making barrels from round stock

[camerl2009]

so what about making barrels from soild round stock im thinking of a howdah barrel set made from soild round bar
i have some round bar thats about 1" OD and was thinking it would be easy to make a solid barrel from it            no taping for a breech plug just drill the bore shape the tang and shape it for the nipple (like what you see on double barrel percussion guns)

now i need a drill bit long enough with a 1/2" shank and a .625" head  and im going to need a drill bit small enough to fit in my drill press to start the hole

i think drilling it in steps would be the way to go start small and work my way up

[bob in the woods]

How long a barrel are you thinking of making?  In my experience, drilling a long/deep  straight hole with a drill press is not doable.  The bit wanders and thats why they forged the old barrels. You need that hole as a guide for the bit and reamer. A gun barrel drill machine is a special machine.  If only a short pistol barrel, you might be able to do it, but starting with a long small bit, will only wander all the more.
Try drilling a hole in a pipe tomahawk handle !  I've seen more than one with a hole out the side.

[camerl2009]

How long a barrel are you thinking of making?  In my experience, drilling a long/deep  straight hole with a drill press is not doable.  The bit wanders and thats why they forged the old barrels. You need that hole as a guide for the bit and reamer. A gun barrel drill machine is a special machine.  If only a short pistol barrel, you might be able to do it, but starting with a long small bit, will only wander all the more.
Try drilling a hole in a pipe tomahawk handle !  I've seen more than one with a hole out the side.

lol yea idk maybe this is for someone that has a lathe the barrel i was thinking of what maybe 12" and that wont fit on my small drill press i would need to go to the bigger one at my uncles(no room for it in my basement)

[Acer Saccharum]

I dunno, but my gut says just buy some barrels already made. I don't like the idea of making bbls up from some unknown barstock. Too many accidents out there to take this lightly.

[bob in the woods]

There is a way to do it. I did a brass pistol barrel, but made up a support fixture on my workbench. The drill ground like a boring bit and a support "sleeve/bearing was installed and supported  it about 1/2 to 3/4 in behind the bit face, and along the shaft as well. I cleared the chips constantly, and used a brace. All by hand, it took me many hours to do it, but it worked.  Not something I'd want to do again, but it was fun to try it. From a practical stand point, unless you want the experience of forging a barrel, I'd just buy them. The barrels available today are a bargain.

[rich pierce]

Good advice from Bob and Tom here.  Just buy a barrel.  There's too much risk involved making a barrel with unknown materials in the hands of a person with no experience.  This is not a good topic for the forum in my opinion since it involves unknown and therefore potentially high risks.

Folks here are more than happy to give advice on building longrifles and associated accoutrements and arms.  But barrels are best made by experienced professionals.  It's not what most builders do; it's well outside the scope of the normal build.

If I was dead set on doing some kind of barrel work I'd start by learning how to breech an unthreaded cutoff barrel.   You can be sure I'd have an experienced builder giving me advice in the room while I was doing it.  Then maybe turn it octagon to round, etc.  Small steps to build understanding and experience.

The fella that got me involved in muzzleloading in the 1970's was a risk-taker, a $#*! bent for leather guy who was proud to announce, "Fire on one end, fool on the other!" while he double-loaded cheap imported percussion guns.  The day he blew the drum out of the gun was the last time we shot together.  Black powder is an explosive; that's my point.

[camerl2009]

well barrels i want are not on the market thats for sure im looking for a 12ga double set for a howdah pistol i know i can use a set of double barrels off a cartridge gun but thats a hard to find thing here when i only have 1 gun shop

so making my own is what needs to be done i think i got just the right stuff a guy i know used it for a blunderbuss barrel .750"x.250 wall seamless aircraft tubing i dont want to hear it that tubing is not use able for barrels becuse it is enough said on that some people i know said it was good enough and thay make cartridge guns from it

there is no experienced gunbuilder anywhere close to me to help so i have to do every thing my self

black powder is no more a explosive then smokeless we know that but the gov marks it differnt

black powder is alot lower on the PSI then smokless ive seen barrels that i would not touch say hardwhere store black pipe

[California Kid]

Are you for real, or are you just trying to stir the pot.
Shame you ruined that set of barrels from Taylor.

[Dphariss]

well barrels i want are not on the market thats for sure im looking for a 12ga double set for a howdah pistol i know i can use a set of double barrels off a cartridge gun but thats a hard to find thing here when i only have 1 gun shop

so making my own is what needs to be done i think i got just the right stuff a guy i know used it for a blunderbuss barrel .750"x.250 wall seamless aircraft tubing i dont want to hear it that tubing is not use able for barrels becuse it is enough said on that some people i know said it was good enough and thay make cartridge guns from it

there is no experienced gunbuilder anywhere close to me to help so i have to do every thing my self

black powder is no more a explosive then smokeless we know that but the gov marks it differnt

black powder is alot lower on the PSI then smokless ive seen barrels that i would not touch say hardwhere store black pipe

Heh heh heh!

Three Stooges gun making.

Dan

[camerl2009]

Are you for real, or are you just trying to stir the pot.
Shame you ruined that set of barrels from Taylor.

i did not ruin the barrels from taylor thay where cracked nothing you can do about it there old my guess is it was covered/filled by dirt becuse once i cleaned it thats when i seen it its right on a weld on a 100+ year only set of barrels nothing you can do i knew what i was getting into with damascus barrels im just upset that its money gone and these barrels will not be used it sucks the pitting is so light in the bores its a shame