45 Caliber barrel makers?

[Tatume]

Hi Folks,

If you were going to purchase a 45 caliber barrel made to shoot 0.451" bullets, with 1:20" rifling, who would you go to?

Take care, Tom

[bob208]

i would check with robert hoyt fairfield pa.

[451 Pete]

Several shooters that I know have made thier rifles using black powder cartridge rifle barrels in a .45 caliber with a 1-18 barrel twist and have had excellent results. The Pedersoli Gibbs .45 cal. is made in a 1-18 barrel twist also and I can't argue with the results that it has at the range. either. If you are building a rifle you can get one of these barrels cheaper, quicker and they will work better than having a custom barrel being made.

Just my thoughts ... Pete

[10 ga]

Tat, i guess from the forum it's for a ML. What kind of ml? Inline like a Ruger 77/50 or a Rem 700ML or a Savage MLII, or a sidehammer cap gun or a flinter. End use makes a lot of difference. Best, 10 ga

[Good Cheer]

Hi Folks,

If you were going to purchase a 45 caliber barrel made to shoot 0.451" bullets, with 1:20" rifling, who would you go to?

Take care, Tom

I have a TC New Englander reworked by Hoyt to use standard 458 rifle molds. It works quite well for my purposes of a hunting rifle that is the muzzleloading analog to a 45-70. And for having fun in the backyard.

Click on red background for video.
http://i791.photobucket.com/albums/yy192/SNARGLEFLERK/th_catchthebullet.jpg (http://s791.photobucket.com/albums/yy192/SNARGLEFLERK/?action=view&current=catchthebullet.mp4)

http://i791.photobucket.com/albums/yy192/SNARGLEFLERK/FiredBullet.jpg

This recovered slug shows a little of the rifling form that Mr. Hoyt supplied and some gas cutting that occurred due to the gas check base needing more card wads to seal off. Plain base boolits don't suffer that problem. In cross section the rifling grooves are trapezoidal with radiused bottom. If you are looking for long range target shooting perhaps a shallower groove would be wanted with the groove bottom radius being in closer alignment to a true radius from bore centerline. That's conjecture on my part based upon my understanding of minimizing the amount of boolit expansion needed to prevent gas cutting. In other words, to my mind shallow grooves equal no gas cutting with lower powder charges. My New Englander is intended to be a kick butt slam down hunting rifle and it shoots very well with as-cast 400 grains of lead, LOOB (lanolin+olive oil+beeswax), egg carton card wads, lots of FFg and a peep sight.

[Good Cheer]

So what I meant to say is that maybe the intended purpose will flavor your conversation with the barrel maker. What Mr. Hoyt produced for what I told him I wanted to do is excellent.

[Tatume]

Thanks to all who have responded so far. I'm planning to build a caplock rifle for short range shooting (100 yards). The gun will have a fixed aperture rear sight mounted on or near the breech plug, and a blade front. It will be used for informal target shooting and hunting. I like British guns, and will probably use a John Rigby pattern, although I don't think Rigby built fast-twist smallbore rifles.

[John Taylor]

http://www.mcgowenbarrel.com/catalog1.htm

[451 Pete]

Tatume,
In the muzzle loading era a small bore was considered to be a .45 cal. rifle. Rigby built a number of these in target or match configuration and in sporting and target, one having the provision for holding a ram rod. Below is a link to a picture of a match configured Rigby.

http://www.gunsinternational.com/popup.cfm?id=100251287&num=15&pic=100251287-15-L.jpg

hope this helps .... Pete

[Tatume]

In the muzzle loading era a small bore was considered to be a .45 cal. rifle. Rigby built a number of these in target or match configuration ... hope this helps, Pete

Hi Pete,

Yes, I was aware of the contemporary meaning of "smallbore," and believe I used the term correctly. However, I was not aware that John Ribgy built smallbore rifles with fast twist intended for elongated, heavy bullets. My one example, a recreation built for me by Steve Zihn of Shoshony, WY, is a one-ounce hunting rifle barreled for patched round balls (66 cal). It is superbly accurate at 100 yards. Instead of building a whole new rifle, I've considered asking Steve to fit a second barrel for this rifle, and in fact I'm still considering that option.

If anyone is interested I'll photograph the Zihn/Rigby.

Take care, Tom

[Buckshot]

...............Green Mountain makes exceptional barrels at a realistic price. I have a Rigby clone I built using the kit from Pecantonica River.

http://www.fototime.com/79E8B23CAB84AC7/standard.jpghttp://www.fototime.com/643BCEA85446EA3/standard.jpg

The GM bbl is 34", a perfect .450" x .458", 6 groove and 18" twist. It's built as a match rifle so has no provision for a ramrod.

............. Buckshot

[Tatume]

Hi Buckshot,

Is this the barrel you used?

Take care, Tom

http://www.gmriflebarrel.com/bpcr-blackpowdercartridgeriflebarrels/classictaperedoctagon/winchester-octagon-barrels-profile-3-45-70

[rhbrink]

I built a 45 fast twist using a Green Mountain barrel on a underhammer and it shoots very well at 100 yards never had a chance to try it at 200 or farther. One thing that I found was that it needed a 475 grain boolit and at least 90 grains of 2FF to really shoot well. I tried various different lighter boolits but they didn't shoot nearly as well. All the boolits that I used had been cast for a standard 45 bore .459 to .463 and I sized them down to make them work in the muzzleloader. If somehad a properly made mold .451 or so the lighter boolits may work better? It didn't seem like it was worth the expence or time to get one made.

I will say that the lighter boolits 300 to 350 grains shot well enough to hunt with 2 to 3 inch groups at a 100 yards with iron sights.

Richard

[Buckshot]

Hi Buckshot,

Is this the barrel you used?

Take care, Tom

http://www.gmriflebarrel.com/bpcr-blackpowdercartridgeriflebarrels/classictaperedoctagon/winchester-octagon-barrels-profile-3-45-70

...........I used a straight (no taper) 45 cal bbl. No reason it can't be used for 100 yard shooting as it does a fine job at 600 yards [smilie=l:

http://www.fototime.com/F5B2831828DBFE3/standard.jpg

I used a 530gr Swaged PP HP slug, but for 100 yards and beyond the Lyman 475 gr 457121PH which is listed as a muzzle loading boolit is superb. If I was to take either teh Rigby or the Whitworth hunting, THIS would be the slug I'd use. Cast of pure lead or up to a 1-40 alloy, sized and lubed to .452" you can eat the 10 ring out of a 100 yard slow fire target. I use 85.0grs of Elephant 2Fg (I have a bunch of it) under a 1/8" lubed felt wad and that slug. It will shoot well beyond 100 yards but it's designed for the .450" bore of the Whitworth, and works exceediingly well in a 45 cal bbl.

It's only problem is that it's too simple. If you want to complicate things try something (or a LOT of something's) else. :bigsmyl2:

............Buckshot

[ResearchPress]

However, I was not aware that John Ribgy built smallbore rifles with fast twist intended for elongated, heavy bullets.

Rigby made fine long range target rifles. You can find more information and pictures of original rifles on my web site (http://www.researchpress.co.uk/gunmakers/ireland/rigby/index.htm).


David

[Good Cheer]

I went with a .458" bore just to use standard .45 caliber rifle molds without a lot of sizing.