Muzzle coning

[benco]

To cone or not to cone the muzzle? I realize coning will help with getting the patch/ball started but does it help or hurt accuracy?

 

[alex efremenko]

I have done it to about a dozen guns[most my own] both rifled and smooth,with loss in accuracy.Depending on the tool you use helps also I'm sure.

Alex

 

[saber]

I do it to every longrifle I build and if done right it will always inprove the accys on Black powder or reg guns it done wrong then yes it will only distroy accy best to have it done by a gunsmith that knows what he is doing there are many typs of coneing target longrifles hunting to make patch and ball starting fast ect

 

[Birddog6]

I have done allot of them, and can tell no dif. in accuracy from bench/sand bag shooting them. That being said, you may have to adjust the load slightly as the ball has less time riding the rifling, thus some adjustment may be required.(IMHO)
Also, I think it should be properly & carefully done with a coning tool, not just filed with a file like some I have seen done.

Keith Lisle

 

[Le Grand]

I have done it to about a dozen guns[most my own] both rifled and smooth,with loss in accuracy.Depending on the tool you use helps also I'm sure.

Alex

Alex, Would you please explain the loss in accuracy you experienced?

 

[LRB]

Coning will not improve accuracy unless you had a poorly cut crown to start with. I have never heard of anyone coning regular guns. Why would you?

 

[D Sanders]

To cone or not to cone the muzzle? I realize coning will help with getting the patch/ball started but does it help or hurt accuracy?

I have not done any coning but I have recrowned a few barrels in a lathe. I do everything from a four jaw chuck and a tenth indicator to make sure the bore is 100% concentric with it's center line. I would think that if a coning operation is desired, the tool maker/machinist would set up and machine the cone/crown the same way. If the exit point of the bore is not perpendicular with the center line, you WILL get a loss in accuracy. If done with care and patients, the fire arm should load and shoot just fine. :wink:

HH 60

 

[wattlebuster]

I have 2 issac haines and 1 jim bridger hawken an have coned all three with a joe wood tool. can not tell any diffrence except all are a pleasure to load now. no longer know what a shortstarter is.

 

[Coot]

There is a long (and locked) thread on coning at the head of "general muzzleloading" in the Forum. You will see a wide range of opinions there. That said, the virtue of coning is ease of and faster loading. The downside is potential loss of accuracy - not likely noticeable for general shooting but the chunk gun crowd does not go in for coning. As noted, there is a range of opinions from "never on any of my guns" to "I cone all of mine". Read the thread & decide what you think. :surrender:

 

[alex efremenko]

My bad :redface:

I meant to write "without" loss of accuracy.sorry for the confusion.

 

[LRB]

There is a risk. Much would depend on the accuracy level you are comfortable with. If as Coot said, were it done with complete precision, in a lathe, I might consider it. But otherwise, it depends on the tool, and the person doing it, and I still may not be convinced, even from a lathe. Anyway you look at it, there will be no improvement in accuracy. The very best you can hope for is to break even. I just don't call that a good bet. But, once again, that goes back to the accuracy that you are comfortable with. I have a friend that has a coned barrel. That barrel was aquired by him in a trade. It is a GM barrel. A quality barrel, with no visible or felt flaws. This man has been trying to find an accurate load for this barrel, for over 2 or 3 months now. The best it will do is maybe 2 1/2" groups at 50 yrds. He has tried every combination there possibly is. Glass bedding, new finer sights, including a tang peep site. The barrel won't shoot. Period. I have tried it, another good shooter has tried it. No good. The owner is a crack shot with an accurate rifle. It positively is not the shooters fault. The only answer left, is the cone job, and the only answer left, is to redo the cone job, and hopefully improve the situation.

 

[Claude Mathis]

Previous coning questions and answers...
http://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/fusionbb/showtopic.php?tid/223037/

 

[david50]

i just recently purchased one of Ed Hamberg's universal coning tools and used it to cone my .32,.40 and .50 caliber rifles. i have seen absolutely no lose in accuracy,but it sure has made loading easier,no more ball board and short starter. and believe me,if i can do it without screwing something up then anyone can do it.

 

[Strawstalker/NM]

David 50 - Do you have contact information to get i touch with Ed Hamberg? I would like one of his coning tools. Thanks, Strawstalker/CO Territory

 

[david50]

[email protected]

 

[Flint62Smoothie]

I have done it to about a dozen guns[most my own] both rifled and smooth, without loss in accuracy.

Yup, have done about 10 so far, 1/2 of them mine. ZERO loss in accuracy, 5X INCREASE in sheer shootin' fun :thumbsup: !

Real BP friends don't let friends use short-starters :wink: ...

 

[nkbj]

Makes loading easier. I use grind rocks in a hand drill. Finish with emory paper on the rock.
No change in accuracy but I don't go nuts trying to make a cartoon funnel on the end of the barrel.

 

[zimmerstutzen]

From a target and bench muzzleloader shooter, coning is a mistake. For hunting and plinking where fine accuracy is not the goal it is ok, if done right. In fact I prefer my H&H rifle barrel and it has a choked bore the last three inches at the muzzle, a choke does increase accuracy.

 

[ohio ramrod]

I have coned several barrels ( I use a lathe and indicate the barrels to within .001 concentricity or better) and have never had a loss of accuracy. In fact most have improved accuracy. So I guess this is another of those topics where different people have different experiences and opinions! :hmm:

 

[LRB]

I can't see how accuracy would improve, unless the original crown was not correct, or since you will get a pressure change as the the PB enters the cone, your original load was not to it's best.