Colerian Barrel smooth bore

[dave61965]

It’s a Colerian turkey barrel, shot only can be used. Without a patch the ball kinda moves around till it gets to the choke.
I’m sure Tip needed to tell me the story of his champion ship shooting with round ball, but it did not apply to this gun. He did tell me he was 83 three different times in the half hour or so we looked at different guns. After I choose the 20 ga he talked about the correct load to use. patch, etc. to achieve maximum accuracy. He also said I should aim low left? I asked why. He just kinda looked at me and said, well that’s what round balls do.
I had the staff of nmlra try to get him my phone number this morning, Saturday. They said he was still there. But I haven’t heard from him.
I’m thinking he did not know what Barrel was on the gun. I sure wasn’t going to question him if 20 ga. is what he said.
I hope he calls.

Forgive me if I’m wrong but you don’t sound like someone with very much patience, if that’s correct I’d suggest a different hobby, with that being said I’d suggest maybe to email him, I have corresponded with him that way before, but again, be patient, he works alone in his shop and isn’t always by the phone so give him a call, not even sure if he has an answering machine.

 

[smo]

Cell service at Friendship is not the best in the World.

It took three days for me too find the right spot too stand... just too send a text.

What makes you so sure you have a Colerain Turkey Barrel?


Were you shooting from a bench rest or off hand?

 

[Redbearcat]

Let’s see:
Emailed twice, called a few times, and am patiently waiting.

Shot from a bench rest.

The barrel is .573 mic at muzzle. Cleaning patches, doubled, are forced in. After three inches no resistance. Removal same thing, no resistance until three inches from the end of the barrel, not able to be removed without force. That’s not a fully concentric barrel the entire length.

I’m not a fanatical muzzleloader. I do shoot many other forms of rifle, handguns, shotguns and reload as a hobby.

Just want what I paid for same as anyone would.

 

[smo]

I wouldn’t expect much reply until mid week if it were me.....

Tip is 83 years of age and is very meticulous in what he does, give him a call Wednesday or Thursday .... hopefully by then he’ll be back in Tn. and he can answer your questions.

He goes too lunch and takes care of shipping between 11:00 am - 1:00 pm CST.. it’s best too call early.

It is possible that he could have used a turkey choked barrel , I guess.

I wish I were so lucky, my gun shoots roundballs better than it does Shot..

Good Luck & keep us posted....

 

[dave61965]

It is possible that he could have used a turkey choked barrel , I guess.

I wish I were so lucky, my gun shoots roundballs better than it does Shot..

Good Luck & keep us posted....

I’d love to get one his turkey choke guns, bet it would be the cats meow for these frisky east Texas cat squirrels, I have one of his .62 cal rifles so shot only wouldn’t be a concern for me.

 

[Redbearcat]

I’m certainly thinking about keeping it.
I have many rifled barreled muzzleloaders. I just don’t know how to utilize the smaller muzzle .573 to place over powder cards, wads, over shot cards, etc large enough to “cap off” the interior .615 bore.
Round ball would be out of the question, but I do have my other rifled guns.
I read about the versatility of using a smooth bore for both in Muzzle Blasts and Muzzleloader magazines so I thought that would be a challenge. We all like to challenge ourselves to find the right load.
So, I’m undecided.
When I do get to talk with Tip I’m hoping he can give me the options I need to make up my mind.

 

[Pukka Bundook]

R-B,

You could always have the barrel reamed out to a cylinder bore, and it would then be as you figured it was when you purchased it.
Tip is a very good man, and not out to rob anyone.

Best,
Richard.

 

[dave61965]

Well, in my opinion that’s a decent chunk of money spent to settle for something you’re not really sure you want, if through misunderstanding or whatever the case, you didn’t get what you thought you were getting, I’d ponder that idea while waiting to talk to Tip and maybe seek advice from turkey choke shooters here on the forum in the meantime, like I said, I’d love to have one but id think long and hard before I laid out the cash for something I couldn’t shoot ball out of, especially since there’s not much turkey hunting in my area to speak of, but on the other hand I did lay out the cash for a “squirrel” rifle so I guess you have to ponder over your actual needs I suppose.

