Safe barrel dimensions for .69?

[BillinOregon]

I am preparing to order a .69 caliber tapered octagon English sporting rifle, but have not yet decided whether to specify a round ball twist or a conical twist. Can anyone give me a rule of thumb on a safe minimum barrel diameter for this caliber, properly breeched, for shooting heavy loads -- up to 200 grains? I can go 1 1/8 tapered to 1 inch or 1 1/4 tapered to either 1 1/8 inches or 1 inch.

 

[Russ T Frizzen]

I'd go with the heavier barrel, especially using those loads.

 

[Harddog]

I am preparing to order a .69 caliber tapered octagon English sporting rifle, but have not yet decided whether to specify a round ball twist or a conical twist. Can anyone give me a rule of thumb on a safe minimum barrel diameter for this caliber, properly breeched, for shooting heavy loads -- up to 200 grains? I can go 1 1/8 tapered to 1 inch or 1 1/4 tapered to either 1 1/8 inches or 1 inch.

200 grains?? You going elephant hunting??

Randy Hedden

 

[rich pierce]

You'll have a shortish barrel on a gun of that styling, so why not go with a thick breech. it will help reduce recoil, also, although with 200 grains and a heavy bullet, kick should be pretty mild. :rotf:

 

[BS]

My .73 cal is 1.1/8 tapering to 1" and it handled 225FF loads just fine...........one of my next barrels will be a 1.1/8x 1 .69 cal.

If this is a hunting gun, keep it light and let it kick! It will be carried more that shot, so keep it light.

My 73 is a 8 pounds and is mild to shoot with 125 grain loads.......with 560 grain balls.

 

[Hunter300sav]

Randy you forgot :shocked2: :rotf:

 

[ffffg]

the weak point in any barrel is the chase of the hunt, and simply talking while your loading.. the next weak point is the dovetails. we calculate, formulate, weigh and get the dimensions perfect to handle the huge load, then dovetail it half the way down to the bore :cursing: .......... barrel runout is also an issue, that is if you have runout, doevetail it to 1/64" of the bore runnout it doesnt matter how thick the barrel is.. dave

 

[BillinOregon]

BS: Thanks for your input. I'd love to see a photo of your .73.
FFFFg: Good point on the dovetails.
I'm having Joe at Oregon Barrel Works (The Gun Works) make the barrel. He mentioned making up a faster-twist .62 for a client who used the NEI 900-grain conical on Cape buffalo in Africa for a one-shot kill. In my experience, even in a fast-twist barrel you can often find an accurate load for round ball plinking purposes, so I may go with the .62.

 

[BS]

BS: Thanks for your input. I'd love to see a photo of your .73.
FFFFg: Good point on the dovetails.
I'm having Joe at Oregon Barrel Works (The Gun Works) make the barrel. He mentioned making up a faster-twist .62 for a client who used the NEI 900-grain conical on Cape buffalo in Africa for a one-shot kill. In my experience, even in a fast-twist barrel you can often find an accurate load for round ball plinking purposes, so I may go with the .62.

I also talked to 'the gun works' they told me the smallest barrel that the would make me was a 1.1/8x1 in a .69cal.

Also think about using paper cartridges as follow-up shots! You can have the barrel re-loaded and capped in under 10-12 sec.........with practice even faster!

Link to my paper cartridges

More later...........

Pictures of my rifles:

Link to my black powder page

I would buy one with about .007-.008 deep rifling, narrow lands with wide groves.....with a 1-90ish twist.........one that will shoot cloth and paper patched balls.

Hope some of this helps!

I changed the rear sight on "Ole Thunder" it now has a plain, wide, square notched......solid rear. It works great.

 

[BillinOregon]

Decided to go with .69, 30 inches, 1 1/8 to 1 inch, 1:100 twist, grooves .006 deep. Recoil will not be an issue with round balls and under six drams of powder.

 

[BS]

Bill, that barrel should just love paper patched loads!

Glad you decided on the round ball barrel, you will never be sorry! :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: