Green Horn Question

[jon math]

So I purchased this used Tennessee mountain rifle. It is a custom and the tag called it a .40 cal. I purchased a jag and a fowling scraper in .40 for it. The jag will fit without a patch, but is a tight fit, and the scraper will not even enter the bore. A .395 lead ball will not enter the bore, but seems to be the size of the bore.
Do I have a tight .40 or an over sized .36 caliber, or something else? I will have to get .36 caliber accessories, and I am sure I will find a ball and patch combination that will fit the bore; I am just wondering what the heck I have here.

Thanks

 

[stinkyfeet]

You might have a 38 caliber as well. Your best bet if ya don't know how to measure the bore is to take it to someone and have them do it and it will give ya the best idea of what patch/ball combo to use. A 40 caliber ball wont even come close to going down a 36 caliber barrel.

 

[jon math]

Yes, the gun store had originally marked it as a .36 and crossed that off the tag and remarked it as a .40. Makes me wonder if some else purchased it and tried a .36 ball and when it just dropped right down the bore they returned it and the gun shop just upped the tag’s size.

 

[tom deinek]

I love rifles like that. They are inevitably fine shooters & become favorite rifles.

A rifle, to be any good, ought have a story to accompany it.

 

[jon math]

Thanks, I am not at all upset that it is sub .40 caliber. Ideally I wanted a .36 Southern rifle, but this rifle came along at such a great price that it was impossible to turn up. If I end up with a .380 ball and it is a shooter all the better. If worst comes to worst I will have it re-barreled in .36 and still be ahead of the game, might even convert it to a flint lock if I end up going that way.

 

[satx78247]

Your rifle may very well shoot "patched" 00 or 000 lead buckshot beautifully. = Some 00 is .345 caliber & pure lead.
(I once had a percussion "Southern Poor Boy" squirrel rifle that I shot many a 000 buckshot in. - Wishing that I'd kept it!!!)
Ballistic Products sells that size (for reloading shotshells) for 36.90 + S&H for an 8 pound container of about 800 pieces.

Note: SOME rifles of that approximate bore also will shoot "lead hollow base wadcutters" for the 9mm Parabellum pistol or for the .38 SPL revolver WELL. - Those weigh about 146-150 grains AND they turn a "squirrel rifle" into a creditable "deer-slayer" out to 150M.
(HB wadcutters "fly straight", even with a SLOW twist barrel, for the same reason that darts nearly always hit the target "sharp end first".)

yours, satx

 

[Patocazador]

If this is an odd-ball caliber, someone may have forced a ball down it. Please check with your ramrod to make sure that it bottoms out at the breech plug and not short of it.

Just a precaution.

 

[bpd303]

Excellent advise, I always check when I get a new to me gun. Surprising what I have found down the bore on some.

 

[750k2]

Take an egg sinker and put a bolt through it (don't forget the nut)
Pound it in the muzzle and pull it out.
Measure and subtract for the patch and give that size a go
:thumbsup:

 

[tenngun]

lots of barrels came in unpreditable sizes called such and such. My first rifle was a .50 that shot a .490 ball. The last .50 I built could shoots a .498 although I shoot a .495. My first .54 shot a .526 I had one that shot a .530, and the one I own now shoots a .527.
Some time calibur is land to land, sometimes grove to grove and some times land to grove.40 or .50 or so on means nothing at all except to the maker.

 

[jon math]

Yes, I consider confirmation that a firearm is unloaded and safe job 1 with all that I handle. Thank you!

Thanks to everyone for the great advise too. I tried a .38 cal. bullet for size it just rattles around so I am somewhere between that and the .395. I picked up several thickness of cloth and a good friend has several different sizes of balls so we are going to spend a day at the range and experiment to find a nice fit combination, then work up a load for it.

Thanks again!

 

[don hepler]

Well, remember, a 38 caliber modern bullet is .357 diameter. The correct ball for a 36 black powder rifle is .350 dia. ball and .015 to .018 patch. To make things even more complicated a 36 caliber cap and ball pistol takes a .375 or .380 dia. bullet. How barrels are measured, varies from firearm to firearm.

Do you have a .350 ball and patch, to try?

 

[jon math]

No, but my friend runs a 36 and I know he has several different sizes of balls for rifles and pistols too, so I imagine he will have a range of options to mess around with.

 

[crockett]

I hope I'm not wrong on this but first you "bore" a hole in the barrel- that's the bore diameter. Then you cut the rifling. The distance from land to land is the original bored diameter and the distance from groove to groove is the groove diamter. So maybe someone at the shop measured from groove to groove and thought the 36 caliber was a 40 caliber and re-stamped/marked it.

 

[jon math]

Well finally got to shoot the rifle and it seems to shoot a .375 ball with a .018 patch pretty well.

Thanks again for all the assistance folks.

Jon

 

[rescuemike]

Sounds like you got yourself a .38 after all! Enjoy it!

 

[MacRob46]

That is the combination I shoot in my .38 Southern Mountain Rifle. You don't find very many .38 caliber barrels these days, most small calibers being .40, .36 or .32. Is this a mass-produced rifle or a custom built? The reason I ask is that mine has a Rex Maxey barrel and is extremely accurate. Hopefully you have one of those too.

 

[jon math]

There are no marking at all on the rifle, the trigger has a small stamp on the under side of the base plate. The fit of the inletting is good, but not perfect, I suspect the rifle was built up from parts or perhaps a kit.

 

[cynthialee]

Spiffy! You don't see very many .38's out there. Should make a good varmint and squirrel gun.

 

[jon math]

Thank you, I am very pleased with it.