I have heard of a business in one of the western states, maybe Great Plains Reboring or something like that, that has done a few muzzleloaders, but I don’t think they are seeking that kind of business.
I’ll try to look up that Great Plains outfit. I probably got the name wrong.
Notchy Bob
Well, I was close, but did get the name wrong. The outfit I was thinking of is
High Plains Reboring & Barrels, LLC. The proprietor is named Norman Johnson, and his business is located in Turtle Lake, North Dakota. I'm not going to post his phone number or address here, but you can find it easily, as I did, with a straightforward Google search if you are interested. I did not find a website or email address for High Plains Reboring in my Google search. A lot of these specialty outfits are quite small, and if they get too much publicity, they can be overwhelmed with time-consuming and frequently pointless calls and queries. Mr. Johnson reportedly advertises in the
printed version of
The Black Powder Cartridge News (BPCN), but as an online subscriber, I did not see an ad for his business on that magazine's website.
However, there was an article referencing High Plains Reboring in the Summer 2023 issue of the BPCN, entitled "An Old Hunter Afield Again," by James Bowen. The author had an antique muzzleloader that was in pretty good shape overall, but it had a rusty, damaged bore. Here is a direct quote from Mr. Bowen's article:
"In a previous issue of The Black Powder Cartridge News, I came across an ad for The High Plains Reboring & Barrels, LLC, Norman Johnson owner. Johnson agreed to rebore the rifle and recut the rifling. I was very surprised to have the barrel back in my hands within two weeks! It is now a .330 bore and able to shoot .310 roundballs. On the first shot at the range I thought I might have missed the paper at 25 yards. I couldn’t see a hole until I walked up to the target. There was a dead “bullseye,” in fact, the next four shots all hit the 2-inch bullseye! Thank you, Mr. Johnson! The [rifle]
shows a preference for 20 grains of FFFg and two .010 patches with the .310 roundball."
High Plains Reboring was also discussed briefly in a thread here on the Muzzleloading Forum in 2022:
High Plains Reboring
That's about all I know about it. It appears Mr. Johnson has the skills and equipment for recutting muzzleloaders, but I get the impression that is not his specialty. In any event, it is good to know that we have options, and maybe someone who will continue to "carry the torch" after Mr. Hoyt retires.
Best regards,
Notchy Bob