Hunting rifle barrel dimensions?

[Habu]

Just out of curiosity, what are the dimensions of the barrels on folks' hunting rifles?  Length, measurements across the flats (or standard profiles), and bore.  Let's keep this to big-game rifles--deer or larger.

Thanks,
Jim

[necchi]

That's a wide open question.
I've taken deer with 3 different rifles two factory stock and the other a GM drop in,
A CVA MR in 50
A TC Renegade in 54 and
A Cabelas Hawken with a 54 drop in
Nothing glorious here.

[Standing Bear]

.40   7/8x42 straight  1/66
.50   15/16x28 straight TC Hawken 48 twist maxi ball
.50   1" x 36 straight Special cut 1/56 twist
.50   1" x42 straight 1/66
.54   1" x 32 straight 1/66


TC

[Candle Snuffer]

1" x 28" - .54
1" x 36" - .54
15/16" x 36" - .50
15/16" x 32" - .50
7/8" x 36" - .45

All straight octagon

(Note - I really don't like to lug around that 1" x 36" - .54 any longer as it weighs in at 10.25 pounds.  These days I prefer something lighter between 8 to 9 pounds).

[Long John]

My big game rifle is a PA longrifle with a Getz, 47 inch long, 54 caliber, 1 turn in 72 inches swamped barrel.  Shoots real good!

Best Regards,

John Cholin

[Swampwalker]

My most used deer rifle is a full stocked plains style with hooked breech with two interchangeable barrels each 34 inches long and 1 inch across, no taper or swamp.  One barrel is rifled .50, the other .62 smooth - perfect for still hunting in eastern Virginia where rifles are not allowed for hunting from the ground.

[Kermit]

.54 x 42" rifled OTR Longhammock--my shortest barrel. I'm retired from that kind of hunting now though.

[bob in the woods]

#1     46 in long oct/round swamped 10 bore, per Chamber's New England fowling gun
# 2     37 in long D weight swamped  .62 cal    [ Chanber's Edward Marshall rifle]
# 3    42 in C weight  .54 cal swamped Colerain barrel

[Dennis Glazener]

My deer rifle is .54 caliber 38" "C" profile Rice.

My fowler is 40" 16 bore sold the 44" one, too long for upland game shooting.
Dennis

[axelp]

rifle:

Rice, 50 cal 38" swamped isaac Haines
Rice 58 cal English Sporter 30" swamped
Hoyt 45 cal 45.75" long swamped
Longhammock 46" oct/r smoothbore in .62

[PPatch]

Making a whitetail deer rifle right now - .45 caliber "A" profile, 42 inch swamped Colerain barrel. Chambers lock.

dp

[hanshi]

.50 - "A" wgt Rice barrel x 38" swamped

.45 - 13/16" x 36" straight

.45 - 15/16" x 25" straight

.45 - 7/8" x 33" straight

.40 - "A" wgt x 38" swamped

[galamb]

40 cal - 13/16" straight, 36" Deer (primary deer rifle for the last 8 years)

50 cal - 7/8" straight, 36" Deer (only use this in unfamiliar hunting areas when I want extra "thump")

54 cal - 1 1/8" tapered to 1", 31" Moose/Deer (sold this - too heavy to carry in my type of hunting)

45 cal - A wt Rice Southern Classic swamp (15/16" breech - 3/4" waist - 13/16" muzzle) - 42" - "new" Deer rifle when it gets finished

Hunt dense hardwoods, usually from a stand (bow stand - primarily an archery hunter). The 42" barrel will make the rifle 61" overall and do not see it as a handicap of any sort either in the woods or from the stand.

[Jerry V Lape]

.54 Getz 38" C weight Isaac Haines

.54 Rayl 42" C weight swamped.

[omark]

13/16 x 42 x .40
1 x 36 x .62

[Ron T.]

Just out of curiosity, what are the dimensions of the barrels on folks' hunting rifles?  Length, measurements across the flats (or standard profiles), and bore.  Let's keep this to big-game rifles--deer or larger.

Thanks,
Jim

******************************************************************

Jim...

