Bill Large Barrel

[David R. Pennington]

I have a very nice .50 cal. tapered and flared octagon Bill Large barrel that has never been used. I wondered if any one has any experience with them. It looks like a fairly fast twist, best I can tell with a patch and rod about 1/48? Is this pretty standard for his barrels? How do they shoot?

[Tim Crosby]

 Try typing in Bill Large in the search box at top of the page. You will find many threads referencing him and his barrels.  

 
  Tim C.

[Bob Roller]

I have a very nice .50 cal. tapered and flared octagon Bill Large barrel that has never been used. I wondered if any one has any experience with them. It looks like a fairly fast twist, best I can tell with a patch and rod about 1/48? Is this pretty standard for his barrels? How do they shoot?

Properly loaded that barrel will shoot with anything made today and probably
beat them.

Bob Roller

[mikeyfirelock]

Ive been shooting a swamped .50 Bill Large barrel that I got from Jim McLemore probably 40 years ago.  Shoots great with 70 gr. of 2f and still shoots as good as when new.  (Shoots better than I can see anymore)
Mike

[David R. Pennington]

Now I just need to decide on style rifle to build around it!

[hornturner]

I've had two Bill Large .50 cal swamped (sway belly) barrels.  Both were 1 in 48" twists.  He thought that best.  The first one really liked 67 grains of 3fg, with .495" ball and .015 patch.  The second is still taped to the board he sent it to me, with his hand written notes and comments.

Art DeCamp

[albert]

David,you don't have to make a hard decision on what gun to build,sell it to me!!!!, then I'll have six of his bbls.

[little joe]

I have a 45 cal Bill Large bbl and I am getting ready to start a Hawken .The bbl is one Bill made for me 30 plus yrs ago and I,v never used it. I,ll be using a Roller lock and W. Cain trigger and maple wood. All premium  parts in my estimation.Time to get started as I,m not getting any younger.We will see if a 1 in 36 twist will work with a round ball.

[Bob Roller]

I have a 45 cal Bill Large bbl and I am getting ready to start a Hawken .The bbl is one Bill made for me 30 plus yrs ago and I,v never used it. I,ll be using a Roller lock and W. Cain trigger and maple wood. All premium  parts in my estimation.Time to get started as I,m not getting any younger.We will see if a 1 in 36 twist will work with a round ball.

With a moderate load a tightly patched ball it will be OK.The 1 in 36 is the same as an 1886 Winchester 45-90 so you might try a conical of similar weight.I think I used about one grain of 3fg per caliber in the one I made back in 1959 with a ball.THIS IS not a long range load or bear killer but should duplicate the performance of the Winchester 44-40 for deer and vermin.

Bob Roller