.67 or .68 Rifled Barrels?

[Bsharp]

I have a .662 and a .675 mold.

They need barrels!

Anyone building a .670 and a .680 rifled bore barrel? [slow twist]

Just looking toward the future, not an immediate need.

[wattlebuster]

Charles Burton of FCI barrels and Bobby Hoyt in Pennsylvania. I dont have their contact info but it should be fairly easy to find.

[smylee grouch]

I have one of the FCI barrels in a .660 and i'm sure others can make you any bore size you need if you give them some time.

[Daryl]

Ed Rayle makes a 16 bore barrel slightly oversize to use the Lyman .662" mould.
I use .662", .675/7" and .682" balls in my .69 rifle by adjusting patch thickness, thus a
.69 will handle both of your moulds.

All rest shooting at 50yards.

[Bsharp]

Daryl, you are being funny, adjust patch thickness. When you could have different rifles!

Just shot my first three rounds thru "Ole Ugly".

125FF mild kick. [20 gauge] Patches look Great, found some Sno-Seal while looking for some Neat's-foot.

28" BBL at 1303 fps. only checked one.

Looks like the 1-90 twist will be OK!

.686 dia ball with pillow ticking is a tight load.

2.1/2" up and 1" right.....ish.

[Daryl]

For me, one thumper is about enough.
Yes - I expect a 90" RoT would work just fine with about any load you would shoot from it.
Mine has a 66" twist.  I would like to have had a slower twist with wider grooves, but GRRW
was the only game in town that I knew of, back in '86.

[R.J.Bruce]

Rice makes the Early Dutch Lancaster pattern in a .66 caliber, which has a bore diameter of 0.672" & a groove diameter of 0.704".

Osprey has one that he purchased here not too long ago. PM him for his reaction to the barrel.

If you call Jason at Rice there is no reason that some of the other patterns couldn't take a groove diameter of 0.704". The EDL waist is 0.850" in diameter, which gives a barrel wall thickness of 0.073". Which is why the dovetail for the tennon in the waist is machined into place by Rice.

A breech diameter of 1.154" would allow for a barrel wall thickness of 0.225" in .66 caliber with the 0.704" groove diameter. That could be finagled into many of the other patterns that Rice offers if one was willing to pay Jason for the extra work.

Edit: The rate of twist for the .66 caliber is 1:56".

[Daryl]

Tks for the info R.J. I would not want deep grooves, especially with a slow twist. The whole idea of the slow twist is that it doesn't need
deep grooves which require a faster twist and tighter combinations.

My old beast of a .69 is still doing fairly well - won 4 (I think, postal matches with it this last year). It has treated me well, filled my freezer
and never refuses to shoot well.
If doing it again, I do think I would go with an Ed Rayle oversized 16, though, still on the 1 1/8" breech, but maybe tapered & 85 to 90"" twist.

[Bsharp]

Daryl, What is a  Ed Rayle oversized 16?

He has some really nice wide grooved bores.

[varsity07840]

My .69 rifle has a 30" barrel 1:90 twist with relatively narrow lands. The bore is .687 and I use a .672 ball and .020 patch. I have to use  a lot of powder to get decent accuracy at 100 yards due to the slow twist. I'm thinking 1:72 would be better in the short barrel with moderate charges. I don't hunt anymore so there's no need to load up 150 gr. charges. I use a patched .662 in my smoothbore flint 1816.

 

[Daryl]

Bsharp - Ed Rayle, I have heard, makes a 16 bore slightly oversize so a .662" Lyman mould (standard) can be used.

Varsity - my whole reason for choosing the .69, was for the "best" all-round calibre for large and/or dangerous game, as per Forsyth's book.
My rifle has a 66" twist, .012" rifling depth and has shot a number of 1" to 1 1/2" 5-shot groups at 100 meters, from a bench rest. I also got one
2 1/2" group at 200yards with it, again, bench rested. These all "took" 165gr. 2F GOEX & .030" denim (12ounce) patches. It will shoot decently to
 100yards with a lowly 85gr. 2F GOEX & .021" denim  (10 ounce) as well, using the same .682" ball. With the .675" ball, I used the same .030: denim patch.
So, maybe the 66" twist is best afterall?
GRRW bl. 1 1/8" flat to flat.  .690" bore .714" groove diameter 66" RoT.
The groove at 11 o'clock shows some rod wear, but doesn't seem to hurt accuracy.  About 5,000 shots through it.

[Bsharp]

Daryl, and it is  7 groove?

[Osprey]

Rice makes the Early Dutch Lancaster pattern in a .66 caliber, which has a bore diameter of 0.672" & a groove diameter of 0.704".

Osprey has one that he purchased here not too long ago. PM him for his reaction to the barrel.

If you call Jason at Rice there is no reason that some of the other patterns couldn't take a groove diameter of 0.704". The EDL waist is 0.850" in diameter, which gives a barrel wall thickness of 0.073". Which is why the dovetail for the tennon in the waist is machined into place by Rice.

A breech diameter of 1.154" would allow for a barrel wall thickness of 0.225" in .66 caliber with the 0.704" groove diameter. That could be finagled into many of the other patterns that Rice offers if one was willing to pay Jason for the extra work.

Edit: The rate of twist for the .66 caliber is 1:56".

No reaction yet.  I've got it in a piece of maple and RR hole drilled, but then got off track on a new .50 flintlock for monthly matches in a piece of really wormy red maple...

[Bsharp]

This is the .69 Oregon bore:

[JCKelly]

Ed Rayle makes his barrels of real steel meant to handle explosions.

The majority of American muzzle-loading barrels are made of screw stock.

No one who knows steel would use screw stock to with stand sudden, heavy stresses.

Especially where human life & limb are concerned.

[Dobyns]

I talked to Ed a month ago at the W VA Longrifle show and he said he has a 2 year backlog. 

I saw Hoyt this morning, and he has work, but no ridiculous backlog.  Bobby can also cut gain twist.    You'll have to call and ask about bore size, groove depth and width, and what steel.  My suggestion would be to call 7-8am EST, and it may take several tries over several days.

[Badenpowell]

Daryl, what sights do you have on your .69 bore? There is obviously nothing wrong with a 1:66 twist considering the wonderful groups you are getting.
And good gracious, 5,000 shots!

-- Billfromoregon on the old Nitroexpress forums

[Daryl]

Hi Bill. I have the express sight that Brownells sells. I thing the dovetailed, 1 standing and 3 leaf blank is around $135.00
US now. It can also come with the adapter for round barrels.