Barrel life

[Gordon Jabben]

I put together a flintlock from parts I got from The Golden Age Arms shortly after I got out of high school. I am now 58 and the gun has been shot thousands of times and always cleaned afterward with a cleaning jag on the wooden ramrod. It has a 32 cal Douglas barrel which has never had any rust. What kind of accuracy should I expect at 25 yards.

 

[asbrown]

From what I've read and heard of Douglas barrels it should be driving tacks at 25 yds. If it's not try a slightly thicker patch or move up to the next size larger ball. I'm sure there are others who have personal experience with Douglas barrels, I understand they are still highly sought after by some builders.

 

[paulvallandigham]

What kind of condition is the crown of the muzzle in? Over time and lots of usage, the crown can wear down, a bit and accuracy can fall off. A simple re crowning of the muzzle, or in bad cases, shortening the barrel and 1/8 or 1/4" and then re-crowning the muzzle will usually return an old barrel to top accuracy.

Also put a length of brass rod down the barrel, after the bore is oiled, and then seat an oversized lead ball( bare) in the barrel( ie. use a .36 cal. ball in that .32 cal. barrel). Once the over sized ball begins to travel down the bore freely, upend the barrel and shake it up and down to use the brass rod to knock the lead ball out.

Now, use calipers, or a micrometer to measure the grooves and lands as they are pressed on that over-sized ball. This will tell you if there has been any significant wearing of the lands over the year. If the land-to-land( bore) diameter has increased significantly, you may want to invest in a slightly larger ball mold, or at the very least, use a thicker patch with your existing balls.

It is not uncommon with any diameter RB gun barrel for there to be enough wear on the lands over time, that you need to increase the thickness of your patch. If you frequently recover spent patches fire from that- or any rifle-- the patches will TELL YOU when anything is changing in your barrel( including any wearing of the crown). :hmm: :hatsoff:

 

[Gordon Jabben]

I agree there has to be a lot of wear on the crown of the barrel and may be the problem. I have lost accuracy so quickly that I feel like I may be doing something different when I load it. The only thing I can think of is that I may be putting more grease on my patches. Is it possible the patch could be sticking to the ball for a short distance after leaving the barrel?

 

[hanshi]

A .32 with a decent bore and crown should give dime size groups at 25 yards; actually this is pretty much a given with about any load. Groups at 50 yards are something else again. Shooting at 50 will be what tells you if you have accuracy or not.

Check that crown and bore very carefully. The crown can be returned to good service - unless it's too far gone - with your thumb and fine sand paper.

 

[Gordon Jabben]

Hanshi, thanks for the reply. I have always been happy with a 1" group @ 25 yards since I mostly use the 32 gun for squirrel hunting and felt that was plenty good for that purpose. I'm not even getting close to that now. The range is closed for rifle today but I can take it and do some informal shooting and try some dryer patches. If that doesn't work I guess it's time to look at the barrel. Thanks again.

 

[Dean2]

It is not uncommon with any diameter RB gun barrel for there to be enough wear on the lands over time, that you need to increase the thickness of your patch. If you frequently recover spent patches fire from that- or any rifle-- the patches will TELL YOU when anything is changing in your barrel( including any wearing of the crown). :hmm: :hatsoff:

The crown wear I get but have you actually seen this bore wear being common? I have cartridge guns that have shot litterally thousands of cast lead bullets and I have 22s that have shot tens of thousands of rounds of 22 ammo, one of them has well over 100,000 rounds through it. The cast guns and 22s shoot a velocities similar to black powder guns. I have never seen any type of barrel wear in these guns. I think the barrels get more wear from cleaning than shooting. A couple of uears back I slugged and bore scoped the barrel with more than 100,000 22 RF rounds and it didn't show any wear either. What accounts for the wear in a BP gun shooting PRB of very soft lead? Thanks.

