.45 Caliber Shotgun Advice

[Britsmoothy]

I wish you had sent that as a pm.

Oops sorry...

 

[ohio ramrod]

If the rifling is shallow it could be made into a smooth bore by using a brake hone on a long rod with a hand drill.A few hours should do it.Part of this game is tring to see what works.

 

[fjrdoc]

I wondered if I could hone out the bore without sending the barrel out. I was surfing the net for info. Tanks for the input.

 

[flconch53]

I successfully reamed the rifling out of shallow rifle barrels. About a 15/32 reamer should do it

 

[fjrdoc]

Where did you buy your reamer? This barrel is 36 inches long. I would need reamer extensions.

 

[flconch53]

I brazed it on a PC of steel.

 

[fjrdoc]

I had the day off from work so I loaded up the 45 flintlock and a couple unmentionables and headed out to the range. This was my first attempt at shooting a muzzle loading "shotgun." I really had a fun time. I was able to hit paper at 25 yards but the pattern wasn't the greatest. I have a reamer on the way to remove the shallow rifling. I loaded 3/4 ounce of shot and 50 grains of FFF.

 

[flconch53]

Good luck. Keep it oiled when reaming and you should be fine

 

[fjrdoc]

Just wanted to report back on my progress on the 45. This weekend, I was able to hand ream the bore on the rifle. I took my time and frequently cleaned the reamer and lubed with cutting oil. The job is now finished! I will say that reaming took me 2 days to finish. I reamed until the end of the reamer was just above the bore. I then welded a 3/8" x 36" rod to the end of the reamer. My tap handle spun on the rod so I needed to use my angle grinder to add an "angle" so it wouldn't spin. I continued reaming until I did the entire length of the bore. I will say that progress was slow by hand, but I got the job done. The surface finish near the bore looks rougher than I would like. I'm sure that it will be functional, but I'm going to purchase a brake hone to further finish the surface.
When the weather gets nicer, I intend to work on load development. I'm anxious to be able to get this "rifle" into use after all these years. My father bought this kit for a Christmas present for me in 1976. I assembled it when I was 15 years old. My father died in 1984. This kit was horrible as a rifle. I'm hoping that it will be much better as a small-bore shotgun. It will make me feel closer to my dad if I can get this firearm functioning to a point where I can use it for small game hunting.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

There is nothing wrong with a .45" smoothbore.
View attachment 173682

IS that one rifled or is it smooth? They were saying in some replies it will suffer when using shot with rifling. I know in a much larger caliber with round bottom rifling shot is poor. On this one..., I don't know, and you're my BP shotgun Guru, so.....

LD

 

[fjrdoc]

Hi Dave.
Thanks for your response. This kit stared out as a rifle. I tried some shotgun loads with rifling but results were less than desireable.

 

[flconch53]

Just wanted to report back on my progress on the 45. This weekend, I was able to hand ream the bore on the rifle. I took my time and frequently cleaned the reamer and lubed with cutting oil. The job is now finished! I will say that reaming took me 2 days to finish. I reamed until the end of the reamer was just above the bore. I then welded a 3/8" x 36" rod to the end of the reamer. My tap handle spun on the rod so I needed to use my angle grinder to add an "angle" so it wouldn't spin. I continued reaming until I did the entire length of the bore. I will say that progress was slow by hand, but I got the job done. The surface finish near the bore looks rougher than I would like. I'm sure that it will be functional, but I'm going to purchase a brake hone to further finish the surface.
When the weather gets nicer, I intend to work on load development. I'm anxious to be able to get this "rifle" into use after all these years. My father bought this kit for a Christmas present for me in 1976. I assembled it when I was 15 years old. My father died in 1984. This kit was horrible as a rifle. I'm hoping that it will be much better as a small-bore shotgun. It will make me feel closer to my dad if I can get this firearm functioning to a point where I can use it for small game hunting.

Well done

 

[Britsmoothy]

IS that one rifled or is it smooth? They were saying in some replies it will suffer when using shot with rifling. I know in a much larger caliber with round bottom rifling shot is poor. On this one..., I don't know, and you're my BP shotgun Guru, so.....

LD

Smoothbore Dave.
I'm nothing special either.
I just get on with it that's all .

Years ago I had a CVA 45 rifle, when I tried shot with a newspaper was I got 15yds useable pattern.
Others may get a better return than that though.