Honing pitted barrel.

[Whitworth]

Snazzy rifle.

 

[excess650]

I read up on honing barrels, and it looks plausible that it could reduce the problem. The method is the one where you cast a 1 inch lead plug at the top of the barrel over a push - pull rod that's inserted from the butt end. You next small grooves in the plug and load them with hunting compound and push and pull the plug back and forth through the barrel changing the plug a few times as it loosens up.

Casting a lap, loading it with abrasives, and pushing/pulling to smooth up the bore and possibly add some choke to the muzzle. Ideally, the lap should be cast soft and not allowed to leave the grooves it was cast in. Being soft, as it loosens, it can be pulled too the largest spot in the bore and "bumped" to tighten it until you get uniform, or at least improved results.

Valve grinding compound is relatively coarse, and would be the place to start in a steel barrel. JB Bore cleaner and various metal polishes like Simichrome, Flitz are really too fine to be of use for a roundball gun.

 

[Notchy Bob]

Thanks to our old friend, @Rudyard , for jumping in with the definition of CBL, and to @GREENSWLDE for reinforcing that and for providing those excellent photographs! I've been interested in muzzleloaders for a good, long time, but I must say I had not heard the term "capping breech loader" before. I am familiar with the concept, and I suppose that term might apply to the early Sharps and percussion Hall rifles on this side of the pond, but the term itself is a new one to me. I have definitely never seen anything like the rifle shown in the pictures! The second photo shows very clearly how the mechanism works, and I think the designer was brilliant for designing this rifle to be used as a muzzle loader if needed. Very cool!

It's this kind of stuff that keeps me coming back...

Notchy Bob

 

[ohio ramrod]

very interesting!

 

[hanshi]

A barrel can be relined and Bobby Hoyt knows what can and can't be done to a barrel. .62 is a BIG caliber; so having a liner installed may be the only choice.

 

[smoothshooter]

Thank you for your replies. It's rifled, with a twist rate of about 1 in 100. Patch and ball are exactly 0.61. I don't know what this rifle replicates but it looks like a plains rifle. I bought it sight unseen from an out-of-state seller because of its large caliber, big mistake, I'll never deal with out of state private people again because you can't go after them if they rip you off. Like I said the rifle had problems. What's really bothering me about the bore is that it's rough enough that I can feel the patched ball pushing past/snagging at the imperfections. It occurred to me that that this might restrain the ball when I fire, causing some kind of dangerous explosive accident. I couldn't shake that idea so I put the rifle away. But I would like to shoot it. After I posted I read a lot of posts about shooting through rough bores, and that gives me hope that I can probably shoot this trifle again. What I'm going to do is hone it his best I can with a cast slug, and settle for it as it turns out. I hope to send it out to be rebored.

Send it to Bobby Hoyt in PA for freshening or relining.

 

[EC121]

You can make a polishing lap from a stack of leather discs on a threaded rod or bolt on a steel loading rod. They will hold more compound, last longer, and fill the grooves more easily. Just tighten the nut to make them swell as they wear.