proofing a barrel outside of the stock

[QuanLoi]

For my current build, I'm using a .45 caliber "Squirrel Light" Rice barrel. I dovetailed the lugs into the barrel and feel comfortable about the depth of the dovetail... but I'd like to proof the barrel removed from the stock.  What method should I use... hold the barrel in a vise?  Hold a lit cigar up to the touch hole?

Thanks in advance...

[snapper]

cannon fuse works well. 

Fleener

[smallpatch]

Tie it to a tire, set it off with cannon fuse.

[B.Barker]

I made a jig to hold any barrel size out of poplar and use cannon fuse to fire it.

[WadePatton]

secured on tire works for me. 

Methinks you want some give in your mounting or you'll mar the barrel.

[bob in the woods]

Tie it to a tire, and then you can either use a board , sloped up to the barrel by the touch hole, with a trail of black powder following out to a safe distance, or use a fuse. I make my own using BP , water and 100% cotton string. Water is added to the powder to make a nice paste , [ on the thin side ] and then I put in a length of string which soaks up the mixture. When thoroughly soaked, pull the string out and hank up in the shop with a cloths pin. I always have lengths of this made up for my little swivel gun.

[varsity07840]

I would have used staples rather than being concerned with proofing it with dovetails.

[flinchrocket]

A long skinny tang might need some support, it could bend if up against the inside of a tire.

[steven baker]

Try using heavy tape and attach too a length of 2 by 4 , use plenty of tape  then secure to a tyer or even nail to a tree  .A pan made out of a old tea spoon by the touch hole and length of fuse taped in place .I once saw a old timer using a wet sack to weigh the barrel down and to retain the barrel in place just in case ,watch out where that projectile is going "down range" and onlookers, have fun doing it ,take care Steven.

[James Wilson Everett]

Guys,

Here is a link to how I do this.

Jim

https://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=26193.msg250152#msg250152

[okawbow]

Be careful! I had one shotgun barrel I tested that broke the cradle it was in and flew through the air for over 100 feet. I use a big solid block bolted to the base board with a 1/2” bolt now, behind the breech, and another solid board screwed over the top of the barrel.

I measure several places on the barrel before and after testing to see if there is any change. I normally fire the first test with a standard load, and then test with a double load. I figure a standard max load is 1/2 the ball weight of 2F black powder and a single tightly patched round ball. For the overload test I use a double load of 2F black powder and 2x the ball weight of birdshot over a wad of paper and with a card or paper over that. ( WARNING!!, this overload could burst the barrel and injure or kill anyone near it!)
I use this test for checking on anything I do to the barrel, like breaching it, or installing a vent of drum.

[Mike Brooks]

If you have confidence in your craftsman ship I'd shoot it off hand. If you have that little confidence in your craftsmanship and Rice barrels in general I'd find a new hobby. Of course I live pretty close to the edge....

[snapper]

Be careful when you are proofing barrels and how much powder and lead that you use.   You might be putting cracks in the barrel that were not already there.

Fleener

[Gordy]

Here's the riggin I use which actually works quite well, haven't never had one get away from me as of yet. Them ratchet straps work quite well to holder down. I use the rest, sandbags, and a towel or two so I don't marr up the finish. Just my 2 cents worth.
Good Day, Gordy

[Hungry Horse]

 I to saw that old picture in the back of an old Dixie gun works catalog of a barrel being proofed in a tire. Well, it seemed like it would work, but it didn’t, and was one of the most dangerous things that I have experienced in my gun building life. I built a trade gun in 20 gauge. And because the barrel was an old unfinished surplus shotgun barrel, I decided to proof it. I proofed it with a double charge of 2F, and two patched round balls. When the charge went off, the barrel went right through the tire, and traveled about thirty yards across orchard next to my house. I now proof in a heavy wall pipe, well anchored, with a welded cap at the breech.

  Hungry Horse

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

Mike Brooks:  I confess to using the same method as you.  So far, so good.

[deepcreekdale]

I am with Mike and Taylor. Just shoot it. Unless you did something totally crazy, it will be fine. Proofing makes sense if you are forge welding your own barrel, but not for modern, high quality ones.

[Mike Brooks]

I am with Mike and Taylor. Just shoot it. Unless you did something totally crazy, it will be fine. Proofing makes sense if you are forge welding your own barrel, but not for modern, high quality ones.

Just keep in mind, 12L14 barrels are  a pipe bomb waiting to go off. Or so I have read.

[okawbow]

I once tested the barrel of an Indian made musket. I loaded that puppy up to a ludicrously overloaded amount and set it off 3 times, just to be sure.

I am not worried about good quality modern barrels, but I do like to test my drums, breechplugs and screw in vents, just to be sure. I’ve seen several nipples blow out, and drums that broke off. Don’t want it to happen to me.

[Bob McBride]

I test originals that I shoot, braced, with a string. Never gave a modern barrel a second thought. Seems about like pulling a string on a M700..... but then I’m an old redneck whose busted a femur, maybe twenty other bones, and been burnt to a crisp....

[Daryl]

Appears that way in your photo, Bob.

[Bob McBride]

Appears that way in your photo, Bob.

Don’t let the ears fool you. I can schmooze a Whistle Pig out of his hole wearing that hat.

[Mike Brooks]

Appears that way in your photo, Bob.

Don’t let the ears fool you. I can schmooze a Whistle Pig out of his hole wearing that hat.

Hmmm. Instead of  a woo woo stick you have a woo woo hat. Nifty

[Hudnut]

Instead of fuse, I use electricity.  Length of two wire flex, a twist of steel wool across the leads at the business end, and a 9v battery applied to the other ends.  The wire incandesces, igniting the priming powder.

[Daryl]

For my current build, I'm using a .45 caliber "Squirrel Light" Rice barrel. I dovetailed the lugs into the barrel and feel comfortable about the depth of the dovetail... but I'd like to proof the barrel removed from the stock.  What method should I use... hold the barrel in a vise?  Hold a lit cigar up to the touch hole?

Thanks in advance...

Holding the barrel tight in a vice with leather lined jaws, would work.  A fuse or some tinfoil shaped into a pan and a cigar would be one method of ignition, but you would have to be close for that.
If the pole on a linstock was long enough (long pole with a burning match cord on the end), that would place you in relative safety. After all, if it's the dovetails you are concerned about, they will likely
only bulge a bit if too deep.