.375 Caliber Smooth Bore Rifle.....Possible?.....Accuracy?.....******** Idea?

[Rawhide67]

I always thought that a barrel with a liner in it should be more accurate than a barrel in the same caliber with no liner.

My theory was that the vibration induced when firing would be nullified by the grain structure of the different tubes. I had a couple of barrels relined and neither of them showed any improvement and in fact I was terribly disappointed. I thought I was going to have a secret weapon to defeat my competitors!

That's a theory I've never heard before.

 

[The Crisco Kid]

It's a trans-Frankenstuffer. It was born as a shotgun but is being forced to think it's a rifle. Better to follow the science and let it be its natural gender.

 

[64Springer]

I like it!!! Others won't. A side hammer Frankenstein tactical. A rat rod muzzleloader.

You gave me an idea. I wonder if I could hone that type of barrel out. To make it take .375 balls with a patch.
It would go well with my 1851 navy.

Question??? How smooth is the inside of the tube you are using??

Mirror bright and butter smooth.

4130 tubing from Wicks Aircraft Parts.

 

[64Springer]

It's a trans-Frankenstuffer. It was born as a shotgun but is being forced to think it's a rifle. Better to follow the science and let it be its natural gender.

Started weighing out shot last night.

#6 birdshot and #4 buckshot.

 

[Billy-by-gosh]

I always thought that a barrel with a liner in it should be more accurate than a barrel in the same caliber with no liner.

My theory was that the vibration induced when firing would be nullified by the grain structure of the different tubes. I had a couple of barrels relined and neither of them showed any improvement and in fact I was terribly disappointed. I thought I was going to have a secret weapon to defeat my competitors!

Yeah, relining worn RIFLING in old barrels really can improve previous performance; however, unless the barrel isn't pretty bad to start with I didn't see tremendous gains. I've not tried relining a smoothie yet but also came up with the same notion of making a cheaper smootbore barrel similar to @64Spinger. Even started gathering a few parts but have not started work as yet. Am really interested in seeing how his barrel performance continues to develop !

 

[Gtrubicon]

Out here in California rifles that have pistol grips are so deadly that you rarely have to shoot. Things just die by looking at them. Especially if they have a magazine that holds more than ten rounds. Be careful with that thing.

 

[nkbj]

Have a fifty bore smoothy.
That's "small" to me.

 

[Sandro_Ventania]

target at 12 yards?
It is not very good.
I'm sure there's room for improvement.
that group at 30 yards would be ok.

 

[64Springer]

Not very good is an understatement.

 

[Hermit Tim]

The HC and pc boys are gonna have a meltdown!
View attachment 242195

Probably not. John Colter carried one just like it.

 

[Brokennock]

The HC and pc boys are gonna have a meltdown!
View attachment 242195

Nope, not really.
Only if taken too seriously. Or, when someone later starts making up b.s. on how "it possibly could have been,,," or,,,, "if they'd a had it they'd a used it."
Could be interesting, I wish the small bore had been more successful, I think a small bore rifle would have been better though. Would make a neat anti-coyote gun.

 

[Britsmoothy]

Try it with two or three ball down it.
My 45 is, sorry, was deadly with two balls.

 

[Sandro_Ventania]

Experimente com duas ou três bolas para baixo.
Meu 45 é, desculpe, foi mortal com duas bolas.

45 smoothbore?

 

[64Springer]

Nope, not really.
Only if taken too seriously. Or, when someone later starts making up b.s. on how "it possibly could have been,,," or,,,, "if they'd a had it they'd a used it."
Could be interesting, I wish the small bore had been more successful, I think a small bore rifle would have been better though. Would make a neat anti-coyote gun.

Just ordered some 265 grain bullets.

.376 diameter.

Hoping I can convince them to go down a .375 bore.

92 Lead. 6 Antimony. 2 Tin.

 

[leadhoarder]

No need to worry about the epoxy failing. The hose clamp will keep things intact!

 

[64Springer]

No need to worry about the epoxy failing. The hose clamp will keep things intact!

That is a very special hose clamp.

Remove the tang screw, loosen the hose clamp and the barrel slides out to the rear.

Then another barrel of a different caliber can be installed.

.38 smooth, 16ga. and .45 rifled.

 

[Billy-by-gosh]

Just ordered some 265 grain bullets.

.376 diameter.

Hoping I can convince them to go down a .375 bore.

92 Lead. 6 Antimony. 2 Tin.

Great memories on this! I owned a percussion front-stuffer pistol equipped with a .375 smooth barrel and tried all sorts of bullets, even a Very long paper-patched .357 with its deep hollow base. Tons of fun, but all the elongated projectiles wildly varied in accuracy, and most of the time they keyholed on target. The most accurate loads were with the lowly round balls of .350 and .357 diameter. The best accuracy I was able to obtain was minute-of-pie plate at 25 yards using 1 dram of powder [= approx 27 grains of FFFg] from my copper flask. Patched ball worked slightly better than wads and bareball in this instance.

 

[wganz]

The HC and pc boys are gonna have a meltdown!
View attachment 242195

Add in that the metal was imported from India......................