shorten my barrel

Oh Yeah! If your talking NW gun go for all the customization you can ingeniously come up with. If you ever get a chance to see the NDN guns in the Museum of the Fur Trade, do. All kinds of custom work going on back in the RMFT days.
:hatsoff:

 

[DrTimboone]

I think you may need Rabbi for this type of Bris.... :rotf: I keep trying to get longer barrels myself..... :hmm:

 

[J.D.]

I trimmed about 3 inches off an Italian Bess because it was too unwieldy for use in the heavy brush in my area. With a barrel length of just over 39 inches, this gun travels much better, swings better, seems to shoot better, and just fits in the gun safe.

The length of pull was reduced from 14 1/4 to 13 3/4", and the sideplate and buttpiece replaced to make this gun appear more like a commercially made militia musket of the 1740's-1750's.

The point I am trying to make is that you can modify your gun any way you want. You are not locked in to any barrel length, not even a 36 " barrel.

I would suggest leaving the barrel as long as practical. There is less work involed in moving RR pipes, barrel lugs, and that sort of thing.

I cut the barrel off with a hack saw and a local gunsmith trued the muzzle with an arsenal tool while I waited. I made and soldered on a proper front sight and killed a deer not long after.

Check with your local smith to make sure he can true the muzzle with a short trunaround time before you begin cutting.

J.D.

 

[madstone]

IMHO go easy on cutting off the stock. I have had folks insist on my cutting off "three inches" from their stock. I always cut off about an inch or so, depending on their frame, and had them try it. Only had one who insisted on 2 more inches off (complimentary as agreed) and one who gratefully asked for another half inch. Heck, though it's your ML. Above all suit yourself if it is to become a part of you. :thumbsup:

 

[madstone]

Good tip on checking to see if the local gunsmith has a fast turnaround! Hunting season they are swamped! :thumbsup:

 

[tg]

If their barrels of different lengths have a bit of flare at the end, cutting off 6" may create a POA issue that mat require a barrel bending, just something to think about.

 

[11th corps]

Thanks for all your learned responses. I have decided not to cut my barrel. Sounds like it would create more problems then it solves.
Dang it, I thought I had an excuse to buy a chop saw!

 

[Toomuch_36]

I am not concerned with authenticity. I am not a re enactor. From photos I have seen on the internet and books, as long as the general guidelines are followed-large trigger bow, smoothbore, non inlet trigger guard etc, you could make the case that about any barrel length was used in the past. I saw a photo of a t/g with a very shortened barrel, about half of the stock chopped off, for use as a one handed weapon while riding a horse. The Indians were resourceful-they probably modified their guns to suit their needs.

The primary reason for this was the traders would sell the guns to the indians for plews. Stand the gun but on the ground and start stacking plews to the height of the barrel, longer was better (for the traders at least). The indians would then cut the excess length from the gun to make it easier to use while riding. :thumbsup:

Toomuch
..............
Shoot Flint

 

[Mike Brooks]

I am not concerned with authenticity. I am not a re enactor. From photos I have seen on the internet and books, as long as the general guidelines are followed-large trigger bow, smoothbore, non inlet trigger guard etc, you could make the case that about any barrel length was used in the past. I saw a photo of a t/g with a very shortened barrel, about half of the stock chopped off, for use as a one handed weapon while riding a horse. The Indians were resourceful-they probably modified their guns to suit their needs.

The primary reason for this was the traders would sell the guns to the indians for plews. Stand the gun but on the ground and start stacking plews to the height of the barrel, longer was better (for the traders at least). The indians would then cut the excess length from the gun to make it easier to use while riding. :thumbsup:

Toomuch
..............
Shoot Flint

Pure frontier legend, and nothing to do with the truth. Makes for a charming little story that has been printed many times as the truth, but it never happened. Prices were set and traded for in skins, but had nothing to do with stacking to the heigth of the gun. Any given gun was cheaper in the east and got more expensive as it was transported farther west. The same gun in the east may have brought 10 times as much at the end of the traders trail in the west due to transportation costs and risks.

 

Mikes got it right on the nose, according to the American Fur Company ledgers in 1836, They were paying $2.00 apiece for large premium pelts, and were selling trade rifles for $10.00(per Hanson's "The Plains Rifle") So it would have only cost five pelts for a trade rifle. :winking: Bill

 

[Toomuch_36]

I am not concerned with authenticity. I am not a re enactor. From photos I have seen on the internet and books, as long as the general guidelines are followed-large trigger bow, smoothbore, non inlet trigger guard etc, you could make the case that about any barrel length was used in the past. I saw a photo of a t/g with a very shortened barrel, about half of the stock chopped off, for use as a one handed weapon while riding a horse. The Indians were resourceful-they probably modified their guns to suit their needs.

