standard length for side by side muzzle loading rifle.
- Thread starter Aries-
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I will check later on a couple of cape guns I have. I suspect that over 28 - 30" would make them pretty heavy. The only side by side perc rifle I have seen (Rigby) I remember as having barrels similar in length to a shotgun ie 28 - 30 inch range
cheers mooncoon
cheers mooncoon
its an old Ripley 10 guage il be turning a couple .50 cal blanks down to fit into the barrels (tightly), has external hammers, and demascus barrels.
wanting to get 1-28 barrels, and from what i have heard a lot of side by sides have barrels between 20 and 28 inches. with an avg of 24". (also the ease of getting 24 inch inline barrels), will be turning the breech end of the barrels to match a 10ga shot shell so they cant come out.
only thing i see being a problem is the tuning the barrels so they shoot in the same spot. (or close to it at 100 yards)
wanting to get 1-28 barrels, and from what i have heard a lot of side by sides have barrels between 20 and 28 inches. with an avg of 24". (also the ease of getting 24 inch inline barrels), will be turning the breech end of the barrels to match a 10ga shot shell so they cant come out.
only thing i see being a problem is the tuning the barrels so they shoot in the same spot. (or close to it at 100 yards)
My Wesley Richards 12 bore and a Hugh's 56 cal have 24 inch barrels and a capegun I have has 20 inch barrels all are English and form the 1850 to 1860. I would think you would want to keep the weight down so the gun is not muzzle heavy so short barrels should work.
I have a Lancaster (12 guage) and a Lang (.577 boxer) cartridge dbl rifle and both have 28" barrels. Also Robbins perc .45 x 16 g cape gun and a second unnamed perc .43 x 12g cape gun with 31" and 32" barrels respectively. I would lean towards the 28" barrel length in the sense that the 31 and 32" barrels are starting to become heavy.
I would think that instead of fitting the rifle barrels all the way down the current shotgun barrels, you might be wiser to saw of the parent shotgun barrels to 4 - 6" long and sleeve the rifle barrels into them. Obviously you are going to want to contour the rifle barrels first to the contour of your choosing. I think that would make regulating the barrels a lot easier as well as getting rid of a bunch of weight.
I am also inclined not to use inline barrels unless you intend to shoot saboted slugs because the twist rate would be too fast for most muzzle loading shooting with round ball or minis.
The photo below is a jig that I have used for resoldering shotgun barrels. I think the home made C clamps are worth thinking about because they seem to work a lot better than the wire and wedges some suggest for holding the ribs down for soldering
cheers mooncoon
I would think that instead of fitting the rifle barrels all the way down the current shotgun barrels, you might be wiser to saw of the parent shotgun barrels to 4 - 6" long and sleeve the rifle barrels into them. Obviously you are going to want to contour the rifle barrels first to the contour of your choosing. I think that would make regulating the barrels a lot easier as well as getting rid of a bunch of weight.
I am also inclined not to use inline barrels unless you intend to shoot saboted slugs because the twist rate would be too fast for most muzzle loading shooting with round ball or minis.
The photo below is a jig that I have used for resoldering shotgun barrels. I think the home made C clamps are worth thinking about because they seem to work a lot better than the wire and wedges some suggest for holding the ribs down for soldering
cheers mooncoon
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it will be sabot slugs il be shooting wth it.
wouldent really lessen the weight of the barrels cutting them off, as to get the thickness i would need to feel safe, id have to make the barrels just as big as the outsides of the shotgun barrels. would also lose the demascus steel look.
with the way the hammers are. im not looking at messing around converting a hammer shotgun into a caplock muzzle loader. its easyer just for me to thread the backs of the barrels for inline breech plugs, and have them sit where the back of the shell would have.
as for length im looking somewhere between 24 and 28 inches for length. TC, and other high end inlines do fine with 24 inch barrels. so thats likely the way il be going.
wouldent really lessen the weight of the barrels cutting them off, as to get the thickness i would need to feel safe, id have to make the barrels just as big as the outsides of the shotgun barrels. would also lose the demascus steel look.
with the way the hammers are. im not looking at messing around converting a hammer shotgun into a caplock muzzle loader. its easyer just for me to thread the backs of the barrels for inline breech plugs, and have them sit where the back of the shell would have.
as for length im looking somewhere between 24 and 28 inches for length. TC, and other high end inlines do fine with 24 inch barrels. so thats likely the way il be going.
