Scored a pretty cool old barrel.

[Justin Urbantas]

Picked this barrel up with a bunch of others I snagged in an online auction for $80. It's a JH  Johnston of Pittsburgh PA.  It's a 36"x1" .32 cal.  I was thinking about sending it off and getting it re-breeched, and bored out to .50 or .54 cal. There's definitely enough meat I think. My other thought was making a bunch of pistol barrels with a neat history. I think it would be cool to build a new gun with a 150 year old barrel.

[Stophel]

I would definitely not cut it up into pistol barrels.  Just bore it out and rifle it to whatever size is sufficient to clean up the old pitted bore, and restock it as the rifle it was meant to be. 

[Chowmi]

I would definitely not cut it up into pistol barrels.  Just bore it out and rifle it to whatever size is sufficient to clean up the old pitted bore, and restock it as the rifle it was meant to be. 

Agreed!

[Gunnermike]

You wouldn't cut up a Sam Hawken rifle barrel or a Henry Leman barrel into pistol lengths.  You have a historic barrel there - a real Great Western Gun Works rifle barrel, it deserves a better fate. 

my 2cents,  Mike

[Gaeckle]

You wouldn't cut up a Sam Hawken rifle barrel or a Henry Leman barrel into pistol lengths.  You have a historic barrel there - a real Great Western Gun Works rifle barrel, it deserves a better fate. 

my 2cents,  Mike

I agree with Mike on this, if it were mine, I would pull the drum (looks to be a modern replacement) and the breech and see what the condition of the rifling is like. May just need to be scrubbed out, or freshened up. I would not rebore it to a larger size and re-rifle it, but rather keep it as close to its original spec as possible. Quite often, those old barrels shoot pretty decently with very little alteration.........just my two cents also

[Daryl]

Justin - interesting find.  Have you checked how much you will be charged for the re-bore and rifling?
Last time I looked into that, a brand new barrel was over $100.00 cheaper.
If the pits aren't too deep, it would make a dandy .40 to .45 cal plank rifle. I would not go larger
or the bl. would lose it's weight advantage. Depends, of course, on what you want to build with it.

[Justin Urbantas]

I don't know much about JH Johnston, or their guns. It was obviously from a half stock cap rifle. The rifling looks pretty shot. It will have to be re-bored. A .40 or .45 would be pretty good  as long as I don't have to shoot it offhand. It is a heavy one.

[Scota4570]

https://evapo-rust.com

A day soaking will do and an amazing job without etching. 

[Hungry Horse]

Those old wrought iron barrels were thick walled for a reason since they weren’t  ordnance steel. I would not bore it bigger than .45 cal.

  Hungry Horse

[Stophel]

Here's a typical Great Western Gun Works rifle.

https://www.gunsinternational.com/guns-for-sale-online/rifles/kentucky-rifles/antique-long-rifle-by-great-western-gun-works.cfm?gun_id=101006177

[Bob Roller]

Those old wrought iron barrels were thick walled for a reason since they weren’t  ordnance steel. I would not bore it bigger than .45 cal.

  Hungry Horse

If there are no slag streaks in it after a light reaming I would make it into a .36 or .40 with .45
as a maximum.No way I'd make pistols out of it.

Bob Roller

[mountainman70]

Justin, I have a similar barrel, a Postley-Nelson ,28 cal of similar spec I am building a  St Louis style halfstock for my brother. 36" x 1; barrel is a arm full, but the barrel came off a halfstock,and I even considered making a fullstock,and having it bored and rifled to 45, but like others have said, it deserves to live on as it originally started. I will post pics 'fore long.Good luck on whatever you do,  8)Dave

[Justin Urbantas]

So, it seems like most people think .45 is about the max I should get it bored to. I'll probably send it off to Bobby Hoyt one of these days, and get it bored out to .45. One of the rivets holding the rib to the barrel has come out of the barrel, so the rib will have to come off to fix that I think.

[Curtis]

If you want to go larger than .45 you could have a liner put in it.  Just my 2 cents worth.

Curtis

[Clowdis]

That barrel would be the beginning of a great trade rifle like a Leman. Get Bobby Hoyt to rebore or line it to whatever caliber you want and you'll have a fine shooting rifle with some history behind it.