The primary reason for this was the traders would sell the guns to the indians for plews. Stand the gun but on the ground and start stacking plews to the height of the barrel, longer was better (for the traders at least). The indians would then cut the excess length from the gun to make it easier to use while riding. :thumbsup:

Toomuch
..............
Shoot Flint

Pure frontier legend, and nothing to do with the truth. Makes for a charming little story that has been printed many times as the truth, but it never happened. Prices were set and traded for in skins, but had nothing to do with stacking to the heigth of the gun. Any given gun was cheaper in the east and got more expensive as it was transported farther west. The same gun in the east may have brought 10 times as much at the end of the traders trail in the west due to transportation costs and risks.

True enough Mike. But it does make good material for swapping stories.

Toomuch
............
Shoot Flint
:hatsoff:

 

[Mike Brooks]

True enough Mike. But it does make good material for swapping stories.

Yep, that it does. :thumbsup:

 

[Okwaho]

Mike is right here.This stacking of pelts to the muzzle is one of two myths often stated as gospel,the other being that the deep guard on a NW gun allowed the insertion of a mittened hand when in reality it allowed a two finger trigger pull as favored by many Indians, a carry over from the bow.The HBC price in pelts varied according to the length of the gun{translation-barrel length};thus a 3 1/2' gun would be cheaper than a 4 foot[url] gun.In[/url] 1824 the 4 foot gun cost 12 made beaver pelts whereas a 3 1/2 foot gun cost 11 pelts."Trade Guns Of The Hudson's Bay Company 1670-1970" PP.15-16, S.James Gooding {2003}
This is a MUST book for those interested in the Hudson's Bay Company guns and their place in the fur trade.
Tom Patton :applause:

 

[weirdjack]

DON'T DO IT!!!!

 

[weirdjack]

DON'T DO IT!!!!
Twenty-odd years ago I cut 14" off my Navy Arms Charleville to "make it easier to handle in the woods"......I've regretted it to this very day. Sure, a 30" barreled Charley is handy, but it's just not the same anymore.

I transport my 51" barrel MVTC Fowler (67" overall length) in my Jeep Wrangler TJ without any problem. How tiny is your Jeep that you can't fit a measly 42" barreled tradegun in it?? That's almost a carbine to my way of thinking! :smile:
Jack

 

[Hoyt]

Was talking to L.C. Rice about cutting off 6" of his 42" C profile swamped barrel and he said be sure to cut it off the breech end not the muzzle.
Guess that was due to swamped profile..but may be something to check into. He also said the barrel has done all it's going to do performance wise at 24".

 

[paulvallandigham]

With all due respect, why is it that a 30 inch barrel on a modern shotgun is considered " Long ", but on a muzzle loading shotgun, it is called " Too short???" I have an American Fowler with 30 inch barrel, 20 ga., and it swings properly, and has enough weight forward to hold when shooting round ball. The powder burns sufficiently to give me the velocities I want and need, so why the longer barrel? I think if he wants to cut 6 inches off that 42 inch barrel, the 36 inch barrel will be more than long enough for any use he will have. I would also do the work myself, first wrapping masking tape around the barrel where I want to cut it, then marking the length of the new barrel on the masking tape, so that I can guide the hacksaw through the barrel and stay on the line. Then a draw file to even up the end of the barrel, and finally some time spend with a hand drill and an old wooden file handle, chucked into the drill, with emery cloth in coarse to finer grits to taper the inside of the barrel so I don't cut patches on the rim when loading. Touch up the browning, or bluing, cut and shape the wood, and shorten the ramrod. Then solder, or have a machine shop, or gunsmith solder the front sight back on the new barrel length, and you are ready to go.

I hope he has already handled a gun with this length barrel, and likes how it feels and holds on target, before taking this much barrel off. If not, I would advise taking it down by inches, and testing the new barrel and stock before finalizing the length. It would be sad for him to cut this down to 36 inches, and then find out that 37 inches would work better for him. :shocked2:
Roger's rangers were known to shoot shortened Brown Besses because it was easier to reload them while kneeling in a canoe. For the kind of woods fighting they did, they didn't need a long barrel to make long shots they never had. It was 50 yds and under, and then hawk and knife to the death!

 

[11th corps]

WeirdJack
I also have a TJ. I put the stock in the back, it touches the back opening door. It then extends to the front seat, and I have to put a hat or my hand over the barrel to keep other drivers from seeing what I am transporting.
There were a couple of other reasons I was thinking about cutting it, but as I posted above, I decided to keep it as is.
You can all rest easy now :v

 

[Stumpkiller]

With all due respect, why is it that a 30 inch barrel on a modern shotgun is considered " Long ", but on a muzzle loading shotgun, it is called " Too short???"

Because of the 6" or so for the receiver on a pump or semi. My Ithaca/SKB SXS has one set of 25" barrels and it looks like a sawed off coach gun. It's all about the balance.

 

[Workhorse45]

Find a good deal on chop saw blades, buy them.
Then tell the wife you need a saw to go with the blades!
It took my wife a few years to figure it out!