If I understand your project correctly, you are going to sleeve a breechloading 10 ga double, converting it into a quick twist muzzleloading gun. The liners will be breeched. Are you going to leave the firing pins intact, and have them strike #209 primers set into the breechplugs?
Your liners will be turned to match the chambers of the gun, and then reduced to be a slip fit into the existing bores?
If both the liners fit the original bores exactly, I don't think there is any chance that the regulation with saboted bullets will be satisfactory. What calibre are you contemplating?
I would suggest that one barrel be lined with an immovable liner. For the other, have the breech end a good fit, but the rest of the liner slightly smaller than the 10 ga bore. Then you could wedge, shim, use eccentric bushings, whatever, at the muzzle, and have a chance of getting the barrels to regulate.
Your liners will be turned to match the chambers of the gun, and then reduced to be a slip fit into the existing bores?
If both the liners fit the original bores exactly, I don't think there is any chance that the regulation with saboted bullets will be satisfactory. What calibre are you contemplating?
I would suggest that one barrel be lined with an immovable liner. For the other, have the breech end a good fit, but the rest of the liner slightly smaller than the 10 ga bore. Then you could wedge, shim, use eccentric bushings, whatever, at the muzzle, and have a chance of getting the barrels to regulate.
I would think that a 12 guage breach would be quite adequate for a .50 cal rifle and remember that the muzzles do not have to be 1" diameter, I am sure you could reduce them down to about .7" diameter safely. Certainly you could sleeve the barrels full length into a 10 guage gun but that is going to leave you with an enormously heavy rifle.
The only advantage that I can see of retaining the entire shotgun barrel is that you may be able to regulate as Tiriaq has suggested instead of soldering and unsoldering the barrels.
cheers mooncoon
The only advantage that I can see of retaining the entire shotgun barrel is that you may be able to regulate as Tiriaq has suggested instead of soldering and unsoldering the barrels.
cheers mooncoon
its a hinge 10 guage.
my idea for regulating them is to make a "sleeve" at the end of the barrels with a offset hole. (first with a sleeve with a centered hole) if thats off. il just use a wrench to turn the sleve to move the end of the barrel to the right place.
as it is with the shotgun barrels the wall thickness will be i think around .300" thick. likely be cutting them down to 24" to reduce weight. also possable il cut them back further to 20" depending on weight and if i think the accuracy will be good enough at 20 inches with a 1-28 twist barrels.
thanks for the advice.
my idea for regulating them is to make a "sleeve" at the end of the barrels with a offset hole. (first with a sleeve with a centered hole) if thats off. il just use a wrench to turn the sleve to move the end of the barrel to the right place.
as it is with the shotgun barrels the wall thickness will be i think around .300" thick. likely be cutting them down to 24" to reduce weight. also possable il cut them back further to 20" depending on weight and if i think the accuracy will be good enough at 20 inches with a 1-28 twist barrels.
thanks for the advice.
On the originals I have seen belonging to WR1894 and my own double rifles, the barrels are 24" and 25" and they handle beautifully. My cape gun has 28" light barrels and I find them long. I have seen originals at shows with 26" to 28" barrels regularly but they are normally in smaller calibers with lighter barrels.
I once had a cape gun with 21" barrels and it was great to handle fast and would be something I would use as a stopping gun. With a .50 not used as a stopping rifle and taking longer shots, I would go a bit longer, but I wouldn't go past about 26" with 24" to 25" being about right in my opinion.
Good luck with the project.
I once had a cape gun with 21" barrels and it was great to handle fast and would be something I would use as a stopping gun. With a .50 not used as a stopping rifle and taking longer shots, I would go a bit longer, but I wouldn't go past about 26" with 24" to 25" being about right in my opinion.
Good luck with the project.
