moptop
03-10-2013, 10:12 PM
My brother and I went to an auction last week that had several old lever & shotguns. He picked up a nice '92 takedown in 44-40 with better than average rifling. We didn't realize until after he paid for it that the muzzle end had been counter bored about 3/4". He was all worried about it and kept asking why they did that. I told him the only 2 reasons I could think of is that either the rifling at the muzzle was badly worn out and rather than cutting down the barrel it was counter bored or that the muzzle end had been ringed and it was counter bored to remove it. I've heard it was common practice for military smiths doing that to extend the life of a barrel but had never actually seen a rifle that had it done. I put the calipers on it and the outter dia. was fine, no signs of bulging. The part that we could not understand is that the counter bored is threaded. Not very cleanly or consistantly, but threaded none the less. That bugged the heck out of him more than the counter bore itself. Cosmetics are very important to him and he was already to try to ream or sand it to smooth it out and I promptly told him to leave it alone and not mess with it until we have a chance to see she shoots.
Well Mr. "chomping at the bit" did what I said for once and left it alone. We had a chance to shoot it today and it shoots great! At 25 yds our 5 shot groups were better than a 2" circle. Not too bad for a couple of old guys who can't see.
Needless to say he felt much better about his purchase. When I jokingly told him I was going to go ahead and ream that muzzle end he said "don't you touch my baby".
We had to settle for pre-made ammo. I couldn't find anyone local who had a set of dies in .44-40. I stopped by Grafs on friday and picked up 4 boxes of P.C.I. ammo (only ammo they did have in stock). Not bad stuff for $26.90 a box of 50. And to make things better, It was loaded using Starline brass to boot. Can't beat that with a stick as some might say.
Well Mr. "chomping at the bit" did what I said for once and left it alone. We had a chance to shoot it today and it shoots great! At 25 yds our 5 shot groups were better than a 2" circle. Not too bad for a couple of old guys who can't see.
Needless to say he felt much better about his purchase. When I jokingly told him I was going to go ahead and ream that muzzle end he said "don't you touch my baby".
We had to settle for pre-made ammo. I couldn't find anyone local who had a set of dies in .44-40. I stopped by Grafs on friday and picked up 4 boxes of P.C.I. ammo (only ammo they did have in stock). Not bad stuff for $26.90 a box of 50. And to make things better, It was loaded using Starline brass to boot. Can't beat that with a stick as some might say.