old douglas barrel question

[Hungry Horse]

 I have an old Douglas barrel that is .45 cal. 15/16ths across the flats and 44" long. I seem to remember that these barrels were usually shortened a bit, to remove the tool runout from the rifling process. How much do they need to be shortened?

                    Hungry Horse

[chubby]

Good day to you Hungry Horse, I have two douglas barrels that i use as is at 44&half inches.one is 45 other is 32  I did not cut them. They both shoot great!! I have not heard of cutting them? Great shooting to ya!  Chubby

[Hungry Horse]

 Chubby;

  The best part of this story is that I was given this barrel, by a friend that found it, and others, at the local land fill. The Douglas was new. It had never been breeched, or had sight, or mounting dovetails cut into it.  I alway assumed some old guy, had them squirreled away, and died before he got a chance to build guns from them. Who ever cleaned out his house probably thought those old rusty pieces of iron were junk. Lucky for me.
 This barrel is marked .45 and 66 on the muzzle. I assume this is the caliber, and the rate of twist. If so this is a slow twist barrel for a .45 cal.

                   Hungry Horse

[chubby]

Hungry Horse, Mine is marked the same, 15/16 - 45- 66 its still there lol, i built it back in 1984 only having a good picture book to go by! still have my first one and still shoots better than i can hold!!   Chubby

[Hungry Horse]

Chubby;

  Maybe I'll belay the saw, and leave her full length. Thanks.

               Hungry Horse

[moleeyes36]

I bought a Douglas barrel from Dixie Gun Works in the late 70's that's 13/16" across the flats and 42" long.  It's marked 36 and 66 on the muzzle and is a .36 caliber with a 66 rate of twist.  It was a number of years before I built a rifle for it because I was leery of such a slow rate of twist for a .36 caliber barrel.  When I did build the rifle, I coned the barrel so if there was any tool run out from the rifling process I may have eliminated it in the process. 

As for the slow rate of twist in that caliber, I found that by increasing the powder charge some it is an excellent shooter.  I've gotten over 6,000 shots through the barrel with no decrease in accuracy. 

Mole Eyes

[westbj2]

Mole,
When you breech the Douglas barrel, the proper procedure with it is to fit the plug so that "G.R. Douglas" is on the bottom flat.  If you look closely, you will notice that the name stamp is on the flat with maximum run-out.  Breeched with the name 'down' will result in sight adjustment only involving the vertical up-down axis. 
Douglas did recommend shorting at the muzzle by 2".  They were concerned with bore variation at the muzzle because of their rifling procedure.
If the barrel is marked with "XX" in addition, that means there is no run-out and they sold it at a $10 premium for their luck in coming out dead center.
They are good shooters.
Jim Westberg

[moleeyes36]

Jim,

When I built the rifle and used that Douglas barrel about 12 or so years ago, I did indeed breech the barrel with the makers stamp on the bottom flat.  A friend of mine that makes some very fine rifles told me that about Douglas barrels when I started the project.  As to the bore variations at the muzzle, I coned the muzzle so I may have taken care of any of those if there were any.  And since the barrel was only 42 inches to begin with I didn't want to shorten it.  But that's something Hungry Horse, who started this thread, might want to keep in mind when he builds a rifle with his Douglas barrel.

Mole Eyes

[Acer Saccharum]

Test for barrel choke by pushing a tight fitting ball down the bore. If it runs with even pressure all the way thru, or gets slightly tighter at the muzzle, you are in luck. If the ball suddenly pushes easily as you get to the muzzle, cut that section off.

It's easy to make a mark on the rod where the loose spot begins, then pull the rod out, lay it on the bbl to mark the bbl.

One should always check their barrels before making ANY cuts, before inletting. Sometimes there is a tear in the rifling or terrible loose spot. If you discover this soon after you purchase it, you can return for a refund or exchange. If you've inlet bbl, and cut tenons, or shortened the bbl, or a bunch of time goes by before you discover the bad spot, it's MUCH harder to make good on it.

[rsells]

I like Douglas barrels and have never had one that didn't shoot great.  I pay attention on how I index the runout on the breech end of the barrel, and cut 1 inch off the muzzle end of the barrel. 
                                                                                    Roger Sells

[Dphariss]

Chubby;

  The best part of this story is that I was given this barrel, by a friend that found it, and others, at the local land fill. The Douglas was new. It had never been breeched, or had sight, or mounting dovetails cut into it.  I alway assumed some old guy, had them squirreled away, and died before he got a chance to build guns from them. Who ever cleaned out his house probably thought those old rusty pieces of iron were junk. Lucky for me.
 This barrel is marked .45 and 66 on the muzzle. I assume this is the caliber, and the rate of twist. If so this is a slow twist barrel for a .45 cal.

                   Hungry Horse

All Douglas ML barrels 32 and up were 66 twist.  EXCEPT those made for Golden age arms and these are 7 groove 48 twist. And the barrels Douglas marketed as Hawken barrels, also 48 twist.

Dan

[Don Tripp]

That's surely a once in a lifetime find. In 1997 a friend who works in a salvage yard brought me a 15/16" .50 caliber barrel that is 35" inches long and was untouched, no mortises, no breech plug and shiny bore. I didn't know of any barrel maker that ever produced a 35" barrel, I'd only seen 36" and 42". I still have it, just haven't found a project for such a short barrel. This barrel came in with a load of scrap metal in the back of somebodies pick up truck. He looked all over for more barrels in that load but found nothing. Once in a lifetime...

[B Shipman]

YES, you may get lucky, but Douglas barrels were blanks that were meant to be shortened to eliminate any chance of run out at the muzzle. And they will shoot better if they are. Dphariss is, of course, right about the twists. They were made in a period when swamped barrels were just being introduced and balance was achieved by shortening a straight barrel.
One of the most popular barrels in the  70's and early 80's for general target shooting and even hunting was the Douglass .45 x 7/8th chopped to 40 inches.
Manageable with a little hang. Douglas made no .50 x 15th in. which is a mystery.
You had to go to 1 in. and thus a very short barrel. And thus the .45.