Caliber choices when doing copies of originals

[Wmasswolf]

Question - when you are building a style of gun that was originally in an odd caliber (.38 and .48 are the two I keep finding) do you tend to size up/down in caliber or have the barrel custom drilled? Are there considerations other the the commercial availability of the barrel and proper fitting balls?   

[Hungry Horse]

In my experience many old guns are just enough over what we call a standard caliber that it likely that’s where the landed after freshening them out a time or two.

Hungry Horse

[rich pierce]

A lot of old rifles had funneled muzzles and that’s where they get measured. So 3” in they may be of smaller bore than at the muzzle.

The trend over the last 50 years is to build rifles that weigh 1-4 pounds less than the originals they are based on. Thinner barrels of larger caliber typically accomplish this. Shorter can accomplish the same.

[Daniel Coats]

I've owned the custom drilled guns and it does make you feel a little better but at some point you have to give up. You can only go so far in making it reasonably close to "bench copy" accurate. If you just gotta have one exact then buy the original.

[Stoner creek]

I find it better to copy of the outside of the barrel rather than the bore. For the gun to be enjoyable to use it needs to be comfortable to shoot. Stay with the outside dimensions and get the weight where you want it.

[Seth Isaacson]

It sure seems like most copies are a standard desirable caliber, and that makes the most sense to me unless you are trying to make the piece as purely a collectible copy of an original. We definitely see lots of .45s, .50s, and .54s on guns closely based on originals. Those were of course also fairly popular calibers to begin with.

[Daryl]

I have a very good "copy" "rendition" of a J.P. Beck rifle with .50 cal. Rice gun maker's barrel. I don't mind calling it a JP Beck. One of these days I gotta get O 2 it and finish up the lock.