Hunting Washington Forum
Big Game Hunting => Muzzleloader Hunting => Topic started by: Pete112288 on February 23, 2014, 03:10:21 PM
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I came across a pretty used and abused 50 cal muzzy. I am far from an expert but the inside of the barrel looks pretty rough. Some spots that it looks like theres some bad pitting. If I were to have someone who knows more than me look at it, and they agree with me that it is pretty bad, assuming that it is affecting the accuracy of the gun, is it possible or even cost effective to have it bored to 54 caliber?
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Depending upon the brand you may be able to find a replacement barrel at Dixie gun works.
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I don't think it would be cost effective, possible yes--but to drill it and rerifle or broach the existing grooves or whatever method would seem like a lot of smith time and tooling. I'd look at replacement barrels and maybe inletting the stock a little deeper if needed (0.02 inches ?).
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Of course it can be done if the wall thickness is satisfactory but not economical or practical. What a lot of old timers did was to freshen the barrel. There are a couple of ways to do that, polish the inside and then cut the groves a little deeper. I have heard also and know a person that did the following. He put a metal ramrod all the way down the barrel trying to keep centered as good as he could. he then poured about 4-6 inches of molten lead down the barrel and let it cool down completely. When cooled down the ram rod and lead can be pulled out of the barrel. A person must mark which grove lines up with the marks on the slug. The slug of lead is then coated with valve grinding compound and the inside of barrel is polished. A person may have to go to a slightly larger projectile or thicker patch. The gun would probably not win any matches but as I was told can make a serviceable barrel. The best way to correct is get a new barrel. You can get a good quality barrel and fit a breach plug, solder on the thimbles and rib, install nipple and or flint hole and finish. All of of the above can be done but much more practical to get a good gun to begin with, unless gun has some special meaning to the owner.
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Here is a solution I found on a muzzle loader forum. If you cast the lead slug in the barrel you must be care full to not get lead in the threads for the nipple. Goggle the problem and you may find other ways of fixing problem. Here is what I found-- Good luck
"Pull the breechplug and make a lead slug that will fill the lands and grooves snugly. Then drill this slug and attach it to a stout cleaning rod. Secure the barrel firmly, then coat this slug with light valve grinding compound, Pull and push this coated slug back and forth through the barrel about 25 times. This procedure not only cleans out the rust, it also "freshens" the rifling."
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interesting, I may have to try that if it doesent end up shooting very well as is. The sucky thing is that it does not have a removable breech plug
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Probably best to just buy a new barrel if it doesnt shoot well.
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I can't imagine there not being a way to remove the breech plug. If that is a problem for you I would wait until I found a gun that did not require work. Gun smith fees would eat up and exceed savings you may get over a good gun.
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You've got yourself a .50 cal fish bat.
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so what kind of rifle is it?
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its a TC Thunderhawk. It may be fine, like I said I dont know much about it as far as how much pitting would be too much or even if what I see in the barrel is actually pitting. It was cheap enough for me to chance it and didnt have any more to spend anyway. Had to get one for the step-son this fall so he will likely use mine and I will use the Thunderhawk. Where I am hunting the only place you can even see clearly enough to take a shot its like 75 yards, the average shot I have been able to take has been between 20 and 30 for the most part. I imagine it would take a pretty eaten up barrel to not be accurate enough for elk under 50 yards.
