Crown Work Required?

[SawTooth]

Hi Everyone,

Question about a new Rice 38"x50 Swamped B Wt. Sq Groove Rifling 1/66 barrel that is coming with a newly ordered TVM EV Flint "Hunter".

What are the chances that crown work will be necessary to counter the sharp rifling grooves at the crown which will initially (at least) tear up your patches while starting a ball into the bore, creating accuracy problems?

Thinking that the answer will be yes, 100% of the time, regardless of bbl manufacturer, would you ask TVM to handle smoothing the crown or even use a slight cone on the crown?

Not sure if TVM will even do these refinements yet or do other lock tuning (stone polishing lock internals, in this case a Chambers Deluxe Siler, polishing the pan etc). They may even already do some of this during the build? I can clarify with them this week.

Regarding the muzzle crown, I really don't think I ever want to get into the DIY sand paper, scotch brite, dremel bit by hand nightmare again!

Thanks in advance for Your Help and Input!

SawTooth

 

[Stophel]

I have NEVER had to rework the crown of a rifle barrel for this reason. Of course, I don't hammer my balls down with a mallet either.

 

[buzp]

I have only owned about 6 muzzleloaders, but I have never had to do any crown work. If you are really concerned about this you probably should contact the barrel maker, I am sure they can tell you if any crown work is needed.

 

[Stophel]

Rice does offer a very deep bevel crown.

 

[Danbo]

+1

 

[mazo kid]

Rice does offer a very deep bevel crown.

Here is the crown on my newly acquired rifle, a .58 cal. swamped Rice. I'm not worried....but I do need to get after the bore with some oil!!

 

[ApprenticeBuilder]

I re-worked my crown soI would'nt have to use a mallet, No power tools though.

[/img]

 

[Zonie]

IMO it doesn't hurt to use an abrasive paper to remove any sharp edges that exist where the rifling and the crown meet. The reduced possibility of a patch torn during loading makes it worthwhile to me.
The amount of work involved requires only about 5 minutes of a persons time and it is so simple to do.

While I make this broad statement I will say that the round bottom rifling grooves found in some barrels are less likely to tear patches during loading because they don't have the sharp edges found on square groove rifling. Even so, I think that having a smooth, rounded transition between the conical crown and the bore can have some benefit, even on these round grooved barrels.

 

[peter hawbaker]

I could be wrong, but it seems to me that you are overthinking things a bit. If after you get the rifle in hand you find it is a problem, a bit of fine sandpaper and your thumb should remedy it in a few minutes.

The Chambers deluxe Siler is a great lock, and the ones I have experience with required no tuning, they were great from the start.

 

[rr11]

Sawtooth the lock on my TVM rifle was tuned when the rifle was delivered. Do not know if TVM did it or not. I have two guns they built for me, and no problems at all. Shoot better than I do. If you have concerns give them a call.

 

[hanshi]

I have a few rifles from TVM and have done nothing to the crowns. They load easily with a short starter and I've never had a torn patch from them. I did put a smooth crown on a Traditions I own just to see if it made a difference. That rifle loaded just fine originally and is slightly easier to load now. The crown looks like the smoothed one pictured.

 

[ApprenticeBuilder]

I didn't do the work to my crown because of sharp edges cutting patches so much as to facilitate loading a patch ball combination that is .021 over bore diameter without using a hammer to start it.
:surrender:

 

[Stumpkiller]

My .54 cal Rice came with a "medium radius" and I can thumb start 0.530" balls with 0.018" patching. Smooth as a baby's buttox right from the start.

 

[SawTooth]

Thanks Again for the help Everyone!

SawTooth

 

[hanshi]

This is a poor picture of my Traditions crown but maybe the smooth radius is still visible. There was no problem with patches and the crown was basically an experiment that went nicely.

 

[Scharms]

Over the years I've re-crowned dozens of C/F rifles, one trick I learned for touch up is using Clover valve grinding compound and a large glass marble. It produces a nice concentric finish... ...(just make sure you clean all the compound out of the rifling)! :wink:

 

[cal.43]

the muzzle above was altered with a round corundgrinder and finished with a ball & valve grindig paste.