Green River Barrels

[chawbeef]

Hi all. I am looking for info on barrels made at Green River Forge out of Springfield OR. Anyone here have a barrel made there?? How is it for accuracy?? Thanks..............Daniel

 

[Maven]

I have a GRF 20ga. smoothbore trade gun (copy of a Barnett I think), which is accurate enough with a patched RB @ 25 yd., but not so much @ 50 yd. The gun itself is nicely made, as is the lock, but the latter was made in Italy by ???

Two things about the bbl.: (1) It is very sensitive to RB diameter; and (2) when I tried to put a [temporary] rear sight on, I discovered the flats and "wedding bands" weren't square to the bore.

Hope this answers your query.


P.S. I tried duelist1954's tow wad (fore & aft) method of RB loading + 100 - 110r. FFg loads and got 4" or smaller 50 yd. groups, but all were 8" - 9" to the right of my point of aim.

 

[chawbeef]

Thanks Maven. My barrel is .50 cal. 1:72 twist and 36 in. long. I have yet to fire it but hoping to some time this year.........Daniel

 

[plmeek]

Daniel,

Green River Forge did not make any barrels. When they were owned by Frank Straight and located in Bellevue, Washington, they used barrels from Sharon Rifle Barrel Co.

If your rifle has a 1:72 twist, it's a Sharon barrel.

Frank Straight sold the business in early 1977, and it was moved to Springfield, OR. Just before this move, Sharon Rifle Barrel Co. went out of business, and the Springfield, OR based Green River Forge started using Green River Rifle Works barrels. Then at the end of 1979, Bill Bandenburg, the Business Manager at GRRW bought Green River Forge and moved the business to Roosevelt, Utah. Confused enough?

Other than having very similar names and both ultimately located in the same town and being linked by Brandenburg, the two companies, GFR and GRRW, were separate entities. GRRW went bankrupt in September 1980--less than a year after Brandenburg bought GFR.

Brandenburg continued to operate GFR in both Roosevelt, Utah and in Fulton, California for a number of years after GRRW went out of business, but he doesn't appear to have built many guns in that period. His business focused on selling apparel, books, and patterns for period clothing.

You can find more history on Green River Forge here and a full description of the guns they offered.

Phil Meek

 

[chawbeef]

Phil, thank you so much for the history lesson. I now have 2 rifles with Sharon barrels. My .36 cal. Tennessee mtn. cap lock is stamped Sharon.
So my question is "How do these barrels fare for accuracy"????..............Daniel

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Sharon barrels have a pretty good reputation for accuracy if they were cared for well, by the previous owner.

LD

 

[FishDFly]

Sharon barrels have a pretty good reputation for accuracy if they were cared for well, by the previous owner.

LD

And the current owner is capable of proper loading and shooting.

 

[chawbeef]

LD[/quote]


And the current owner is capable of proper loading and shooting. [/quote]

Most rifles will shoot better than me. :grin: ...............Chawbeef