re barrel

[54ball]

  I have a Gillespie Rifle that I just love to hunt with.  The only problem is, I wish it was in .50 instead of .45.

  How much trouble would it be to simply swap barrels?

  I know I will have a lot of metal work to do with the tang and it must match the old barrel perfectly.  It has a 38" Rice B profile.

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

I recently added a 20 gauge smooth bored barrel to a .62 cal rifle.  John Getz made me a matching barrel, but since the lapsed time between the first build and the addition of the new barrel, I could not get a breech plug to match the old one in the rifle barrel.  So I sawed and filed one from a bar of 1 1/4" bar stock.  Matching the profile and the plug is going to be your only challenge.

[Dphariss]

  I have a Gillespie Rifle that I just love to hunt with.  The only problem is, I wish it was in .50 instead of .45.

  How much trouble would it be to simply swap barrels?

  I know I will have a lot of metal work to do with the tang and it must match the old barrel perfectly.  It has a 38" Rice B profile.

I replaced a 38" B swamp brand X with a Green Mountain B swamp and it fit perfect. Easy swap.

Dan

[54ball]

 Thanks fellas.

[Dennis Glazener]

I have a Gillespie Rifle that I just love to hunt with.  The only problem is, I wish it was in .50 instead of .45.

  How much trouble would it be to simply swap barrels?

  I know I will have a lot of metal work to do with the tang and it must match the old barrel perfectly.  It has a 38" Rice B profile.

54ball,
If I were you I would call Jason at Rice Barrel's and ask him if he might have or would make you a barrel that would fit the barrel channel. I suspect he will take care of it for you. He sent me a replacement for a .50 that a customer wanted in .36 caliber. It fit absolutely perfectly.

I feel sure the tang on yours was made from the Rice fan tail style tang. Just cut or forge it to a point that will fit the current mortise. Then be sure the barrel tenons are the exact same place as now on the .45. Then use the same cross pin holes.

Dennis

[Dphariss]

Be very careful in putting under lugs on the B weight 50, its pretty thin in the waist.
This was one of the reasons I rebarreled the rifle mentioned above. The waist dovetail was deep and the breeching was really poorly done. The latter could have been fixed, the deep dovetail no.

Dan

[cmac]

Have you thought about just having the existing barrel bored and rifled to a 50? I had a 50 bored to a 54 by R.A. Hoyt. Think it ran me $120

[54ball]

  That's an option I have not thought about.

  I may consider it.  I was thinking that since it shoots so well that I might build another for my son with the .45 barrel.

[Daryl]

If it cost only $120.00 to re-bore from Bobby - it is a LOT cheaper than a new barrel, britch plug, sights, plus fitting, filing finishing, etc.

[greybeard]

Be very careful in putting under lugs on the B weight 50, its pretty thin in the waist.
This was one of the reasons I rebarreled the rifle mentioned above. The waist dovetail was deep and the breeching was really poorly done. The latter could have been fixed, the deep dovetail no.

Dan

[/quote
Dan.  If a body were to cut a 35 thou dovetail in the waist area where the wall is .710 thick and after was told it has a safety issue!!  Could you make a filler of mild steel, tight fit in the dovetall and affix it in place with soft solder would it be considered safe.. as it out there 10 inches from the muzzle where the pressure is quite reduced. I realise that it would be a bit weaker than if it were never done in the first place bit I am thinking it would be safe enough that far foreward of the breech.
Thanks for your thoughts on this ?     Bob

[cmac]

The $120 rebore I had done was about 6-7 years ago. Not sure of the current prices. Of course you may be waiting a bit on a rebore too. Depending on his schedule. If it is a good barrel and you have the money for another I would go that route if it isn't going to be a problem with fit

[JDK]

[/quote
Dan.  If a body were to cut a 35 thou dovetail in the waist area where the wall is .710 thick and after was told it has a safety issue!!  Could you make a filler of mild steel, tight fit in the dovetall and affix it in place with soft solder would it be considered safe.. as it out there 10 inches from the muzzle where the pressure is quite reduced. I realise that it would be a bit weaker than if it were never done in the first place bit I am thinking it would be safe enough that far foreward of the breech.
Thanks for your thoughts on this ?     Bob

Bob,  Feel free to ignore me if you were baiting Dan here but, what would be the difference between soldering a tight piece of mild steel into the dovetail and soldering in a tight mild steel tenon other than one would have wood hanging off of it.?   On the second issue 35 thou is just over 1/32 of an inch as I figure it.  I don't know about 10" from the breech but on that barrel the thinnest part is about 2 feet from the breech.  There are allot of old round barreled guns with thin walls that have dovetailed tennons...even brass tenons.....that are still in one piece.  I don't know the science but I guess part of it is up the comfort level of the user/builder.  J.D.

[Bob Roller]

If the barrel wall thickness IS .710 thick and the dovetail cut is only .035 deep then there is NO safety issue that I can see.

Bob Roller

[aflo]

What long rifle barrel has a wall thickness of .710?? That would weigh a ton.

[JDK]

I thought the .710 was surely a typo as I don't believe anyone would argue that safety in that senario. 

So, what was the point in asking the safety question about the dovetail?      J.D.

[Habu]

Perhaps he meant to say the barrel is .710" across the flats at that point?