rifle barrel used for pistol

[hortonstn]

a friend of mine has a 10 inch piece of 45 cal  rifle barrel he wants me to make a pistol with
will this work and what kind of a load should be used
your suggestions welcomed
paul

[Bob Roller]

Most muzzle loading target pistols have a fast twist even for a round ball.
For whatever reson,the cut off section of rifle barrels while usable are not
very accurate. On the other side of that coin.a well reamed smooth bore
in 40 to 45 caliber will work well at 25 meters.
I think Rice barrels is making pistol barrels for Helmut Mohr,a world champion
10 or more times with both flint and percussion pistols can tell you about the
proper twist. Old time American champions like W.A.Carver made match winners
from sections of 45-70 Springfield barrels that had three lands and grooves and
a turn in 22".They worked and worked well.

Bob Roller

[Dphariss]

a friend of mine has a 10 inch piece of 45 cal  rifle barrel he wants me to make a pistol with
will this work and what kind of a load should be used
your suggestions welcomed
paul

It should shoot into 2-2.5 " at 25 yards. Many modern pistols will do no better than this.
I have made a number from 50-54-58 caliber rifle barrels with no accuracy problems.
However, it may require more powder than the target shooters would want to shoot. A 45 should shoot fine with a 25-35 gr powder charge.
The last one I made was a 58 flint and the owner states that he would shoot an elk at 50 yards with no thought of failure. He also has one I made about 30 years ago that would hit the little buffalo silhouettes every shot at 75 yards at a Rendezvous. I have head shot grouse at 15 yards with it. I think I used 60 gr of FFF in it. But I was hunting and guiding near the north border of YNP at the time. This pistol would shoot 2.5" at 25 yards with this load. Probably better if I worked at it but this was the only group I remember shooting with it. Have a photo of the group someplace.

This is the first test firing of a 54 cal with a 66 twist barrel 25 yards. Think this was 40-45 gr of FFF Swiss. It would easily kill a deer at this distance.



Dan

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

I've made pistols too, around pieces of rifle barrel, and they shoot pretty well, but not as well as a faster twist.  I made a .45 cal pistol out of a brand new piece of cut-off .45-70 bbl from Numrich.  It was 10" long and had a 1:22" twist and was parallel 15/16" AF.  I could cover all five shots @ 25 yds. with a quarter, using 25 grains of FFFg GOEX and a .018" denim spit patch.  Daryl has a .54 cal rifle cut-off barrel on his pistol, and uses light rifle loads (~60 grains) for great accuracy.

[bgf]

I would think that at 25 yards or so (plenty of range for most pistols in informal matches and for plinking), it would shoot better than a smoothbore and not quite as well as a faster twist using a typical, small pistol charge.  Dan's results look and sound great if you need a longer range and don't mind the bigger charge.  Maybe look at it as an advantage -- I suspect you could shoot a lot more powder in it if necessary for a flatter trajectory/longer range than you could in a really fast twist pistol barrel.  On the downside, it wouldn't be first choice for serious (e.g. Friendship) pistol shooters.

[Dphariss]

I had one 54 percussion that liked 70 grains. Too much for most but it shot best. Killed a deer with it.
Now that it has snowed a little maybe I can do some shooting without setting fire to the country side.
I need to do some FL pistol shooting and I have a rifle I need to shoot for hunting season. But the county was (and still is SFAIK) in stage II fire restrictions.

Dan

[Daryl]

 
Here's that rifle barreled pistol Taylor spoke of above - quite accurate making 2 1/2" groups off the bags at 50yards. I suspect if the sights were better, it would do under 2". The rear sight is simply 2 tiny brads with the domed heads sticking up off the tang, barely above the top barrel flat. Recoil is easy, but has 'some' climb. The bore is .530", so I use a .526" ball and .020" patch - 55gr. 3F in it's 66" twist.




I have a percussion lock along with a 7/8" 18" twist .45 barrel for this pistol, which also fits perfectly in the stock. I use 20 to 25gr. 3f in it. That load makes them touch at 25 yards, off a rest.

[northmn]

I have had similar experience to Dpharssis.  Before the fast twist barrels were offered some would buy a 42" barrel and saw it off to get a pistol barrel at 2 for the price of one.  As Dan said, they like a little more powder than the target pistols but they worked very well.  About 35-40 grains for a 45.  Depends on your use. 
Sawing off 45-70 barrels was an old trick before they started making fast twist pistol barrels. 

DP

[jamesthomas]

 Thats what I'm doing. 42" Barrel cut to 33". I'm getting the rest of it (9" inches) made into a pistol. It's a 50 caliber Green Mountain so its a 1 in 70 twist. Plan on carrying it deer hunting in case I need a finishing shot. Other than that it will be a plinking pistol at the range 25 yard max.