The Rice Early Dutch Barrel

[Snowmoon]

It took me a lot of willpower to leave the Carlisle 18th c. Artisans show without buying the 44" .62 caliber Early Dutch barrel that was on display. What beautiful waisting, what pleasing balance! The nice, big breech looks like it will call for a robust architecture, and the length is to die for!  Here's the picture from their website. The .62 is 1 1/4" at the breech.



Clearly, the only choice is to use up what willpower I have left ogling originals and contemporary builds so that I'll walk out of the Kempton Gunmakers Fair this summer with a Rice barrel of my own. Do share any relevant photos and experience regarding accuracy and recoil! I think I'd send it off to a builder due to my lack of experience and skill.

I'd like to know about what schools/styles and year range this barrel might fit. I have heard and read that there are rifles in Germany with 40+" barrels. Are they similar to this one? Are there photos online? I find German rifles, early American and transitional American (pre-revolution) rifles very interesting.

Thanks, everyone. Comments on 44-48" .60+ caliber longrifles in general are also welcome. I want to use it for hunting and of course practice with it on the range.

PS: nobody make any cute comments about getting it in .66 to match the Kibler 16 gauge I'm starting soon.
That would just be too much...

[rich pierce]

So try have a 41” and a 44” barrel called Dutch. For the longer one, in a big caliber, with a big breech, there are a few originals that come to mind that would serve as inspiration:
The Schreit rifle
An early Reading rifle like RCA 20-21
RCA 42
An Oerter rifle
The big Lancaster Albrecht rifle
A very early Dickert
The big early Schroyer with the 2 piece patchbox
An early English trade rifle (yes rifle not smoothbore) Type A described by Shumway
RCA 52 or related
An extra fat actual Isaac Haines like RCA 78

RCA = Rifles of Colonial America by George Shumway

[Snowmoon]

So try have a 41” and a 44” barrel called Dutch. For the longer one, in a big caliber, with a big breech, there are a few originals that come to mind that would serve as inspiration:
The Schreit rifle
An early Reading rifle like RCA 20-21
RCA 42
An Oerter rifle
The big Lancaster Albrecht rifle
A very early Dickert
The big early Schroyer with the 2 piece patchbox
An early English trade rifle (yes rifle not smoothbore) Type A described by Shumway
RCA 52 or related
An extra fat actual Isaac Haines like RCA 78

RCA = Rifles of Colonial America by George Shumway

Thanks, Rich! That's a fantastic start. I received my copy of Volume 1 recently and your examples will help guide my reading.

[t.caster]

I made a JP Beck rifle with a 46" long .62 cal. Getz barrel. There is no problem with recoil, of course I don't subscribe to big hunting loads for competition or hunting. I use 65grs. 2f with .605 ball/.018 greased patch for woodswalks. Very comfortable & fun to shoot.

[dadybear1]

62 MAKES A MIGHTY BIG HOLE TOO!!!!!

[Snowmoon]

62 MAKES A MIGHTY BIG HOLE TOO!!!!!

Yes sir, you know what I like!

To Tom, thanks for sharing your build. That's a nice-looking rifle! Very clean and focused. I bet it is very smooth to shoot with that load and I'd further wager a deer wouldn't like it, either.

Still open for input. I'm thinking of the Laubach 1740s germanic lock to go with this gun.

[A.Merrill]

The largest caliber I have ever built or used is a .54cal. I honestly don't know but I have always been told and from what I have read on here that calibers of .58 or larger has a trajectory like a rainbow. Tell be your thoughts.   Al

[rich pierce]

The largest caliber I have ever built or used is a .54cal. I honestly don't know but I have always been told and from what I have read on here that calibers of .58 or larger has a trajectory like a rainbow. Tell be your thoughts.   Al

My understanding is that larger calibers have better trajectory when the muzzle velocity is the same. However only a few want to experience the recoil associated with this braiding the same velocity in a big caliber. If loading 70 grains of powder in a .45, .50, .54, and a .58, the arc will become more pronounced as caliber increases.

[B.Habermehl]

Useing the two gr per caliber rule with big bores recoil will start to get your attention in calibers above.54. In my light weight .58 caliber rifle, 90 grains of FFG isn’t uncomfortable, but is tiring for long target range sessions. This is in a sub 7 lb rifle.  BTW deer can’t stand it. It’s sighted in for 75 yards, I hold a bit of front sight at 100. It’s still more or less point blank I just compensate for the extra 3 inches of drop. Any gun useing the early Dutch barrel with good stock design won’t be a handful recoil wise in .62 cal. I have a .60 caliber early Dutch here for a future project that’s not totally visualized yet. I’m certain when finished into a complete rifle with any sensible load it will be within my recoil tolerances. I’m a wuss. BJH