Trade gun barrel ID

[nailgunner]

Picked up a trade gun that has this barrel. I have done some research and believe it is a North Star West but I'm not sure. Can some one identify this and is it safe to shoot?

 

[ApprenticeBuilder]

Are there any marks on the bottom of the barrel ?

 

[nailgunner]

 

[DickS]

How deep is that clearance cut on the bottom of the barrel?

 

[troutabout]

That first photo has a Sitting Fox stamp over the top of the breach.

 

[sundog]

Oh boy that cut in the bottom of the barrel looks mighty deep. It would worry me.

 

[matt denison]

That is not a North Star West, Inc. barrel.

No doubt about it.

Matt
NSW,Inc.

 

[ApprenticeBuilder]

You might check with Laffindog here on the forums, he is the current owner of NSW, Looking at the fox marking it is a very early style of stamp, then there is the random pattern of the proof marks :hmm: I hate to speculate here

I would like to see more pictures of the entire gun if you have them.

Your lucky day, he found you.

 

[robertdale]

all the north star barrels have a tapered breech plug. this is machined after install so that plug is tight in barrel.
Curly started doing them this way long ago. :bow: :bow:
the frt. bolt clearance would bother me also. needs some careful measuring with a set of calipers.

 

[nailgunner]

The barrel OD at the relief cut is.982. The cut is.901. The bore is .615

 

[nailgunner]

Breach plug

 

[matt denison]

!! yikes !!

.982" (OD)
-.615" (bore diameter)
.367"

divide .367" X 2 = .183 barrel wall thickness.

.183"
- .081 (depth of groove)
.101" (amount of material left at only four inches from the breech)

That is very little, I'd want near .200" there, you're about half of that.

I'm curious, there is no evidence of a lock bolt hole through the breech plug web. Did you replace the breech plug? How come there is a forward bolt (where the groove is) but no rear one? (scratching my head)

 

[nailgunner]

The stock has been rather crudely modified and the lock replaced. Wood slabs glued on stock to hold large lock. I think it's a brown bess reproduction lock. Don't know about breech plug, maybe it was ground away to clear lock bolt, front lock bolt is well forward of relief cut.

 

[nailgunner]

I sent pics to TOW, this is what they said.

"We believe that it was probably made by Robet “Curly” Gustomski, North Star Arms, Dayton, Ohio, about 1975 ”“ 1985 as part of his NW Gun Kit."

 

[tg]

I have seen a few of Curlys guns and heard much good about them I am a novice at this topic but I would be surprised if that is one of his unless someone else did a lot of after market work to it, how thick is the barrel wall at the muzzle? I like more meat at the breech wall and the deep bolt cutout smacks of a not so good of a plan from the begining, I would proceed with caution.
As laffindawg suggests there is just something a bit odd in several aspects that show to casual scrutiny making one wonder what a complete and thourough examination would reveal.Not to toss stones but I would not truast to heavily the tOW guys to put a gun and naker together from my experience talking with them about various gun details both on originals and reprductions over the years, Laffindawg and Santabob sp (former NSW builder) would be your best sources of info/history on that type of gun, it could be a poorly rebarreled NSW gun

 

[nailgunner]

It's .141 barrel wall and .890 at muzzle. The barrel has a slightly swamped profile and the OD is .850 6" back from muzzle. It is a cast barrel and has two sprue marks on the underside between the bands.

 

[DickS]

"Cast barrel"? Sorry, I do not believe that a barrel like this would be cast.

 

[nailgunner]

 

[DickS]

Maybe there had been an underlug, etc, affixed there.

 

[Keb]

It may be one of Curly's barrels but not his kit. He used walnut and his own locks not one like this gun is sporting (GRICE 176X). However he did use a circled sitting fox stamp on his barrels like this one has.