Barrel weight per inch?

[deano]

I know I have seen a chart somewhere that gives the weight of a barrel per inch, maybe the Dixie catalog?  I am trying to balance a rifle I am building by shortening the longish barrel without experimenting by lopping off an inch at a time.  Barrel is a .50 caliber 7/8" to 1" straight taper so I need the weights per inch for both a 7/8" and a 1" in order to get an average, isn't that right? Or should I just use the 7/8" weight since I am only cutting from the muzzle end.

Thanks Ken.

[BrentD]

Ken, I made a spreadsheet calculator that makes these sorts of calculations easy.  In your case, it would be helpful to know the current length of the barrel because the taper depends on length as well as width, and each inch is different in a tapered barrel.  The first inch at the muzzle will be lighter than the last inch at the breech. 

Anyway, if you remember your junior high algebra and geometry, you can pencil out the number or give me the length and I'll do it for you.

Brent

[Ben I. Voss]

If you don't mind a little extra weight, you could add weight to the butt end to get the balance where you want it. Maybe drill a hole under the butt plate and add lead? You could see how much more weight you'd have to add by taping lead to the butt end. Might be worth a try.

[Roger Fisher]

If you don't mind a little extra weight, you could add weight to the butt end to get the balance where you want it. Maybe drill a hole under the butt plate and add lead? You could see how much more weight you'd have to add by taping lead to the butt end. Might be worth a try.

Been there and done that w/a 15/16x45x 39 1/2 it helps (In particular after you become a member of the zipper club)

[deano]

Barrel is 44" long and tapers 1" to 7/8" .50 caliber. I am aiming for balance and a bit less weight if I can get both for a plain jane hunting gun that fits me.  If I can figure out the per inch barrel weight then I can make one cut rather than experimenting one inch at a time.

[bgf]

Using the 7/8" barrel weight per inch should give you a close approximation at the muzzle -- it is a very gradual taper.  Since the barrel is already tapered (thus heavier toward the breech), you won't get as much benefit in terms of moving balance by cutting it as you would with a straight barrel, but then the balance is presumably more how you want it already.  It is a bit of a shame to cut it, though, maybe you could trade for something more like what you want?

[BrentD]

This will be pretty close to the new weights of the barrels.  I don't worry about weight of the rifling and stuff such as that, but the following table gives you
Barrel Length  ---  Weight  ---  Change in weight from previous length in lbs

44.0000   6.6355   
43.0000   6.4847   0.1508
42.0000   6.3339   0.1508

Had to edit this.  I had originally calculated for 54 caliber.  You can see the taper is really pretty unimportant since the barrel is so long and really not tapered very much.  bgf's right.

Brent

[deano]

Thanks for the mathematical help everyone, I noticed Billd's calculator showing up in a later post which is great.  I balanced the barrel which is already inlet into the shaped blank and found the perfect balance point with a 10 ounce counterweight taped to the butt. Now to get started with a hacksaw and lose 4 inches of barrel.

[BrentD]

"balance" with respect to shooting does not refer to the rifle being balanced equally fore and aft of your left hand.  A rifle should balance forward of your left hand if you are right handed shooter - how much heavier the muzzle end should be is a matter of purpose and preference, but an equal balance is not desirable by most folks for most purposes.

Brent

[Don Getz]

If you could tell us how many pounds you must remove from the front end of the rifle, the muzzle as we call it, to make it
balance well, we can figure out how much you have to cut off.   This place is getting wierder and wierder, is it full moon or
what?.............Don

[Bill of the 45th]

I know it's tapered, but just weigh it in ounces, and divide by inches of length.  I know it'll be an average but it will be way less than an ounce per inch, and you don't need to do High School Algebra.   Sell that barrel and get a shorter one, the balance should be fine if the architecture is correct.

Bill