Douglas GAA Barrel?

[Ky-Flinter]

I picked up a barrel at the CLA Show.  The barrel is marked Douglas GAA.  Does anyone know what GAA stands for?  Thanks.

-Ron

[Nate McKenzie]

Did they make barrels for Golden Age Arms Co.?

[little joe]

Yes Nate they did and they were 7 grove instead of 8 and 1 in 48 twist instead of1 in 66. Good shooters.

[Dphariss]

I picked up a barrel at the CLA Show.  The barrel is marked Douglas GAA.  Does anyone know what GAA stands for?  Thanks.

-Ron

If 7 grooves its Golden Age Arms.

Dan

[jamesthomas]

 One of these days I'll run into a Douglas barrel for sale and I'll be first in line. Would like one with the 1/66 twist though. Just would like to have a barrel made from a oldtimer. I got into this game too late.

[Ky-Flinter]

Thanks guys.  I'll count the grooves tonight. 

-Ron

[Virginiarifleman]

 I have several rifles with Douglas Barrels.over the last 30 yrs they have won more prizes and meat shoots than I can count.and have taken several deer and turkey. wish they still manufactured the BP barrels.

[rtadams]

8-26-14

James e,

I have a Jaeger Rifle barrel with a Douglas bore 62cal x 31" length 1-66 by 8 square groove rifling made in or approximately 1977 - 1980 date period. If interested, please contact me by PM and I can provide details so as not to detract from this subject.

Best Regards,

Robert

[gunmaker]

You won't go wrong with that barrel.  Mine & sons rifle both Douglass XX.  tack drivers to the bone, both over 25 yr. old and still brings home the hillside bacon....Tom

[Bob Roller]

A law suit caused by a blown barrel with hand injuries and the "Anything made for a muzzle loader has to be cheap"attitude of black powder shooters put them out of black powder for good. One of their long time former employees told me these bozos would bitch and gripe if they were charged $10 to install a breech plug.
I ran into the same attitude but I was able to make a living working on high end imported cars and also made bronze bearings for obsolete automatic transmissions and forgot about this black powder game for a long time.
Beginning in 1978,most of my locks and triggers went to Germany where a completely different attitude prevailed and $3 would not stop a muzzle loading project cold.It's still like that and if you ever see one of their magazines like DWJ or Visier you will see why.

Bob Roller

[Ky-Flinter]

Well, the barrel has 8 grooves.  Do you still think the "GAA" stands for Golden Age Arms?  Or something else?  Thanks.

-Ron

[smylee grouch]

Its my understanding that they rifled the bores after they made them octagon so it might be poisible that they stamped them before hand too and one got put into the wrong batch befor rifling.

[rhbrink]

Check the twist all of the Golden Age Arms barrels that I recall seeing had a 48 inch twist.

RB

[Virginiarifleman]

A law suit caused by a blown barrel with hand injuries and the "Anything made for a muzzle loader has to be cheap"attitude of black powder shooters put them out of black powder for good. One of their long time former employees told me these bozos would bitch and gripe if they were charged $10 to install a breech plug.
I ran into the same attitude but I was able to make a living working on high end imported cars and also made bronze bearings for obsolete automatic transmissions and forgot about this black powder game for a long time.
Beginning in 1978,most of my locks and triggers went to Germany where a completely different attitude prevailed and $3 would not stop a muzzle loading project cold.It's still like that and if you ever see one of their magazines like DWJ or Visier you will see why.

Bob Roller    Yes bob I remember when that happened it,was the actions of the purchaser who did not know what they were doing that caused the barrel to explode. im about 2hrs from their plant. I still love those Douglas XX Barrels

[Bob Roller]

Just what actions by the user caused that barrel to blow? A metallurgist testified that the barrel blew because of material was used that could never be certified for gun barrels.

Bob Roller

[Don Stith]

IIRC they used octagonal blanks and bored them. The ones that were centered on both ends got the XX stampling. The GAA stood for Golden Age Arms and all of them I ever saw had 7 grooves and 1-48 twist.
 With two different but similar products coming off the same line, I guess someone could have picked up the wrong  stamp.
Think my first one cost $36. The maple blank ,a butt plate and trigger guard casting, a set of Roy Keelers flint lock castings, a sheet of .040 brass and apiece of 1/2" keystock ( rear sight) came in well under $100.  Been at this nonsense a long time

[bob in the woods]

I used a few of those barrels. They were marked [ if I remember correctly] so that you could orient any runout to allow for vertical sight adjustment, rather than horizontal.  The barrel material filed easily [soft] and they shot very well.
A friend  shoots a .45 cal rifle I built some 25 years ago, and it is very accurate.  The barrel was stamped 1/66 on the end

[Don Getz]

Douglas used cold formed octagon steel, which was their downfall insofar as making muzzleloading barrels.  When you shape
steel in this manner it can leave cracks in the outer shell of the steel.   This can also happen in cold rolled steel, however, in
our method of making barrels using round stock, the barrel is always turned on a lathe after the initial hole is drilled in the stock.  This is done to make it concentric around the bore, and in the case of making a swamped barrel, extra metal is removed before milling to shape.  If the blank should have cracks in the outer shelll you can hear the "clicking" at the crack.
If the crack does not disappear in the turning process it is discarded.  In the 37 years that we have been making barrels, we
have encountered it several times, and has not been a problem with our barrel making.

Back to those Douglas barrels.    I  built my first gun with a 7/8" Douglas straight barrel in 45 cal.  It shot great, matter of
fact, I won the first match I ever entered, and I still have the gun. Unlike the individual who said about his first gun..."mine
was good enoough to sell"..........Don  

[Dphariss]

Mr Cunningham was a barrel maker defending his use of 12L14. Mr Kelly posts here from time to time. This was published shortly after a long series of articles on barrel materials ran in the magazines. Mr Cunningham's defense was identical to what is being said today. This was the last thing that John Baird published in relation to that series.

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[Dphariss]

[Dphariss]

[Ky-Flinter]

My curiousity about the barrel markings "GAA" has been answered to my satisfaction.  Thank you to all who responded with information on Golden Age Arms barrels.

I am locking this thread.

-Ron