Pitting?

[jh45gun]

Just bought a Project gun. I know no inline talk here all I will say is the barrel has been altered to fit a Stevens Favorite action. The barrel is a CVA 32 cal "Squirrel Rifle" barrel. The bore is clean except for a few places that look like tool marks maybe origionally and that the barrel may have not been cleaned properly so they got pitted. The bore is bright and clean looking except for these few streaks in the barrel these almost look like in a line in some places. I am guessing that it should not affect accuracy that much as 95% of the bore looks good. What do you guys think? I have to make a breech plug for it and I was wondering the barrel looks like 3/4. Do the Spanish barrels use a metric thread or a standard one? I posted this here as I would guess this is a round ball barrel and would like to get it shooting but do not want to invest the time messing with it if I do not have something that does not shoot fairly well. Like I said except for the few pit streaks the barrel looks good and bright. Bought the gun as is for 25 bucks that included the barrel with no sights just the dovetails and that action and a stock no forarm either but that should not be dificult. What do you guys think? Jim

 

[mikelange]

How has the barrel been altered to fit the action? If its outer surface has been threaded, you'll need to cut that bit off, I think, in which case you can drill and re-tap the breech for a standard 1/2" fine thread. If you're going to use the barrel as-is, then, yes, it probably has metric threads. Take it to your friendly local hardware store (the barrel alone, unless your friendly hardware people are real open-minded about guns, even in barrelled action form) and try the various larger metric bolts in the breech, until you find the right fit. Buy a thread die for that size, then order a 1/2" (I'm assuming you're going to find the threads to be 13mm of one pitch or another, which is 1/2" in our world) unthreaded plug from Dixie Gun Works (will set you back about $3.00, if I recall correctly) and thread it.

 

[jh45gun]

Ok I am sure you have seen a Savage Favorite before. The barrel is milled down so it fits into the reciever ( smooth round and stepped down) and a bolt from the bottom holds the barrel tight and in place with a detent for the bolt head to fit into. This is how this muzzle loader barrel was cut to fit the reciever so the only threads are the theads inside the barrel where the origional breech plug fit which I am guessing would have been a two piece snail type as the barrel did not have a hole for a drum. I wish I could post pics but I am bending the rules here as is so I will not post any pics. My main concern is the pitting I know a breech plug should not be that hard to make basically finding a bolt to plug the hole and drilling the center out and tapping it for a nipple. Should be able to do that on a lathe easy enough. The threads look course thread. I will take the barrel in today to see if I can find a bolt to fit. Thanks for the reply. Jim

 

[jh45gun]

Found a bolt to fit the threads for the breech plug. I forget what threads it was but it is a fine thread and it is american not metric. So the spanish must have decided to keep this standard threads.

 

[mikelange]

Ah-ha.... I see what you're talking about. I thought you were referring to salvaging the barrel for a muzzleloader project with a more "traditional" configuration. Well, if you feel comfortable cobbling together a breechplug (and there's no reason you shouldn't; obviously you have at least a little mechanical aptitude), you're the best judge of whether or not the barrel's safe to shoot. Minor pitting usually isn't a problem, in my experience. Use your own best judgement and don't let the fact that you want this project to turn out well bias your thinking.

 

[jh45gun]

Sent ya a PM