"chamber" in percussion barrel

[Bill Hall]

It looks to me like someone used a cartrige gun barrel to build
a muzzloader.

That's what I'm thinking. Like I said earlier, I don't see any muzzleloader barrel being made with an added chamber. There's no need for it, and it will just screw up the works.

I don't know if the chamber would make firing the barrel dangerous, but it sure wouldn't help matters. The ball would probably seat below the transition in the bore, and who knows what that would do. If you put enough powder so that the ball seats above the transition, well, that's alot of powder. You could use a wad to add some space, but that would limit you to using the exact same load every time. Kind of not worth it.

I sure pictured something different in my first post. :surrender: Bill

 

[fishspike]

I think with the slow twist the someone drilled from the breech at some later date for whatever reason

 

[canadian willie]

I am begining to wonder this my self. I emails track of the wold and they had a similar theory...


i quote


"The powder chamber is a mystery. Perhaps you are looking at a failed attempt to re-bore or re-rifle the old barrel?

Perhaps the gun was maintained "frontier style". Guns were often immediately reloaded after firing, Cleaning was limited to the front portion of the barrel, since the cost of ammo was too dear to allow pulling the ball. Yes, the owner cleaned a loaded gun (bad idea).

Thus, the powder chamber might never be cleaned. When you see a nicely preserved bore with a pitted breech, this is the sequence that caused that problem.

Sometimes this rusty area was reamed out, but beware. It is easy to cause a patch to stick in this enlarged breech cavity"

 

[50cal.cliff]

OK I get it now what you are saying about the breech being enlarged. :surrender: I wasn't quite getting it as too what the problem was but, their is
no good reason that such a thing was done to the barrel!

I am +1 on the suggestion to start with another barrel! I mean if this barrel had some significance to you personally then maybe cutting it off and retreading the breech and the drum would be the way to go.

Other wise a new barrel is your best bet to build a good rifle around!!!!!!!!

 

[earl jernigan]

I recon Ol Vern got this one rite.
I seems a cartridge barrel has been reused to build a front loader. I wernt done too good either. The drum looks as if it is gona line up with the breech plug threads, causing all kinds problems with ignition and cleaning. If loaded with powder filling the "chamber" and the ball jist down to it, but not below the recess it might shoot fine. I would be a cleaning nightmare tho. You would never be able to clean carbon/residue at that rim allowing corrosion to build up.

Yore options are as mentioned cut the chamber off and rethread the breech, or get a new barrel.

HOSS

 

[bob308]

i have seen it done before. i think it was done to remove a badly rusted breach area. an easy way to fix it and i have done it before. trun a sleve to fit in the barrel with the center hole a little smaller then the bore. that way it would be like a patten breach.

 

[fishspike]

The sleeve is a good idea but you would not want to have any air space between the powder charge and the ball which could happen if the powder charge did not fill the sleeve completly, acting like a short started ball. The barrel seam to have ample thickness at the breech so the over size section could be reamed out except a bore sized sleeve sort of depends on the depth and volume (powder capacity) of the over sized section.

Bob

Bob

 

[canadian willie]

that sleeve idea is interesting i will think about that. my best idea so far was to cut off and re breech

 

[Dphar]

I recommend it be retired as a wall hanger. There is no fix other than cutting it off and rebreeching. This was a common fix back in the day.
The breeching is bad, the drum installation is bad, the bore does not exist for some distance up from the breech the counterbore would be impossible to clean. Patches will stick. Sleeving is very problematical as well.
And the barrel is of unknown metallurgy and quality.
Its a wall hanger. The other option is to put on a modern barrel. But they poor breeching will remain in any case due to the stocking.
So its a wall hanger.

Dan