paulvallandigham
Passed On
- Joined
- Jan 9, 2006
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The muzzle is the most critical area of a gun, smoothie, or rifled. Its the last time the barrel has to affect the flight of any projectile(s) fired out of it.
Its not done often today, but if you look at very old shotguns, particularly double barrels, you will see obvious evidence that the barrels have been FILED to REGULATE the patterns. With Doubles, its not uncommon to find the two barrels shooting patterns that are separated by some feet out at 40 yards. This is caused by the two metal tubes vibrating away from each other. At Friendship, I have seen many of these old guns with muzzles filed in a "U" shape, taking more metal off in the center of the two barrels, than from the sides.
I have talked to the dealers about this over the years. The Older guys( when I was first visiting the NMLRA as a kid in the early 60s) told me why this was done. These were heavy "duckblind" guns- way too heavy to swing at upland game--- where tighter patterns, and patterns that shot to the SAME POINT OF AIM were essential. ( The Terms I have used here came from these older, much more knowledgeable men- not me.) The guns were loaded Heavy, and were used for "Pass-shooting", ie., to shoot birds that were called into the blind, and shot as they were flying, or "passing", overhead. The barrels' weight was not a limiting factor on leading the birds, and the added weight helped to deal with the added recoil of the loads they used.
I tried to find out what a " Heavy load" was, but none of the dealers could tell me. The guns they were selling were old when they were boys! :idunno: :shocked2: :rotf: :surrender: :hmm:
Any rough spot, or sharp edge on the INSIDE of the crown can tear or cut a patch, or cut through part of the patch. A burr sticking out can catch on a patch, or wad, or card, and cause the load of shot to Tilt as its leaving the barrel, and ruin any idea of a pattern.
I have seen at least one shotgun where someone hit the muzzle of one barrel with something very hard, and caused a Nick in the metal that extended across the diameter of the barrel, raising a burr on the inside of the muzzle. The burr was sufficiently large, in that case, that the shooter had trouble loading his wads into the barrel, and sought help from our club's resident gunsmith.
We ended up filing the crown flat again, to remove the NICK, and then reshaped the crown, checking to make sure that the muzzle was still square to the bore. I think the barrel ended up being shortened by maybe .020". The filing involved was time consuming, because we didn't want to file one side more than another, and we really didn't have the right equipment to measure the depth of that NICK. So, we filed, and kept an eye on the nick to see when we finally removed it. Even after years of doing filing, it still takes conscious discipline to Not put pressure on the file, and simply let the file teeth do the cutting.
The owner picked up his gun that evening, and managed to sneak out and shoot it within a couple of days. He told the gunsmith that he thought the gun now shot better patterns than before the muzzle was damaged! He said the crown we put on the muzzle made it easier for him to load his wads down the muzzle. :hmm: ( The Gunsmith was a personal friend, and drafted me to help him with the work one evening. He wanted to use some tools I had that he didn't.)
I am glad that you found and fixed that roughness, with improved patterns(perhaps) as a result. The different result in hunting success may be nothing more than a change in clothing that made the LOP fit you better one time than the other. Or, you may just have had a bad day shooting, to account for the lack of success. BTDT. :rotf: :idunno:
Its not done often today, but if you look at very old shotguns, particularly double barrels, you will see obvious evidence that the barrels have been FILED to REGULATE the patterns. With Doubles, its not uncommon to find the two barrels shooting patterns that are separated by some feet out at 40 yards. This is caused by the two metal tubes vibrating away from each other. At Friendship, I have seen many of these old guns with muzzles filed in a "U" shape, taking more metal off in the center of the two barrels, than from the sides.
I have talked to the dealers about this over the years. The Older guys( when I was first visiting the NMLRA as a kid in the early 60s) told me why this was done. These were heavy "duckblind" guns- way too heavy to swing at upland game--- where tighter patterns, and patterns that shot to the SAME POINT OF AIM were essential. ( The Terms I have used here came from these older, much more knowledgeable men- not me.) The guns were loaded Heavy, and were used for "Pass-shooting", ie., to shoot birds that were called into the blind, and shot as they were flying, or "passing", overhead. The barrels' weight was not a limiting factor on leading the birds, and the added weight helped to deal with the added recoil of the loads they used.
I tried to find out what a " Heavy load" was, but none of the dealers could tell me. The guns they were selling were old when they were boys! :idunno: :shocked2: :rotf: :surrender: :hmm:
Any rough spot, or sharp edge on the INSIDE of the crown can tear or cut a patch, or cut through part of the patch. A burr sticking out can catch on a patch, or wad, or card, and cause the load of shot to Tilt as its leaving the barrel, and ruin any idea of a pattern.
I have seen at least one shotgun where someone hit the muzzle of one barrel with something very hard, and caused a Nick in the metal that extended across the diameter of the barrel, raising a burr on the inside of the muzzle. The burr was sufficiently large, in that case, that the shooter had trouble loading his wads into the barrel, and sought help from our club's resident gunsmith.
We ended up filing the crown flat again, to remove the NICK, and then reshaped the crown, checking to make sure that the muzzle was still square to the bore. I think the barrel ended up being shortened by maybe .020". The filing involved was time consuming, because we didn't want to file one side more than another, and we really didn't have the right equipment to measure the depth of that NICK. So, we filed, and kept an eye on the nick to see when we finally removed it. Even after years of doing filing, it still takes conscious discipline to Not put pressure on the file, and simply let the file teeth do the cutting.
The owner picked up his gun that evening, and managed to sneak out and shoot it within a couple of days. He told the gunsmith that he thought the gun now shot better patterns than before the muzzle was damaged! He said the crown we put on the muzzle made it easier for him to load his wads down the muzzle. :hmm: ( The Gunsmith was a personal friend, and drafted me to help him with the work one evening. He wanted to use some tools I had that he didn't.)
I am glad that you found and fixed that roughness, with improved patterns(perhaps) as a result. The different result in hunting success may be nothing more than a change in clothing that made the LOP fit you better one time than the other. Or, you may just have had a bad day shooting, to account for the lack of success. BTDT. :rotf: :idunno:
