Building double rifles?

[nathanbowenarrow]

I thought at one time I had seen a book on building double rifles and regulating barrels etc... Does anyone know of such a book. Any help would be apreciated.
Thanks
Nathan Bowen
[email protected]

 

[shooter93]

Building Double rifle on Shotgun Actions by W. Ellis Brown....Bunduki Publishing. A very good book and a lot of work to build one. The pressures of the cartridge you want to build are a paramount concern but there is a formula in the book. I've been getting regular emails and pm's from a you fellow at a cast bullet site who is converting one. He used inserts in the existing barrels with helical ends at the muzzle. It seems to be working ok for him but he is having trouble regulating it. I don't think he allowed enough for the fact that shotguns are regulated differently and at closer ranges. The book deals with using a mono block system. I love double rifles...smiles. Hope this helped.

 

[mazo kid]

Here is the link to the Cast Boolit forum; lots of good stuff there too. Pretty detailed description of his building a double rifle on a shotgun action. http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=40952

 

[nathanbowenarrow]

Thanks for the help guys but I am actually interested in building a muzzleloader.
Thanks

 

[paulvallandigham]

Okay. Are you looking for an O/U, double gun, like the Beretta, or a side by side? Or a swivel Breech?

The side by side DB rifles are the most difficult to build and regulate, even with a monobloc. It has everything to do with the barrel harmonics of the two barrels, and how they have to be attached together in a side by side. In an O/U gun, you don't often see the two barrels soldered together the entire length, which allows the two barrels to vibrate somewhat independently of each other. If octagon shaped barrels are used in either, you get more rigidity, which lessens but does not eliminate the barrel vibrations. Because of the added weight of a two barreled gun, most double rifles, breechloading or MLers, tend to be made in smaller calibers( .45 and smaller) and the barrels tend to be shorter than most single barreled custom guns.

By all means, read the book, and consult the tables. They will be of great help when you are trying to regulate the barrels.

Personally, I have always thought owning an O/U rifle, with a 20 gauge smooth bore on top, and a .36 caliber barrel on the bottom would be a fine combination gun, that would not be too heavy, and would balance reasonably well.

 

[Roy]

http://www.trackofthewolf.com/(S(z0...ID=4&SUBID=38&STYLEID=137&PARTNUM=BOOK-RDBMLS

 

[nathanbowenarrow]

I am interested in building a sxs rifle. Have never seen a over under muzzleloader except the swivile type.
Thanks

 

[paulvallandigham]

Beretta sold an over/under percussion rifle, in a couple of calibers. Pedersoli may still market them. They were fairly well made, for the price.

I asked about interest in an O/U, because its much easier to regulate the barrels when they are stacked, than when side by side. ( Same thing for shotguns, BTW.) By using an over/under design, you also you have a single sighting plane, and a narrower stock, and lock platform. In many ways, and O/U rifle can be a lot more efficient firearm, than a side by side.

Everyone thinks they can just make barrel liners for some shotgun, and have a double rifle. Shotgun barrels have to be regulated so that the patterns converge at much shorter ranges than what you want with a rifle. Unless you remove the top and bottom ribs of a shotgun, and re-wedge the barrels, a rifle built on such a platform will see the bullets crossing over, and shooting wide of the POA at any distance past 35 yards. This is true for both Breechloaders, and Muzzleloaders.

Weight is also a serious problem because it doesn't take much length for the barrels to make the gun very front heavy, and difficult to both carry and swing on targets.

I wish you all the best success in building such a gun. :thumbsup:

 

[rafterob]

Over and unders were not uncommon usually in different bores. My stepfather had a wallhanger that his father dug up in the backyard as a kid. Percussion with the top barrel being a small gauge shotgun (smooth bore) and the bottom being a .40 cal rifle. I don't recall how the action worked, I never looked real close at it. I have seen other versions in different books with old originals in them.

 

[kansas_volunteer]

I've seen one over-under muzzle loader. It used a backaction side slapper lock with two hammers, one striking the side of the lower barrel and the other the upper. It had double triggers, but I don't know if they were set triggers or if each trigger operated a different hammer. The gun was in an anique mall and I couldn't get the owner to let me pull the lock and learn how it worked. He gave me the name of the owner, but my phone calls all went unanswered. At least I know it's possible to build a fix-barreled o-u muzzle loader working off a single lock. I hope someday I'll get a chance to study such a piece in detail

 

[mckutzy]

a double O/U in flint with a single lock is going to be probably the most difficult as oposed to a sxs gun in flint as well as one in cap, the easiest.

This is what im doing..
Iam going to be building a double soon, and Im going for a O/U 50. cal, single flintlock with a either a selector like a boxlock pistol on the outside of the gun or a dual sliding pan, and a mono block breach. my main problems are the lock.
idealy a back action would be the best as the main springs are not in way of the barrels, but there is an option of an external mainspring, but the frizzen spring would have to be remade.... there are other problems, i just have to decide what to tackle in this project.