50 to 32 Caliber Knight Mountaineer Conversion

[StolzerandSons]

A client contacted me and ask if I could build or convert an existing inline and make him a .32 caliber stainless steel squirrel rifle. So after a bit of back and forth he bought and shipped direct to my shop a .50 Caliber SS Knight Mountaineer. I ordered a .32 Caliber SS Barrel Blank in 1:36 Twist. I decided to spend the Memorial weekend getting this put together for him.

I started by indexing the Mountaineer in my lathe and drilling and reaming it out to 5/8". It's not very often I get to ruin a brand new in the box unfired rifle. Then I threaded the first inch of the muzzle to 3/4"-16tpi.


I turned the .32 caliber barrel blank down and threaded to match.


I turned the breech end down to match the original breechplug so that everything would seat and seal properly without any modification to the factory original breechplug this way if it ever gets damaged it can be easily replaced.


I put the two together with a 3m epoxy that is design for use with stainless steel, then after it had set up I put it back in my lathe and parted off the excess muzzle and then re-crowned and shaped it making the joint line disappear.



I even peened the ".50" stamping on the barrel down and re-stamped it "32".


Unless a person examines it pretty closely it looks pretty much like it was made by Knight as a .32 Caliber Stainless Steel Mountaineer.


It was a fun way to make a few extra bucks over the holiday weekend.

Colin

[johnson1942]

thanks for the post, this will be a very reliable fun gun that you made. in the future im going to have smi make me a .45 1/18 twist for a hr 10 gauge i have and also make a .45 1/56 twist round ball barrel for it. i like my side locks but these custom in lines are alot of fun also. thanks again for the post.

[Nobade]

32 cal. 1:36 twist - is this going to be a bullet or roundball gun?

-Nobade

[StolzerandSons]

Patched roundball.

Colin

[LeadBrain]

Thats nice conversion work. Let us know how it shoots.

[StolzerandSons]

I didn't have time to do any real load work but just from the rounds I put through it to function test everything, it was grouping about nickel size groups at 25 yards. I'm sure my customer will be able to get better than that out of it with proper load development.

Colin

[johnson1942]

is it a 209 primer ignition?

[StolzerandSons]

Yep, it's 209 primer ignition. The bolt is machined like a shell holder so the rim of the 209 seats into it.

Colin

[johnson1942]

blackhorn 209 powder would be great with 209 primer ignition, clean and consistantly accurate.