Getting New Barrel!!!

[jjarrell]

Well I'm one gun down for a while. Sent my .54 cal Hawken stock to The Gun Works last week. I'm having a new Oregon barrel built and fitted to the stock. Should have it back within a couple 2 or 3 months. I'm having Joe Williams put a Lyman 57SML receiver peep sight on and have a steel bead front sight installed. He builds and fits the barrel from solid 12L14 bar stock. It will be .54 caliber, 36 1/2" length including the breech plug, 1" across the flats, straight octagon, 1:79 round ball twist with .012" cut rifling. He's also installing the under lug, under rib, and thimbles. I sent him my stock and I keep the T/C factory .54 Hawken barrel. I read that he bought and uses the tooling from the old Sharon Barrel Co. to machine his barrels.

[johnson1942]

you will love the barrel they make for you. i have a couple of them and they are made perfectly. when you give them specs. they build the barrel to that specs, not under or over, perfectly to those specs. they must be getting more business as turn around wasnt that long a few years back. thats good they are staying in business, good barrel makers to one own specs are hard to find. that gun of yours will be a hard hitter and a real tackdriver.

[jjarrell]

Ive heard great things about his work, and Joe and his wife are the nicest people you will ever talk to. I'm really looking forward to getting it back and learning its likes and dislikes. I had a Kelly barreled Hawken made for my son in January this year. .54 cal with 36" long 15/16" strait octagon barrel, 1:72 twist with .010" cut rifling. I gave that one to my son for his 16th birthday last month. It only had maybe 50 patched balls shot through it total from where I sighted it in. It is a dream to shoot. It puts 5 shots into a 1" ragged hole at 50 yards with .535 ball, .020" linen patch, over 120gr of FFFg Goex. My son and I are round ball hunters, and 1" groups with a 2000 fps hunting load puts a big ol' grin on my face. You can hunt anything walking this continent with either of these rifles and have complete confidence.

[sharpsguy]

A 15/16 54 caliber barrel is kinda thin to be shooting 120 grains of 3f in. What with rifling depth and dovetail cuts, it doesn't leave much wall thickness to hold the pressure. You might want to consider using 2f and/or a bit less powder. Your son's safety is at stake here.

[jjarrell]

The only cut in the barrel is the dovetail for the front sight, .75" from the muzzle. Other than that the barrel is completely intact with no dovetail cuts or drilling. That includes the barrel lug(machined) and the under rib(soldered). There is no dovetail for a rear sight, as it has an aperture rear sight.

That load isn't close to a dangerous charge in that barrel. Its 4140 steel and rated to 150gr by H. Kelly. As hes been building barrels for 59 years I'll just go on the assumption that he knows what he's talking about. I didn't say it wasn't nearing a MAX load, however a maximum load is not dangerous. A MAX load is what it can be SAFELY loaded to. Which in this case is 150gr. I appreciate your concern. Rest assured I wouldn't put my son in harms way. Time hasn't made me careless, its made me thorough.

[johnson1942]

are you using real linen as you posted? if you are you really are doing it right. i bought about 3 yards of pure linen a few years back and it is far superior to cotton for patching a round ball. doesnt burn or cut, just slightly frays on the edges. if one wanted to you could pick up used linen patches and use them again. your 54/s could take about anything down in north america, no tracking your critters.

[jjarrell]

Yes my patches are linen from a local fabric store. I agree it does seem to be a little more durable and accurate. I think it also holds more patch lube.

I just read my previous response...............It wasn't my intention to come off as rude. I'm sorry if I did. But bear in mind that this is a custom barrel built to order with strength and precision in mind. Not a foreign made pipe bomb.

[dondiego]

Would you guys care to tell me the thickness of the linen you bought? I just bought some and it was very thin which is what I wanted, but I wondered if it came thicker.

[jjarrell]

I took calipers with me to measure. The fabric is .020" thick when compressed by the calipers. The fabric itself feels like really thick dense cotton bedsheets. Just about any fabric store should have it. The Wal-Mart here has it in the fabric section too.

[Omnivore]

That should be an excellent setup.

Sharpsguy; that's a 1" barrel, not 15/16". Heavy, maybe, but plenty strong.

[johnson1942]

you can order linen off sites on the internet. order medium thickness, tight weave. the best patching material out their thats available. if you can get a tight weave medium weight hemp, that is supposed to be very good also.

[jjarrell]

http://namlhunt.com/traditionalmldata2.html

This is a good link, check the load data for the 38" round ball barrel that was used to harvest the bison. 15/16" across the flats.

[jjarrell]

Still waiting. Hopefully the old saying "good things come to those who wait" hold true here. Im getting ancy..........lol