Green River barrel?

[Ezra]

Gents,

I have come into possession of what I am told is a Green River barrel.  I am told it is one of a special order of six from many years ago (obviously).  It is 44" long, .69 caliber, appears to be 1/60 twist, and is 1.25" straight octagon. Seven lands ~ .165", seven grooves ~ .150 and square bottom rifling.  Breech plug depth is approximately .640".  Weighs in around 11 pounds.  No breech plug.  There are no stamps anywhere on the barrel.  Thoughts?

Ez

[B Shipman]

Mark me as sceptical. Green Rivers had a twist of 1/60. They were excellent . Could hardly keep up with production, why offer an odd barrel to slow it down.

[Ezra]

Well, I will figure out the twist.  It doesn't matter really, I paid a pittance for it.

Ez

[Ezra]

Twist is 1 in 60, FWIW.

Ez

[Old Ford2]

I think you should send it to me for evaluation.
Fred

[Ezra]

OF2,

Let me contemplate that... 

Ez

[tallbear]

If it is a Green River it's as accurate as any I've competed against!!!

Mitch

[tuffy]

Nobody shoots a .69 anymore. But I been thinkin' 'bout tryin'. Send'er my way and I'll let you know if she's a shooter. And I'll be more'n happy to reimburse you for the "pittance" you paid for her.

   CW

[B Shipman]

It could well be a GRRW.  Twist is right. I've just never known them to do anything
outside of stock. But certainly possible. Great barrels. In the time, if I could use a straight barrel, that's what I would use.

[smylee grouch]

Back in the old Green River days, I had them make two custom contour straight tapper barrels for me and they were of course very acurate.

[T*O*F]

I can find no stamps or markings.

Ez,
Without any of the above, you only have an unidentified barrel regardless of any story, real or manufactured.  Stories have a way of growing as things pass thru time and the hands of others.

[Ezra]

Yeah, kinda my thoughts too.  Still, for $100, I have no complaints. The barrel weighs in at a svelte 11 lbs.  Do you think it's too large (caliber wise and otherwise) for an early Moravian or Early Virginia style rifle?  I have no desire for a plains rifle.  I suppose I could have it swamped, but I don't really want to do that.

Ez

[oldarcher]

I always avoid any barrel that is not stamped, and then I carefully inspect the barrel to try to find other indicators that confirm the origin.  I am sure that the person you got the barrel from told you what he thought was the truth, maybe it is or maybe not. I would contact Doc White at this address; http://whitemuzzleloading.com/ and ask him is there were any barrels that he knows about that match the description, and were not stamped. It may not help, but it's worth a try.
It may be a shooter, but the cost of the barrel compared to the cost of the other parts and especially your build time is small. If you use an unmarked barrel the value is certainly less then it would be if you had a properly stamped barrel. Just my 2 cents.

[Roger B]

GRRW made a .69 caliber and Doc White told me about hunting bison with one.  After GRRW, there were Green River Rifle Barrel Co. barrels and they were good too.  My dad bought a bunch of them from Jim Salmon in Utah years ago.  They were not marked.
 think that Green River Rifle Barrel made the full range of GRRW barrels on the same machines and to the same specs.
Roger B.

[Don Stith]

Can't say whether it is or not. There were a number of barrels that came out the backdoor. Long after Doc banned the production of 13/16-45 cal; they were available in the primitive area at Friendship. Usually required straightening but they shot well.

[Stophel]

I'd say that a barrel that weighed eleven pounds was WAY too heavy for anything other than a bench rifle!!

 

[Don Stith]

I'd say that a barrel that weighed eleven pounds was WAY too heavy for anything other than a bench rifle!!

 

Read that thirteen sixteenths. not one and three sixteenths
 Doc banned them because they crawled on the planer.

[Ezra]

I sent, and recived back a message from Doc.  See below:

From: "doc white" <removed by moderator>
Date: June 24, 2013, 6:16:07 PM PDT
To: "Loren Rogers" <removed by moderator>
Subject: Re: Green River barrel question

Could be a GRRW, we made a lot with that description. Usually, these days, if the barrel has seven grooves it is a GRRW. DOC

[Herb]

The GRRW catalog I have from 1978 shows they have Plumb Center Barrels in .69 caliber with 1 1/4" flats, 1-60 twist, and a plug of 7/8"-14.  I shot in a match at Vernal about 1979 with Doc White and others.  There was a GRRW employee there, I did not know him, but he shot a .69 GRRW Hawken with a humongous powder load.  It would turn him half around when he shot, and he couldn't hit the backstop, but he liked to shoot it.  A few times.  Doc and I were tied and we finally got backed up to 200 yards, but I didn't know the drop of my .45 Leman so he finally beat me.  I have a GRRW .50 barrel that "crawled the planer", it is a .50 in 15/16"x36" with a 5/8" deep plug thread, 3/4"x16, though the catalog shows the 15/16" .50 to have a 5/8-18 breech size.  The flats are a little lop-sided, and vary from .945 to .927 at the breech.  I will file them square and use the odd one on the bottom.  This barrel a friend of mine picked up off the floor at GRRW in about 1979, as a discard, and Doc gave it to him.  He gave it to me a while back, and I will make some kind of Hawken with it.