Rifle to Smoothbore conversion

[NHmsj]

I've been trying to locate a .62 cal 1" octagon smoothbore barrel, in flint, to drop into my T/C Renegade stock; so far I've had little success in doing so. I came close with Green Mountain, but a couple of weeks after arranging for such a barrel, they called me back telling me they could not fulfill my request after all. Anyway, I have a "spare" .54 cal rifle barrel for my Renegade. Anyone have any advice or comments on the feasibility of converting the barrel from a rifle to a .62 smoothbore? Is such, in fact, even possible and/or advisable, and is such cost effective? I'd appreciate any guidance anyone might be able to lend.

msj

 

[SCATTERSHOT]

Converting to smoothbore is fairly simple, and there are several folks who can do it for you pretty reasonably. Going all the way to .62 in a T/C barrel might not be advisable, though. It would make the barrel wall pretty thin at the dovetail for the barrel lug. I had one bored to .58 smoothbore that works fine. Robert Hoyt did the work for me.

 

[NHmsj]

Hey Scattershot, would you happen to have any contact info for Robert Hoyt, an e-mail address or phone number? I found his location in PA, but could only muster up a snail mail address. (Perhaps that's how he prefers it?) Anyway, if he is amiable to electronic contact, could you share with me how? You can contact me via a Private Topic should you wish, or if you prefer, e-mail me at [email protected].

Thanks

msj

 

[SCATTERSHOT]

Hi. Here is the phone number I have for Bob. 717 642-6696. Hope that helps.

Gene

 

[NHmsj]

Gene, I am sure that number will work nicely. Thank you.

Mark

 

[NHmsj]

Gene,

I chatted with Bob Hoyt this morning. To be sure, I was pleasantly surprised regards the cost of modifying my .54 Renegade RB barrel into a smoothbore. Thank you very much for your advice, as it seems it was very good advice, too.

May I further ask you about the work you had Hoyt do for you? I believe you mentioned you had a barrel bored out to a .58 cal. smoothie. Would you share with me about that? In what applications do you employ the piece and how do you do so? What sort of loads do you feed it, etc. I'd be very interested in hearing anything you'd care to share.

Again, Gene, thanks for the lead to Bob Hoyt. It is greatly appreciated.

Mark

 

[54mountain]

I'm not Gene but I bored an old T/C .50 barrel out to .58 smooth a few years back, It seems to like 60g ffg and about 7/8 to 1 oz shot. I placed 6th in our state shotgun shoot with this combo 2 years ago. It also shoots a .570 rb with 70g ffg nicely. Oh the reason I stopped at .58 cal is thats as large as you can go without cutting into the breach threads.

Galen

 

[NHmsj]

Hey Galen,

Thanks for your response to my initial post. And, thanks for sharing with me about the rifle barrel you had converted to a smoothbore. A .58 cal smoothbore will work nicely for me. Unfortunately, however, where I hunt here in NH, to hunt Turkey one may not use a shotgun smaller than a 20 ga. I believe .58 cal translates into a 24 ga. No matter. I love, and do, far, far more squirrel hunting than I do turkey hunting. A .58 smoothbore, for me, will see much service as a small game gun.

Again, thanks for your post.

Mark

 

[54mountain]

I did forget to add that when using shot I use 20g wads, they're easier to find and I think the tighter wads and cards shoot better. Good luck, and enjoy your new toy. :thumbsup:

 

[NHmsj]

...tighter wads and cards shoot better.

In light of the above, Galen, any thoughts on using .54 cal OP wads in a .50 cal bore? Good, bad, not much difference? As you might guess, I have a bunch of .54 cal OP wads and no .50 cal wads.

Mark

 

[54mountain]

I haven't tried it but Have heard that it works quite well the tighter combo seems to burn powder more efficantly

 

[Joel/Calgary]

Unfortunately, however, where I hunt here in NH, to hunt Turkey one may not use a shotgun smaller than a 20 ga.

Hmmm... Is there enough meat in the barrel to split the difference and bore it to .600? A nominal 20ga bore is .615 IIRC, and Paul's is .610. Use 54Mountain's 20ga wads (or punch your own custom ones) and loads, and call it a tight 20ga. You'd be within the spirit of the law, which seems to be mostly to keep people from using .410s. Besides, there's no cartridge headstamp or box to read to check you, anyway.

Joel

 

[NHmsj]

The gunsmith who is going to do the job thinks there might be enough steel to bore the T/C barrel (it's 1 inch) out to maybe .60 cal. He'll see how things look when he's actually doing the job. Nevertheless, if it turns out to be only .58 cal., which it will probably be, that will work for me well enough.

msj

 

[Deadeye]

I have a .620 barrel rebored from a 1" .54 renegade, plenty barrel thickness. I also have a factory barrel made to drop into a TC Hawken that is 15/16" and is 12 ga. have been shooting it for
about 25 yrs. with no problems, bought it from Navy Arms. Just finished a .50 smoothbore on a 7/8" 1/2 oct. barrel, weighs 6 lbs. I think this will be my main smoothie for awhile.
Good luck with yours.