Douglas GAA barrleled rifle

[mirameiah]

i have a douglas GAA .45 caliber rifled percussion cap rifle. my grandfather had it built in the 70's sometime, and my reaserch told me these were uncommon. what i want to know is how many grain of black powder to use and what grade. would FFF grade work? i want to get it checked out by a gunsmith just to check it out to see if it's safe to fire just in case, but i inherited the rifle and i want to use it. the only thing i'm missing is the powder measure and the powder itself.


(and yes the barrel is stamped Douglass GAA .45 caliber)

[rich pierce]

I’m not sure but GAA may just mean Golden Age Arms. I’d start with 45 grains of FFFG and work up 5 grains at a time; 65 grains tops.

[smokinbuck]

Jim Johnston at Golden Age Arms had a number of rifles made that were marked with GAA. I have a friend with a Vincent rifle marked #1 0f 3. We think it was one of the prototypes for his Vincent rifle kits. This one was made by Jerry Kirkland in Michigan.
Mark

[mirameiah]

thanks Rich. i was thinkin 55 but 45 sounds better. and my dad said he made the rifle but it sounds more like one of the kit rifles from golden age arms before they moved out of Columbus, Ohio which is my hometown. way more then likely it's a golden age arms rifle.

[Eric Krewson]

I have a .44 Bill Large barrel that is shot out out closer to .45 (LOTS of shots). I shoot a .445 ball, .015 ticking patches and 30 gr of 3F for targets and 70 gr of 3F for deer, both powder loads make one ragged hole groups at 50 yards as seen in the picture.
 

[Huntschool]

Douglas made great barrels.  However, you needed to be sure you indexed them according to run out.  Even the XX Premium ones had run out.  When advanced manufacturing equipment came on the scene and bores were done concentric to the outside of the barrel things started to change.

Good barrels none the less.

Eric:  Is that Large barrel a gain twist ?

[Gordy]

The Douglas barrels marked Douglas GAA were made by Douglas exclusively for Golden Age Arms which was in Delaware,Ohio across from Bunn's restaurant back in the day. Then Golden Age Arms relocated to Ashley, Ohio. They eventually closed. Basically it's a Douglas XX barrel. I have several rifles that I built with the Douglass GAA barrels on them, good shooters indeed. The 45 shoots a .445 RB with a .015 pillow tick patch quite well. Just sayin.

[Daryl]

WOW - that' s almost in the middle Eric.
Bit left of centre.      Wind or sun?
Good shootin'.

[mirameiah]

my grandfather's leather pouch still has the percussion caps, the round balls, and a few waxed mini balls/bullets with it. pretty sure the wax is no good anymore. still even have the powder horn too. i am about 100% sure my grandfather got the rifle from the Deleware store before they moved. my dad never mentioned the Golden Age Arms, neither did my grandfather. i had to find it out the hard way, lol.

[Dphariss]

i have a douglas GAA .45 caliber rifled percussion cap rifle. my grandfather had it built in the 70's sometime, and my reaserch told me these were uncommon. what i want to know is how many grain of black powder to use and what grade. would FFF grade work? i want to get it checked out by a gunsmith just to check it out to see if it's safe to fire just in case, but i inherited the rifle and i want to use it. the only thing i'm missing is the powder measure and the powder itself.


(and yes the barrel is stamped Douglass GAA .45 caliber)

||
I would like to see photos of the rifle. Douglas made Golden Age Arms Co barrels were 7 grooves and a 48" twist rather than the standard Douglas 66 in twist.
FFF is perfect for 45 caliber.  I would NOT shoot any kind of conical from the rifle. The grooves are too deep and the barrel is 12L14 you can read up on that here if you wish.


Dan

[Bob Roller]

WOW - that' s almost in the middle Eric.
Bit left of centre.      Wind or sun?
Good shootin'.

That was/is typical of Bill Large barrels in the hands of a practiced shooter.
When I was really active in shooting during the late 1960's and early 70's
I expected and got groups like this even at 100 yards. I am so glad to see
this target because I may have drilled and reamed this barrel.
An Australian tells me he has a Bill Large 38 caliber bullet barrel that is still
winning matches and Bill has be dead since 1985.QUALITY SPEAKS LOUDLY!

Bob Roller

[Dphariss]

Douglas made great barrels.  However, you needed to be sure you indexed them according to run out.  Even the XX Premium ones had run out.  When advanced manufacturing equipment came on the scene and bores were done concentric to the outside of the barrel things started to change.

Good barrels none the less.

Eric:  Is that Large barrel a gain twist ?

Making the bore concentric with the exterior of the barrel at both ends requires the bore to be checked for straightness, corrected as needed and then profiled after  all other operations are done. Some premium makers like Kreiger will profile complex shapes after they are bored and then ream and rifle them to assure the bore dimension does not change due to the profiling. Douglas never did any of this with ML barrels. Though they made unknown 10s of thousands of modern CF barrels that were concentric.  But they could not button rifle ML barrels with grooves deep enough for a cloth patched ball so they went with a steel that was easy to cut and they ordered it rolled octagonal. They knew better.
Dan

[Dphariss]

Jim Johnston at Golden Age Arms had a number of rifles made that were marked with GAA. I have a friend with a Vincent rifle marked #1 0f 3. We think it was one of the prototypes for his Vincent rifle kits. This one was made by Jerry Kirkland in Michigan.
Mark

I would really like to see the photos of this rifle. Is it marked by the maker? I am looking for an example of the Vincents that were sold as a complete rifles by GAA at one time.

Dan

[Mike Lyons]

I have a .44 Bill Large barrel that is shot out out closer to .45 (LOTS of shots). I shoot a .445 ball, .015 ticking patches and 30 gr of 3F for targets and 70 gr of 3F for deer, both powder loads make one ragged hole groups at 50 yards as seen in the picture.
 

Eric,  You have to shoot more than one shot for us to see the ragged hole.

[mirameiah]

i'll get pictures of the rifle. i have to use my cellphone but i can get them. EDIT: here they are.

[Eric Krewson]

Mr Roller, the gun has the lock you made and worked on on it, it has choke bored barrel as well.

[Dphariss]

i'll get pictures of the rifle. i have to use my cellphone but i can get them. EDIT: here they are.

Thanks.
I think the one I have out in the shop someplace has "Golden Age Arms" spelled out. It was bought about 1968.


Dan