Barrel and Lock on a smoothbore

[creekbottom]

I am in the process of researching and ordering a Chambers Smooth rifle kit. I havnt seen any smoothbores Octagon to round bbl with lock and barrel left in the white. I like the look of it and have seen several rifles this way ie the Caywood Crockett rifle what are your thoughts on this.

 

[Rebel]

A lot of the Tradeguns were octaogon to round and in the white. The only problem is you get a lot of glare off that brite barrel, both from the sun and after firing a few shots when the mirage from the barrel heating up makes it hard to shoot. I have a friend that i sold a flinter too. He left the barrel browned, but took the case hardening off the lock and polished it up. Looks good.

 

Spend enough time in the woods and it will dull up, too. Or, a light coat of browning on it will cut the glare. I shoot a "Barn Gun" that I left white and it is now taking on quite the patina, especially after the miserable weather up here. It all depends on the look you want.

Rebel is right, too, as far as the heat monkeys go, but I seldom actually look across the barrel--I shoot my TG with my head up, leaving the gun at a higher angle.

:results:

 

[creekbottom]

Good point guys I may brown both the lock and the barrel
after all.

 

[Russ T Frizzen]

You can leave it in the white and just not give it a high polish. Check Eric Kettenberg's web-site for some ideas.
[url] firelocks.com[/url] should get you there. I've got a gun with an
unfinished but dull barrel and glare is no problem at all.

 

[r brandt]

All of the smoothbores I have built, around 7, have all been French Model C or D which have a time period of 1680 to 1753 or so. All have been left bright but they only stay that way a short time and then they develop a gray patina that gets better with age. Sunlight on them is no worse than if they were browned and the heat mirage only has to do with rapidity of firing, not whether the barrel is browned. They were left bright because that is the way the originals made their way across the Atlantic.

 

[tg]

Brite barrels or "aged barrels are not a problem as far as glare is concerned, as for Chambers guns most are from the "pre-browning" period historicaly speaking.

 

[Rat]

A bright barrel will age if you let it. Handle it at home a lot will help. Go sparingly on the oil...you want to oil it a little so it won't actually rust, but not keep it so oiled that it won't age.

It took about three years for Bloody Bess's barrel to get REALLY good and grey, but it got "unbright" faster than that. First two hunting seasons the weather was "too good" most of the times I hunted, so I didn't see much aging. This last year I was out in wet and drizzly rain more often, and that made a difference.

One "trick" or way to cheat is to blue it with cold blue, and then steel wool it off with fine steel wool and oil until it is just slightly grey and dull. This will make a very nice base for a natural age or patina, and looks aged right off the bat.

Rat

 

[RussB]

A bright barrel will age if you let it. Handle it at home a lot will help.........One "trick" or way to cheat is to blue it with cold blue, and then steel wool it off with fine steel wool and oil until it is just slightly grey and dull. This will make a very nice base for a natural age or patina, and looks aged right off the bat.
Rat

Brownell"s "Oxypho Blue"....applied as you just described, does a VERY nice job on "cheating the system"....looks very good with just a little age and a very light oiling. :imo:


Russ