Shortened a barrel

[Muzzle57]

ORbushman has a thread about shortening his barrel. It lit a fire under me. SO I headed into the shop yesterday and proceeded to take a 28" barrel down to 22". Found its not difficult to do. I cut the barrel, filed things true and crowned it. Cut the front sight dovetail in, shortened the under rib and ramrod. I prefer shorter rifles and now i have one. Now that the rain has moved out gonna head to the range in the morning and attempt to work up a load. Its a 1-48 twist. Gonna try 250 grain Reals, and .490 balls with 3fff and see how it goes. If it don't work out oh well, lesson learned. Nothing fancy, just a mid 80's CVA "hawken".

 

[TechMoron]

Let me be the first to say "pictures or it didn't happen".

 

[64Springer]

Pictures.

The unwritten rule.

Before and After pics are best.

 

[chorizo]

Welcome to the Club.

 

[oldwood]

Welcome from Pa. Good luck with your barrel shortening.

 

[ORBushman]

Dang, that came out great! Looking forward to the shooting results. If you get good groups that will make a neat little brush buster!

 

[The Crisco Kid]

Now just get rid of those ugly sights and you'll have a rifle that looks good and is functional!

 

[melvin marquess]

Now just get rid of those ugly sights and you'll have a rifle that looks good and is functional!

Boy they are ugly ain't they. Look like manure on a white horse! Going with a Williams peep set.

 

[necchi]

gonna head to the range in the morning and attempt to work up a load. Its a 1-48 twist. Gonna try 250 grain Reals, and .490 balls with 3fff

Oh it'll be fine! You'll see a huge improvement in accuracy and it will be so much more easy to handle.
Especially in the brush,, gotta have a good brush gun.
Or a canoe, gotta have a good canoe gun, right?
Those factory rifles,, "piffle" they don't know nuthin about how these rifles work.
Good for you,,

 

[ETipp]

ORbushman has a thread about shortening his barrel. It lit a fire under me. SO I headed into the shop yesterday and proceeded to take a 28" barrel down to 22". Found its not difficult to do. I cut the barrel, filed things true and crowned it. Cut the front sight dovetail in, shortened the under rib and ramrod. I prefer shorter rifles and now i have one. Now that the rain has moved out gonna head to the range in the morning and attempt to work up a load. Its a 1-48 twist. Gonna try 250 grain Reals, and .490 balls with 3fff and see how it goes. If it don't work out oh well, lesson learned. Nothing fancy, just a mid 80's CVA "hawken".View attachment 255266View attachment 255269

Let us know the difference in accuracy after you put it through its paces.

 

[Muzzle57]

Let us know the difference in accuracy after you put it through its paces.

Will do

 

[chorizo]

Those factory rifles,, "piffle" they don't know nuthin about how these rifles work.
Good for you,,

@necchi You are only half right. They know what sells. How it works is a subjective thing.....a framing hammer works great if you use it for its intended purpose.

Make your tool fit the job.

 

[flntlokr01]

ORbushman has a thread about shortening his barrel. It lit a fire under me. SO I headed into the shop yesterday and proceeded to take a 28" barrel down to 22". Found its not difficult to do. I cut the barrel, filed things true and crowned it. Cut the front sight dovetail in, shortened the under rib and ramrod. I prefer shorter rifles and now i have one. Now that the rain has moved out gonna head to the range in the morning and attempt to work up a load. Its a 1-48 twist. Gonna try 250 grain Reals, and .490 balls with 3fff and see how it goes. If it don't work out oh well, lesson learned. Nothing fancy, just a mid 80's CVA "hawken".View attachment 255266View attachment 255269

I put together a CVA Frontier Carbine thatlooked very much like that. It was for my son when he was about9 years old. I also cut about 2" off the stock ti fit him, but I kept the cut-off and made it so that it could easily be taken on and off with dowels. He won lots of shoots with it. The short barrel worked just fine.

 

[Muzzle57]

Let us know the difference in accuracy after you put it through its paces.

Well, with tcmaxi balls, 80 gr shushu and wad, 25 yds excellent, 50 yards very good, 100 yards we won't talk about! I installed williams fire sights with ghost ring so i got alot more shooting to do before i get it figured out.

 

[chorizo]

Well, with tcmaxi balls, 80 gr shushu and wad, 25 yds excellent, 50 yards very good, 100 yards we won't talk about! I installed williams fire sights with ghost ring so i got alot more shooting to do before i get it figured out.

Focus on the target and front sight and you will instinctively center the front post. The rear will be a ghost image...do not try to bring it into focus

It sounds like you are not placing the front sight at the same spot . It helps to use a pistol bullseye target as the round black circle will help show when the post is not centered on the target. Link to targets below.

5 1/2 inches of black....essentially the kill zone of a deer.

Link https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07C846WP5/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[Muzzle57]

Focus on the target and front sight and you will instinctively center the front post.

It sounds like you are not placing the front sight at the same spot . It helps to use a pistol bullseye target as the round black circle will help show when the post is not centered on the target. Link to targets below.

5 1/2 inches of black....essentially the kill zone of a deer.

Link https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07C846WP5/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I expect your correct. I was using orange stickers along with the orange sight. Never give it any thought about no contrast. Thanks, I'll fix that this week.

 

[chorizo]

I expect your correct. I was using orange stickers along with the orange sight. Never give it any thought about no contrast. Thanks, I'll fix that this week.

Those targets are perfect for the 50 yard and 100 yard sight-in. I originally was using conventional sight in targets and found myself stringing the groups. After switching, that went away and the groups also tightened considerably.

2 1/4" from center to outside edge of black, 5 1/2 " circle of black. The red post just covers it at 100 yards