Going to fresh a barrel, hopefully.

[rich pierce]

Am just using pure lead as it’s all I’ve got.  The grooves are no problem; the cutter follows great.  So far no problems cutting the tops of the lands either. Might re-pour the leads soon as they are looking shabby.

[rich pierce]

Short update, that may give some insight into how much a barrel’s caliber might grow with freshing.  This barrel is an extreme example.  Although prominent rifling was present, it was dark in that bore and the muzzle was coned.

The first slug driven through the bore measured 0.355 from groove to land.

After much freshing to where a lot of the “bark” was gone and groove and land cutters were cutting most of the way from end to end, it slugged at 0.364.

Tonight after more work I ended up with a slug at .369.  So the bore has grown 0.014”.

I slugged the first inch at the muzzle where the cone is and it measures 0.374.

I have some pits left, so plan to go to about 0.380 total, land to groove on the slug.  That should take another couple to 3 hours working solo with a simple wooden freshing stick.  That will be 0.025” increase in bore size, just about as much work as rifling a barrel from scratch, maybe more. The barrel should be nearly clean end to end by then.

So far there seems to be no way to really mess it up.  On each slug driven through the bore, the measurements from each land to opposite groove are very consistent, within 0.001”. 

[Craig Wilcox]

Rich, following as you "freshened" the barrel, I have learned a bunch of useful information, and appreciate it.
You would probably do pretty good as a teacher - you explain things very well.

[DICKH]

       The Bill Large letter in Cline's book THE MUZZLE-LOADING RIFLE THEN and NOW, telling Cline
how he recut barrels.

      He said that on a perfect barrel with lands and grooves of the same width the finished land should
have a radius which will allow one to see a little light when a naked ball is fitted, that is see a little light
at center of land.

       When the surface of the ball just fits the curve of the land the groove must be made deeper a bad
practice, in my opinion.

       He also said lube the saw with lard oil or groundhog oil.
       
       Maybe Bob Roller remember something about Bills concave lands. Letter dated June 11 1934.

  Richard Henderson

[rich pierce]

I got another 0.003”; took me a while to pour a new lead, and inset the cutters, then get after it.   Now the lands and grooves shine from one end to the other.  However I have a probably inconsequential pit at the breech and a jagged, deep, sizeable fouling catcher 2 and a half” from the muzzle. 

4 choices come to mind:
1) Go all the way till that pit is gone.  Nope, it would take a month and I’d probably be at 44 caliber.
2) call it shoot-able, and restore the relic, homely SMR to shooting condition.  It needs a breechplug and drum, and I have an old original lock that slops around in the mortise. I doubt with that pit I’d shoot it much.
3) cut the barrel back behind the pit, breech it, add the drum, then do a 3 day Bob Leinemann build patterned after the original using the barrel, guard, and trigger from the original and keep the old stock as a conversation piece.
4) cut the barrel back behind the pit and build a SMR that is considerably less funky using this barrel.

Got to think about it.

[Craig Wilcox]

My vote would be for #3.  It has the potential to be a really nice rifle.

[rich pierce]

Switched to another original barrel this morning.  What a difference when starting with a barrel that is not coned, nor rough as a cob!  The bore was dark as can be when starting, but 3 shims and the lands are trimmed, an hour and a half’s work.  It was cutting full length right away and I think that is diagnostic. I expect about another hour and a half to deepen the grooves and I will be done with it.  So choose your old barrels well if you decide to fresh them.  I’d say if you have a modern barrel that is pitted, say one shot for years with pyrodex, freshing it could be a morning’s work after casting the lead and making the cutters the night before. Unless microscopic pits run really deep.

[rich pierce]

On the second barrel that was in better shape, I gained 0.006 tonight in the grooves.  The grooves are looking very square now so I have gone past “bottom” of the original grooves.  Will see what the guys say about the barrel tomorrow night at our club’s work night.  It might be close to done.

I did chip a tooth on the cutter tonight.  I think it happened because on this barrel I am attempting to widen the grooves about 0.010 more or less. The original grooves were very narrow, about 1/16” wide in a .36 cal barrel more or less. Using a cutter a little wider than the original grooves probably puts huge strain on the edges of the cutter.  anybody try to widen the grooves during freshing before?  Is there a good and easy way to accurately measure groove width on a  rough barrel in need of freshing the rifling?

Since I am winging it I am probably making some rookie mistakes.  Next time I will make sure the cutter is at least 0.001 wider at the teeth than along the body. Sort of like “set” on a saw allows the blade to cut and not stick. 

[rich pierce]

Added notes:
For shims under the rifling cutter:
Tissue paper often used in gift wrapping is 0.001” and can work. 
Cigarette rolling paper runs about 0.002” which is quite a jump sometimes
Plastic Mylar-looking labels off plastic soda bottles are super sturdy at 0.002”
Thin receipt paper runs about 0.002” also and works well for shims. 
Tracing paper runs around 0.002”
So far, only tissue wrapping paper is 0.001 and strong enough and not too floppy to fit into the slot without excess frustration.

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

I have onion skin paper I use for patching slicks for my Sharps that is .0015".  It is tough and doesn't compress.  Wax paper measures .001" which surprised me.  Neat project Rich.  That is perhaps the homelyest rifle I've ever seen, but it has historic value galore and should be preserved as is, in my opinion.

[rich pierce]

Well, Taylor, I was afraid somebody would suggest that!  If I do go that route of a form of restoration, I think my 2 options are 1) to ignore the wormhole at the muzzle and the rough powder chamber and just have fun plinking with it using the 3/8” breechplug, or 2) chop an original rifle as though it is an “in use” repair (freshing, re-breeching, and cutting back from the muzzle).  Replacing or lining the barrel seem out to me.  I could have it bored out and rifled by someone else till it’s clean end to end but that seems uninteresting to me.  A member of our club has a rifling machine and another option would be to drill it, ream it, and re-rifle it. All would be time-expensive, valuable learning experiences.

[DICKH]

  For shims I used .001 steel shim stock, liked it better then any paper I used.


  Richard Henderson

[Daryl]

Well done Rich. I admire and applaud your much needed tenacity and the patience of Jobe. Well done.

[bgf]

I'm going to argue against restoration, because I think you have an accurate user-done period (of use) repair/restock and likely are missing original parts, namely side plate and possibly a patchbox.  Other parts have been modified to fit, it appears.

The historical value is (for me) in the assembly.  I might add a lock and shoot it for fun a couple of times, since you have worked on the barrel.

Unfortunately, a copy of the original is impossible.  If you like the style, try to find a more complete original that shares traits that are clearly original on this one and helps to fill in some of the gaps, then copy that.

That's just my opinion.  However you go, you got your $40 worth !  My guess someone used it in this current form for some time.

[rich pierce]

Well, need to cipher on it for a while.  Do I want/need a plinker?  I feel I do need a bench gun and this barrel is heavy and long.  Still thinking.  If anybody has original barrels they want to get rid of, or freshed, I’m in freshing mode.  Would need pictures of the bore at both ends.