 

[Redbearcat]

I’m sure Tip definitely is not out to rob me. I was just very disappointed. Seems my luck sucks. I’m disappointed in that I would have to question someone who is very proud of his work, as he should be. I respect my elders so where does one begin? I would love to be able to drive to Tennessee, and might have to. I was hoping to know when he was leaving Friendship and I would of returned there, but was unable to find out. So many venders had left by Wednesday an a waisted trip on Saturday would not have helped.
We’re all only human so adding a little Grace to the mix is my next step. I’m been reminded of that this being Sunday.

 

[pamtnman]

Let’s see:
Emailed twice, called a few times, and am patiently waiting.

Shot from a bench rest.

The barrel is .573 mic at muzzle. Cleaning patches, doubled, are forced in. After three inches no resistance. Removal same thing, no resistance until three inches from the end of the barrel, not able to be removed without force. That’s not a fully concentric barrel the entire length.

I’m not a fanatical muzzleloader. I do shoot many other forms of rifle, handguns, shotguns and reload as a hobby.

Just want what I paid for same as anyone would.

You received a choked 20-gauge smoothbore barrel. People use them for shooting small game, flying birds, and turkey, and it will shoot a ball very accurately, once you have experimented with which ball, with what patch, and how much powder. This barrel you have is a pretty well known quantity and a lot of people really like them. You got something good.

 

[smo]

A stated above, I known a few Guys who have the turkey choked Colerain barrels , and their guns shoot round balls very well....

Colerain does say not too shoot roundballs out of their choked barrels , but several do anyway.

I talked too Tip last Wednesday around 11:00 am at Friendship, I ask if he was getting ready too head back to Tn.

His reply was , “In a couple of days ,I’ll start packing things up.....

Give him a call tomorrow before 11:00 CST, hopefully he’ll be back , but if I was a betting man I’d say more than likely Wednesday or Thursday...

 

[Treestalker]

I would not shoot a -patched- round ball out of a tightly choked smoothbore, I'd run a wad down on the powder and use a bottom and top nest of tow on the round ball. I've heard good of this method but have not tried it myself 'cause I've never had a really tightly choked smoothbore ML. Closest I've come is a patched RB in a Traditions 12 ga many moons ago. Did fine on oil cans as far as I could shoot offhand, maybe 30 yds?

 

[Redbearcat]

Got ahold of Tip early this morning. Explained the situation. He said, yea you got a turkey choke barrel. Guess I forgot.
My options, send it back at my cost and he would return my money, send it back at my cost and he would re-barrel it at return it at my cost. Or, wait until spring and return it at Friendship.
I said I would rather keep it than spend another 70 to 100 on it just to have what I started out to get.
I suggested that I thought $200 refunded to me seemed reasonable. No, too much. We settled on $100 refunded.
So I’ve given up on having a “traditional” smooth bore. I mean it looks correct for the “school” it is in (school being Tip’s term) as explained to me. It’s just not.

 

[smo]

Sounds fair too me...

Play around with different loads, my gun would not shoot a patched .626 but shoots both .642 & .648 well without a patch..

 

[Redbearcat]

That would be tuff to do either. The muzzle measures .573
No round balls says the barrel manufacture. I’ll have to stick with shot.
I’ll probably make some paper shot cups out of craft paper. The buffer between the powder and shot is the experiment.

 

[nhmoose]

The hundred bucks should be more than needed to have it reamed to cylinder. It is a ML if the ball goes down it will come back out.

 

[Rat]

How are those barrels choked? (when manufactured/made) If they are choke bored, then it could reamed for sure.

 

[Pukka Bundook]

If I liked the gun, I'd just ream it myself, and finish it with a fine -boring bit.
First one I reamed was after I'd sent it to a gunsmith and he reamed it cock-eyed!...had to do it myself to a true cylinder.

 

[pamtnman]

If I liked the gun, I'd just ream it myself, and finish it with a fine -boring bit.
First one I reamed was after I'd sent it to a gunsmith and he reamed it cock-eyed!...had to do it myself to a true cylinder.

Pukka, the gunsmith didn't ream your barrel out cockeyed. He adjusted the barrel so that you can be like Daniel Boone and shoot around trees

 

[nhmoose]

To ream it out I would use a cylinder hone and measure frequently. Done that 100+ times in Modern barrels it really is no big deal. I also have the ability to measure the bore dia and the choke dia