Barrel cut down

[Sniper43]

I have a Lyman Great Plains Rifle in .54 caliber and really like this rifle except for the fact it is heavy and for me the barrel is too long. Thinking about having the barrel cut down to 24-inches, which is the same length of my TC New Englander, and it is my favorite woods carry rifle because of its lighter weight (almost 2 pounds lighter) and the shorter barrel.

Also was thinking about having the cut off barrel piece modified to fit my Lyman Great Plains Pistol. I wondering if anyone has a muzzleloading gunsmith they would recommend to do the work. I live in Dallas, Texas.

Thanks,
Charlie

 

[necchi]

Any reputable local machine shop will be able to cut the barrel, face it square, bevel the muzzle, and dovetail the sight groove for ya, same as any "gunsmith" would do.
Honest. (your in Texas, so they'll even know how to deal with the muzzle rifling properly)
Boring, facing for a breech plug and threading of the cut-off part(?) uhm,, that's not going to be cost effective at all.
Hint; take the rail and front sight off before ya get to the shop,

 

[Sam squanch]

Machine shops won’t do gun work. I think you have to be a licensed gunsmith now.

 

[necchi]

Machine shops won’t do gun work. I think you have to be a licensed gunsmith now.

, well I guess I haven't had anything done for years, but it wasn't a problem here in Minn. A local shop took a few inches off a Jukar 45 brl for me without hesitation and did a fine job, IIRC it cost me $45.
Is it a Texas thing? I guess there could be liability issues(?)

 

[Sam squanch]

Supposedly Obama made it illegal for anyone to work on a gun unless they were a licensed gunsmith. Who knows. Machine shops here will run you off if you bring anything gun related in. Insurance probably.

 

[Dave Dworshak]

Did you ever get the barrel shortened? Curious how it turned out.

 

[Nor Cal Mikie]

Not sure about other states but in California, Muzzleloaders arn't classed as firearms. With nothing else on it, it's just a piece of pipe.

 

[bud in pa]

Why not cut it yourself? All you need is a hacksaw, files, a small machinist's square, and a round headed brass bolt with some valve grinding compound. I've done unmentionables and they shot just fine.

 

[david w]

I have a Lyman Great Plains Rifle in .54 caliber and really like this rifle except for the fact it is heavy and for me the barrel is too long. Thinking about having the barrel cut down to 24-inches, which is the same length of my TC New Englander, and it is my favorite woods carry rifle because of its lighter weight (almost 2 pounds lighter) and the shorter barrel.

Also was thinking about having the cut off barrel piece modified to fit my Lyman Great Plains Pistol. I wondering if anyone has a muzzleloading gunsmith they would recommend to do the work. I live in Dallas, Texas.

Thanks,
Charlie

A 24" Great Plains would look weird to me.

 

[2 shots]

track of the wolf does great work for fair prices.

 

[erhunter]

Send it to Bobby Hoyt.

 

[rich pierce]

This thread is half a year old. The guy disappeared after requesting information. So, further advice isn’t helping him, it seems.

 

[LME]

Machine shops won’t do gun work. I think you have to be a licensed gunsmith now.

Does that apply to muzzle loaders and obsolete guns?

 

[hawkeye2]

This thread is half a year old. The guy disappeared after requesting information. So, further advice isn’t helping him, it seems.

He was on the forum yesterday (4-8-22) at 3:48 PM and has sold a number of items here. I do wish members would follow up to the threads they open if with nothing but a thank you so that we might know we were able to help.

 

[morehops52]

.......or he could just buy a .54 Deerstalker!

 

[Eric Krewson]

On my first gun a was slicing away on the fore stock to install my nose cap, I installed the nose cap then installed the barrel to check my work, oops I had an inch of extra barrel hanging out the front past the nose cap. I always was a measure once and cut twice person.

Embarrassed by my goof up I searched for cutting off a barrel here and the ALR site, I had never done any gun building or gunsmith work.

I used a hacksaw, several files and a good square to remove the extra inch of barrel, it actually was very easy to do. I crowned the barrel with sandpaper on my thumb while I continually rotated it, this looked pretty darn good as well. Done deal

 

[doubleset]

I used a hacksaw, several files and a good square to remove the extra inch of barrel, it actually was very easy to do. I crowned the barrel with sandpaper on my thumb while I continually rotated it, this looked pretty darn good as well. Done deal

Did you leave out something here about the front sight? Just curious in case I ever want to do this myself at some point.

 

[user 34300]

Cutting, truing, and a simple crown is doable. How is the rib attached?

How about making a front sight dovetail? Doing a nice job with a hack saw and three corner safe side file takes lots of experience to pull off. Chances are all early attempts will look bad. To do a perfect job I must use a milling machine. It is slow and tedious to get perfect. The fit needs to be way under 0.001" tolerance. In short dovetails are hard!

Not asked but I'll throw it out, 24" is to short to a traditional looking ML.

 

[Eric Krewson]

I hadn't cut the dovetail for the front sight when I cut the barrel off. The sights are the last thing I install on a build, just before browning or graying the barrel. I usually shoot the rifle in the white before I brown the barrel as well.

As for dovetails, My first rifle was sloppy, my second a little better, I find the slower I go the better they are, I don't think I have made a perfect one yet but they aren't too bad.