I use an older CVA .50 caliber percussion cap Hawken "Hunter-Carbine" rifle with a 24-inch barrel (1:48 twist) weighing 6.5 lbs with standard measurements across it's flats.  It shoots "touching" clumps of 3-shot groups off a good bench-rest at 25 yards with iron sights if I do my job using 70 grains of FFFg Swiss black powder with a thin over-powder, vegetable-fiber wad & a 188 grain Hornady swagged rifle ball wrapped in a .016" thick cotton wad lubed by a mixture of bee's wax & vegetable oil.


Strength & Honor...

Ron T.

[Daryl]

My big game rifle's barrel is 1 1/8" across the flats X 31" long and weighs 9 pounds 6 ounces - unloaded.  It is a 14 bore.


Taylor's Hawken weighs 11pounds, seems to me in .62 with a 1 1/8" tapered octagonal to 1" muzzle - 36" long.

[Bob Roller]

That Hawken is a beauty but my vote goes to 14 bore.
I guess it shows my partiality to English rifles which
I readily admit to.

Bob Roller

[Habu]

Thanks guys.  

My usual hunting rifle has a .54 cal barrel that measures (if I remember right) 38" long, 1" at the breech tapering to around 7/8".  I've hunted a lot with it, and always done OK.  

On the other hand, that Dickert I shot earlier this year has me thinking about heavier barrels; it handled very well for me, as did a Hawken repro with a 38" or so 1" straight barrel.  Then I got to wondering what other folks were using.

[smylee grouch]

All of the rifles that I have had the best luck with hunting had something other than a straight barrel. Most were straight tappered by an 1/8th or 1/16th from breech to muzzle. They seem to swing better for me on running shots and ballence better on standing off hand shots.

[Daryl]

TKS Bob - I might have been a pound out on the Hawken's weight - seems to me now, it's 12 pounds 3oz. (wrong- it is 11 pounds)  I know his Sharps is 11 1/2 pounds,while mine is 12 pounds 6 ounces, 2 pounds over limit for BPCR competition, I think - oh well.

Seems today, people are weak (or lazy) in comparison to those hunters and frontiersman of yesteryear. Rifles today seem so light to me compared with the guns our forefathers packed and shot.
 
Records of Sharps (Sellers) at 18 pounds, Harry Pope writing that a man's offhand rifle should be 16 pounds and a woman's 12 pounds (yes they had butt hooks, but people complain about muzzle weight on their weak left arms) - that sort of thing.

I had a man complain last year at the gun show, that my .32 Squirrel rifle was too heavy as he was attempting to sight it at a far light in the coliseum's ceiling corner.  That thing only weighs 7# 12 oz.  I had even replaced the 5/16's" rod with the hickory one - I use the steel rod and at 8# 9oz., it's still too light, yet with the hickory, it was too heavy for him - interesting.

I say make the gun heavy enough so it can be shot accurately and if too heavy, work out a bit.

[Habu]

A friend has an original barrel that has always fascinated me.  It seems to have been shortened at the muzzle, but is currently around 45" long.  Breech measurement is 1 1/8", tapering down to just over 15/16" around 19" from the breech, then flaring to 1 3/16" at the muzzle. 

It is currently about .42 cal.  I always thought the profile would be nice on a bigger bore, maybe around .50-.54.   This may be going a bit too far into the "heavy barrel" category for a hunting rifle, but on the other hand, it isn't out of line with many used in the past. 

[omark]

Daryl, you mention people being weaker now. my wife and I went through a museum (dont remember where, now) and it was mentioned that the workers were paid according to how many 90# packs they could carry on portage. they said the record was 1 man who could carry 5. I dont know about you, but on my best day, I would have had trouble getting 1/2 of that off the ground, much less portaging. I truly believe people were stronger then.    mark

[KentSmith]

I use a 54 cal 44" custom b-wt from Getz in my TN rifle for in the stand and a 50 cal 38" b-wt Rice in my Lancaster  for still hunting

[WKevinD]

Getz A wt  42" .50 rifled (Early Lancaster)
Getz oct to round 48" .75 smooth (1650 English)