Sharon Barrels

[Daryl]

First of all, I had one, back in the mid 70's.  It was a .36 and it had a wawawawawawawawawawawa-type bore - as Hall was trying to make a deep grooved button'd barrel.  The metal would move out of the way of the button, then move back at least part way, giving a surface you could feel- tight/loose/tight/loose etc down the tube - sort of rippled like sand on a shallow angle beach - you could fell it with a tightly patched ball or even a patch on a jag. TC's shallow rifling barrels were similar, but not as bad, still difficult to look at through the bore at even a 60 watt bulb.

Question is this - did Hall Sharon cut rifle barrels as well?  Reason for asking - I'm told my new .32 Tenn. rifle has a Sharon barrel. The rifling appears to be about .008" deep, has narrow grooves and wider lands, opposite what I've come to think is best.  I cannot feel any irregularities inside the bore - it 'feels' to be a cut rifled barrel.

[flintriflesmith]

About 1987 or so Jon Laubach and I each built .62 caliber rifles using Sharon barrels. We were told that they were the first two made in that caliber and among the first tapered and flared barrels they made. Definately cut rifled. Shot great!

Here's a link to pictures of it on my web site.

http://www.flintriflesmith.com/GunshopEraGuns/62_caliber.htm

Gary

[Daryl]

tks, Gary.

[stuart cee dub]

My understanding was that the 50 cal and above were cut rifled.
I still have my first third and eighth rifle (The original restocked twice... I was a slow learner) all of which had a sharon barrel, very smooth , even and mirror -like in the inside .Very accurate .
What does one barrel prove anyway? 

[Daryl]

1st two Sharon barrels made in that calibre.

[flintriflesmith]

9-22-09

Gary,

Could you clarify your comment, "We were told that they were the first two made in that caliber and among the first tapered and flared barrels they made". Are you saying you were told that Sharon Barrel Company was the first to make a 62 caliber rifle barrel?

Best Regards,
 

As Daryl said -- among the first, if not the first, Sharon barrels made in .62 caliber. I have no idea what other makers had done previously.

Gary

[Don Getz]

I remember looking at an octagon to round Sharon barrel......looked pretty "klunky" to me.   The transition from octagon
to round has to be done right, the wedding band should not be cut down "into" the round part, just doesn't look right.
The wedding band should stand above the round portion.  As Gary said, those were the first 62 cal. barrels made by Sharon.   We were making them in the late 70's.............Don

[rich pierce]

I'm also pretty sure some guys were making .62 barrels back in the 1500s.  Just kidding.
I agree their oct to round barrels were klunky, but they were available and we were happy to get anything back then.  My .50 and .54 Sharon barrels both were smooth to load and shot well as I can shoot.  But my old GRRW barrel shoots better than I can shoot, as do high end or semi-custom barrels  from several makers nowadays.

[jim meili]

I've got a Sharon barrel in 45 caliber that is smooth and even inside with nine deep grooves. It is about 43 inches long now, finished. I built the gun around 1980 as close as I can remember.

[northmn]

They were a common barrel in about the 1980's, and I believe the comment about those under 50 being button rifled is what I remember.  There was a maker that did that and I think they were the ones.  If I remember the Sharon company also had a Hawken kit like everyone else back then.  They shot OK and were better than most of the shooters.  They also went bust mostly due to business management and a debt greater than the incomes. 

DP

[76 warlock]

Back in 1976 I bought 3 Sharon kits from Old West Arms in Lakewood Co, I still have them. About 1980-5 Old West had a bunch of Sharon barrels left over so I bought 3 of them for spares. Those barrels will shoot, I have a .54 that would shoot MOA out to 100 yds. I believe they had .62 cal in the early 1980s

[Daryl]

So far, my .32 will only manage 2 MOA at 50 yards - that's 1" for 5.  I'm happy with that.

[westerner]

In the 80s I had a CVA Mountain? Hawken? rifle. It had two wedges. It had the ripples in the barrel. I paid eighty dollars for it at a pawn shop in Provo Utah. It was the most accurate MLr I have ever owned.  Felt funny when loading for sure. 

             Joe.