Coned My Barrel

It's finished. Took me about 2 hours of leasurely twisting the sandpaper wrapped tool around and around. I finally put on some leather gloves, it's kinda hard on the hands after a while. Most of the time was spent cutting new pieces of sandpaper for the tool which involves using a template and applying two sided light duty carpet tape. You also need a large tap handle, Sears, $14.50 :shocking:. The job was a piece of cake and now I can thumb press a .600 ball with pillow ticking about 1/4" below the muzzle :: I can thumbpress a .610 ball almost flush with the muzzle. Both should be seated easily with the ramrod only and no short starter needed. I used a big piece of my patching material so that I could pull the ball back out. Since my bore measured only .610 I think I'll use the .600 to keep loading even easier. Now the bore at the muzzle rim measures .633 and slowly tapers down to the .610 in about an inch below the muzzle. I can't wait to shoot!

 

Be sure'n give us a "report" after you git done at the range!! :thumbsup:

YMHS
rollingb

 

[Flintleather]

Let us know if your point of impact changed.I have a 45cal flinter that i was thinking of doing this to but it shoots dead on with my sights and i sure would hate for that to change!

 

[Dave Poss]

Waiting on a report. I bought the coneing tool about 6 months ago and everytime I think I'm going to do it, I change my mind. my ol'45 finter shoots dead-on now. I just want it to do the same thing without having to use a shortstarter to load her with.

 

Looks like I'll be waiting a while myself for my report because it's raining I don't blame you for being cautious longknife, but I have a good hunch that I'll be pleased with the results. I haven't read a single report of this modification causing a decrease in accuracy but being from Missouri I'll just have to see for myself.

 

I would like to give this a try but I am very concerned about buggering up the lands and groves. Is there a website where I could read about the process? Maybe if I had an understanding of just how coning is done then I would be more confident that I could do it without destroying a barrel.

 

[Ohio Joe]

Waiting on a report. I bought the coneing tool about 6 months ago and everytime I think I'm going to do it, I change my mind. my ol'45 finter shoots dead-on now. I just want it to do the same thing without having to use a shortstarter to load her with.

I'm the same way, Longknife, though I haven't purchased the tool yet. I've just been loading a smaller diameter ball when I have to load fast for "close" accuracy on gongs and such during timed events. I use the short starter and larger diameter ball for the serious competition work, and hunting...

 

[Greg Walden]

I think we're talking about the Joe Wood coning tool. I've coned three barrels using Joe's method. The first after about 80 rounds fired, and on the second one (a new rifle) I waited until I had fired 200 rounds. Coning had no effect on accuracy or point of impact at all that I could see (I ain't the best shot in the world offhand, but it didn't change bench results). It sure does make me happier while loading and not having to use a short starter, though.


Greg

 

Chet, I don't know about a web site but I'll tell you this. After I was finished with the coning job I got my Lyman dial calipers out and measured between all the lands and they were a consistent .633" all the way around. The rifling groove depth on my barrel is pretty deep so you can still see grooves all the way to the end of the muzzle. It's hard for me to explain and my digital camera doesn't do close ups very well but with shallow groove rifling the grooves may be completely eliminated at the top of the "cone" but with deeper grooved rifling some of the groove remains visible at the end although barely. It amazed me how much easier a ball/patch combo started after doing this. Don Getz of Getz Barrel fame has written a resounding testimonial about this Joe Wood coning tool but I forget where to find it.

 

[Herb]

You could just phone Joe Wood and ask him. He is very easy to talk with. He probably is listed in the Links forum. I have coned half a dozen barrels, and there ain't no way you can bugger them up. Did run into one "buggered" muzzle once, though. The inexperienced builder started a .50 caplock and didn't know how to finish it, so he asked me to do it. He had used a cone-shaped polished stone in his electric drill and really polished a crown in the muzzle (not a cone), but he got it lopsided. As a result, I did not have to file the front sight down to raise the point of impact. He had worn the crown off more on the bottom side so when the ball exited, the gas escaped there first and pushed the ball up. It shot half inch groups off the bench at 50 yards. You could do a search on this forum, go to Search, choose Weapons, for subject put in +coning+ (like that), no name needed, time one year, and 100 for number. You'll find everything you want to know.

 

[rabjr]

For those curious, I can scan the instructions for Joe Woods tool and send via email.

 

[Stumpkiller]

Don Getz sent me this "testimonial" when I e-mailed him requesting his thoughts on coning:

Actually, the little tool that Joe Woods makes does a better job than what we do. His tool does a longer cone, and, I think if coning is done right, it will not hurt accuracy, and will surely make for easier loading.

You really can't tell by eye if a muzzle is coned or not. It is such a slight change that in many originals it is debated whether it was intentionally coned or just wore out due to grit and rubbing at the muzzle from the rammer.

 

Thank you Stumpkiller! That's what I was talking about. :thumbsup:

 

[pcrum]

Maybe this is a stupid question, but not that you've coned the muzzle, can you still cut your patch at the muzzle, or do you have to use pre-cut ones from here out?
I'm anxious to hear your shooting results. I'll be putting in my order tomorrow for the totw kit! I think that I will go ahead and cone the muzzle on mine- I don't do bench shooting (competition) so even if there is a slight loss in accuracy I don't think it will be enough to worry about. My rifle will be for hunting and re-enacting. Shots around here are ususally 50-75 yards on deer.


Cheers!

 

[Stumpkiller]

Sure. You just need to press down with the side of the knife, like when spreading peanut butter. By the time the blade is no longer pushing across the muzzle the patch is fully cut through.

 

I think that although I can thumb press a patched .600 ball a bit below the muzzle that it is snug enough to allow me to cut at the muzzle with a razor sharp blade and not worry about pulling the ball out by accident. I can't try that out until I'm at the range. I've used a big piece(10"X10") of my pillow ticking for test fitting and I can just pull it all back out by grabbing the excess material. Little gun improvement projects like this are a very enjoyable aspect of this hobby for me :imo:

 

[Herb]

Muzzleloader Magazine for Jan/Feb 2004 had an article by Mike Nesbitt, "The Coned Muzzle". Tried to call their magazine up on the web, guess I don't know how to do it. Mike liked coned muzzles.

 

[Richard Allen]

I used one of Joe Woods' tools to cone my .50 caliber Getz barrel last year. I tested the results at 50 yards from a good solid rest using exactly the same ball/patch/lube combination as before. I couldn't tell any difference in group size or point of impact.

I don't think anyone can mess up the job if they follow Joe's directions.

Richard/Ga.

 

Having the barrel coned on my flintlock sure made it a lot
faster and easier for me to load.

 

[LSU TIGER]

You'll love it!