23" Lyman GPH barrel

[Junior1942]

Has anybody ever mulled over the idea of cutting 9" off a Lyman GPH 32" barrel and making it a lot more handy for woods hunting? That would put the new muzzle about 1" beyond the middle ramrod thimble. All you'd need to do is chop off the barrel, recrown, and mill a front sight dovetail. What say ye????

PS: and make a new ramrod, of course.

[versifier]

Junior,
I did the same thing to a T/C Renegade barrel the year before they came out with the White Mtn. Carbine. [smilie=1: As long as the crown is cut carefully, you will be very happy with the result, at least I was. I did it on a lathe, duplicating the trimming, chamfering and counterboring that I did on a turret lathe at GMRB. The accuracy was still great, and though I may have lost a little velocity, no deer in the freezer ever complained about it. The underrib I hacksawed and radiused on a bench grinder. A little cold blue on it and on the end of the barrel made it all look great.

I was too cheap to but a new ramrod, and that was my undoing. When I shortened it, I epoxied the cap onto the wood and was too lazy to put a pin through it to keep it on there better. I invented several new words when the patch, jag, and fitting pulled out while cleaning, and only quick thinking and a liberal application of compressed air before it had time to do any rusting saved the day.

For a front sight, I just used a piece of brass and d&t'd two holes in the top of the barrel to hold it on. I like the brass better than the black steel sight, and worlds better than those %$#*&!!@#$% cheap plastic FireSights they're putting on them now.