Barrel re-boring

[ChrisS]

Hi,
I'm enjoying getting ready for this season. Need to do some more scouting too. Came up with a couple questions though.

Is it possible to take a 50 cal TC Hawken barrel and have it re-bored to 54 cal?

How about 45 re-bored to 50?

Reason would be to get a slower twist.

Maybe it's possible in the octagon barrels, but maybe not in the round barrels?

If so, any ideas where to go for this kind of work?

Thanks!

 

[thewho66]

Yes you can re-bore the barrels back in the day they called it refreshing the barrel. They did that when the barrel was shot out and would go to the next size up. Take a shot out .50and have it refreshed to say .52. As to round or octagon it didnt really matter.

 

[roundball]

Hi,
I'm enjoying getting ready for this season. Need to do some more scouting too. Came up with a couple questions though.
Is it possible to take a 50 cal TC Hawken barrel and have it re-bored to 54 cal?
How about 45 re-bored to 50?
Reason would be to get a slower twist.
Maybe it's possible in the octagon barrels, but maybe not in the round barrels?
If so, any ideas where to go for this kind of work?
Thanks!

Yes, but the problem is you'll basically spend about as much money having it done as you would if you just bought the barrel you wanted brand new...and no real guarantee you'll be pleased with the results.

Now, if you had a rusted out barrel that you wanted to convert to a unique smoothbore barrel that might be worth it...but to pay a machine shop to re-bore & re-rifle a barrel would probably be well over $100, plus UPS costs both ways, etc...and it would void the TC lifetime warranty on each barrel.

IMO, you'd be about as well off selling your existing barrels to finance a lot of the cost of the new replacement barrels.

And PS:
If you're thinking about this from stuff you've heard/read about on forums about round ball accuracy in 1:48" twists, that's old wives tales...RBs are very accurate in 1:48" twists.

Finally, TC's .45cal x 1:48" twist barrels are especially good to hang onto for two reasons:
1) TC stopped making them several years ago;
2) They are also absolute tack drivers with TC's .45cal/255grn maxi-hunter, which gives the .45cal a lot more range than the lighter .440 ball that only weighs half of that.

With the cost of lead going up like it is, you can use the .440s for practice and small game, and use them or the maxi's for deer sized game.

Just some points to ponder...

 

[paulvallandigham]

Roundball is right on. The cost of boring a barrel, and then re-rifling it is usually going to be more than the cost of a new replacement barrel, on a production gun like the T/C. Some barrels are NOT going to be available from the factory, but GM and some others make barrels that will fit. Because they are mass produced, they usually are going to be a lot cheaper, than that custom work. :thumbsup:

 

[William Joy]

Reboring and rifling a barrel is $ 100. However you can also buy a GM barrel ( and in my opinion they are better then your existing barrel)for the same cost

 

[roundball]

Reboring and rifling a barrel is $ 100. However you can also buy a GM barrel ( and in my opinion they are better then your existing barrel)for the same cost

GM had a year end close out special for $100 on some odds & ends left over barrels that they were discontinuing...but unless one of them happened to be what you were specifically looking for, new barrels are usually a good deal more than that.

 

[BrownBear]

Wow!

$100 for a rebore? I've had lots done in CF rifles (38-56 to 45-70 in a Winnie 1886, e.g) when bores are shot, and it cost way more than that. Octagonal barrels no less.

Where can I sign up for such cheap rebores?

 

[ChrisS]

Thanks for the comments. No, I was just thinking of reviving an older TC with a conical barrel that had I believe to be a fairly fast twist to a slower twist for prb.

The Green Mtn replacement barrels are $230+.

 

[Va.Manuf.06]

Actual cost of a rebore and refiling job will run well over $200, maybe as much as $250 - $300? Cheaper to buy a new barrel if you can find one that meets your caliber and twist needs. Your time will be longer as well - a long wait. You can talk to Ed Rayl or Bob Hoyt to get a better idea of the cost of the re-work on your old barrel but I think the $100 price is low by today's standards.

 

[BrownBear]

Actual cost of a rebore and refiling job will run well over $200, maybe as much as $250 - $300?

Go ahead and dash my hopes!!!!

Seriously, that's in agreement with my experience. I'd be willing to bet those numbers will go up in the near future too, if they haven't done so already.

 

[Robert58]

You can get drop in GM replacement barrels from Track Of The Wolf for $169.99 to $178.50 depending on what you want. GM is the only place to get a 15/16 54 cal. barrel.

Or you can get a T/C Round ball drop in barrel 32" long with 1/66 twist 15/16" 50 cal. from Fox Ridge Outfitters, T/C's custom shop, for $185.00. I just ordered one last Friday.

Robert

 

[Fishhog]

You can get drop in GM replacement barrels from Track Of The Wolf for $169.99 to $178.50 depending on what you want. GM is the only place to get a 15/16 54 cal. barrel.

Or you can get a T/C Round ball drop in barrel 32" long with 1/66 twist 15/16" 50 cal. from Fox Ridge Outfitters, T/C's custom shop, for $185.00. I just ordered one last Friday.



Wish I could find a new 15/16ths GM in .54 flinter seems like they are very scarce.Ray

 

[Robert58]

Seems like I remember roundball mentioning that in one of his posts a while back. I believe he had them specially make him one.

Robert

 

[roundball]

Seems like I remember roundball mentioning that in one of his posts a while back. I believe he had them specially make him one.
Robert

What I had GM make were drop-in Flint barrels in 15/16" x 33" x .40cal...and 1" x 33" x .58cal. They only made them in caplock, so in each case I would pay them for a caplock barrel, and the extra charge of $60 to replace the cap plugs with flint plugs, reblue, and ship them to me...both are outstanding Flint barrels.

I already have TC 1" x .54cal rifled barrels so I never pursued getting any .54cal rifled barrels from GM...but I understand they are no longer available...you could call and speak to "Kerri" at GM.

However, I do have a couple of 15/16" x 33" x .54cal GM Flint "smoothbore" barrels...one that I use, and one that's a NIB spare.

The .54cal Flint smoothbore barrels are simply outstanding both with PRBs for deer hunting and shot loads for skeet, doves, squirrels, rabbits, turkey, crows, etc...

 

[Robert58]

TOW shows a 15/16 54 percussion barrel for $178.50 that you could send to GM and have converted to flint.

Robert