 

[ohio ramrod]

As long as kept clean and oiled for storage a barrel will not war out in your life time. I know a person who has put over 75000 rounds through his rifle and several who have well over 10000 rounds. Crown or land damage at the muzzle can be caused by dirt embeded into the ramrod . On a 32 caliber with a thin and therefore more flexible ramrod this could be a problem. But the barrel itself will not wear if properly cared for. I once used some balls that had been placed in a can that I had had varnish in and the balls at the bottom got a thin coat of varnish on them and caused the patches to stick to the balls.And the patches where stuck into the target at 25 yards. :idunno:

 

[Tumblernotch]

I agree there has to be a lot of wear on the crown of the barrel and may be the problem. I have lost accuracy so quickly that I feel like I may be doing something different when I load it. The only thing I can think of is that I may be putting more grease on my patches. Is it possible the patch could be sticking to the ball for a short distance after leaving the barrel?

If your accuracy loss was abrupt and if going back to your old patch/lube doesn't fix it, the problem is probably not wear but damage. You can nick the crown with a shortstarter or in some other way. You may barely even see the nick and it would be enough. I nicked the barrel of my chunk gun during a match with the shortstarter and my group disappeared with one shot. I made a crowning tool and soon had it shooting right again. Unfortunately too late for that match. Simply using a patch impregnated with valve grinding compound wrapped around an oversized ball may be enough to fix it. But first check for any changes you've made in your loading and see if that fixes it. It still may be a good idea to re-crown if it has had a lot of rounds through it as you say.

 

[Walks with fire]

Go to a high tech/low tolerance machine shop and ask for permission to visit their Quality control office. Have them mold (epoxy)the muzzle/crown and look at it on a comparator and you will quickly know if there is a problem with the muzzle and you will know the land/groove dimensions that will help will patch/ball size selections. Tip the guy 20 bucks and your all set.

 

[roundball]

What kind of accuracy should I expect at 25 yards.

IMO, 25yds is really not much distance of course, and if you mean from a good bench rest, a single ragged hole is pretty much a norm after fine tuning the sights and load.
Depending on how many shots you take it would probably a ragged hole the size of a couple round balls, or at least cloverleafs.
But if you mean off-hand, then that's on you...LOL

 

[paulvallandigham]

Modern rifle barrels are made from tougher steels than those made for Mlrs, and the grooves are much more shallow than what is put n barrels intended to shoot PRBs. You find "Erosion" in the "throat" of modern barrels- that portion directly in front of the chamber--- that is caused by a combination of friction of the bullets entering the throat when fired, and the very hot gases that follow the bullet at that point.

Wear of the lands in a PRB barrel comes from grit in the patch fabric, fine grit that is part of the fowling,and to some minor extent, heat from the burning powder.

Wear at the muzzle was commonly seen in old barrels made of IRON, and the early soft steels. Its less common now because of the change in metallurgy of the steels used to form the barrels, and because shooters have learned the wisdom to use muzzle protectors on their rods when cleaning or loading their barrels.

Just wiping off the crud and grease that will get on a wood ramrod after each use( before putting it back in the thimbles) will help protect the muzzles of BP rifles may times more than not doing so. Its the grease that allows fine grit to be held by the wood, and ever so slowly rubs against the muzzle to wear it down on one side. The wear pattern differs depends on how a particular gun is held by its shooter, and whether the shooter is right or left handed. :hmm:

 

[hanshi]

I concur. Some years back a writer stated in an article that a muzzleloader barrel will lose its accuracy at 1000 shots and will quickly wear out completely soon after that. That, of course, is a load of fertilizer. Improper cleaning certainly will wear a bore long before shooting will.

 

[Gordon Jabben]

Thanks everyone. I guess the heavily greased patches were at least most of the problem with my accuracy. I shot just resting on the hood of my truck and shot a five shot 1 1/2" group after the first shot at 31 yards which is about as good as my old eyes will do with any gun. I just used spit on the patches.
Thanks again for the replies.

 

[Gordon Jabben]

I just have to show off how my 32 flintlock is shooting after the advice I got from you guys. Thanks again. I have been shooting this gun for well over 30 years and this is the best it has ever shot.

 

[David W.]

I put together a flintlock from parts I got from The Golden Age Arms shortly after I got out of high school. I am now 58 and the gun has been shot thousands of times and always cleaned afterward with a cleaning jag on the wooden ramrod. It has a 32 cal Douglas barrel which has never had any rust. What kind of accuracy should I expect at 25 yards.

With a Douglas barrel, expect ragged holes at 25 yards. In fact, expect ragged holes at 40 yards.