very informative....


Dan

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

Daryl - I corrected YOUR typo - 'ball size .1350" '  ??

[FRJ]

OK I Believe you guys!! My thinking is that it should be allright at 28guage as that will just take out the rifling and polish it smooth.  Any comments on that will be greatly appreciated. FRJ