A friend of mine has been finding his gun getting too heavy as he gets older and asked me to lighten it for him. I decided to make the barrel 1/2 octagon because I thought that it might reduce the weight more than swamping the barrel and also it seemed an easier thing to do.
My lathe is too short to support the barrel between centers plus I did not want to pull the breach plug so I turned a nylon bushing and supported the muzzle in a 4 jaw chuck and the back portion of the barrel in a steady rest. Seemed to work OK although I had to use a partial steady rest (only 2 contact points) in the middle of the barrel to reduce chatter. Hopefully the photos show the change. I used a 16 flats into a wedding band for the transition from octagon to round and then about 1/2 degree taper over 14 inches to get to the muzzle. Muzzle thickness went from about .2" to .1". Also I left a pedestal for the front sight so that the gun did not need a great high blade. The gap in the stock was filled in with pin epoxied into the barrel channel and then the barrel rebedded. The barrel tenons had to be soldered on rather than the original dovetails.
Held my breath but the gun still shoots a 1 hole group at 25 yards and does not seem to have warped at all.
cheers mooncoon
My lathe is too short to support the barrel between centers plus I did not want to pull the breach plug so I turned a nylon bushing and supported the muzzle in a 4 jaw chuck and the back portion of the barrel in a steady rest. Seemed to work OK although I had to use a partial steady rest (only 2 contact points) in the middle of the barrel to reduce chatter. Hopefully the photos show the change. I used a 16 flats into a wedding band for the transition from octagon to round and then about 1/2 degree taper over 14 inches to get to the muzzle. Muzzle thickness went from about .2" to .1". Also I left a pedestal for the front sight so that the gun did not need a great high blade. The gap in the stock was filled in with pin epoxied into the barrel channel and then the barrel rebedded. The barrel tenons had to be soldered on rather than the original dovetails.
Held my breath but the gun still shoots a 1 hole group at 25 yards and does not seem to have warped at all.
cheers mooncoon
