Trash Barrel

[mjones1579]

Hey guys,
I have (from one of my ill fated internet auction buys) a TC New Englander .50 cal barrel with the rifling rusted out. Does anyone have any experience with sleeved barrels, re-bored and rifled to a larger caliber or any other form of barrel restoration? Main thing , is it worth it or is it easier to find a used barrel of your choice. I would kind of like to make a .54 or .58 cal round baller out of it.

 

[bob308]

robert hoyt in fairfield pa. can rebore it to .52 or .54 for you. it is cheaper then buying a new barrel. he can also reline it for you. i have a 1841 rifle that he relined back to .54 from .58 cal.

 

[musketman]

You could always have whats left of the rifling drilled out and make the barrel into a smoothbore, small bored shotguns are fun to shoot.

 

[mjones1579]

I thought about a shotgun .62 is a twenty gauge, right. I think a larger bore is what I want. How do you contact this Robert guy?

Thanks

 

[rkite]

If the barrel is 15/16ths then .540 is a good caliber. If the barrel is 1" across the flats then you can go larger. .54. .58 or .62.

 

[Leatherbark]

His barrel will be 7/8ths inch round............Maybe 54, but I doubt any one will rebore to 62. Although it would still be thicker at the muzzle than most shotguns, this New Englander barrel is the same size from one end to the other IIRC. Fowler barrels are thick at the rear...............Bob

 

[CoyoteJoe]

You do not recall correctly sir, the New Englander has a tapered barrel, quite heavy at the breech. I acquired a similar mistreated New Englander in .54 caliber and had Bobby Hoyt rebore it to .58 with Forsyth style rifling, 72" twist. His work is very economical, as I recall it was under 100 bucks with shipping and all. He has no online site but can be reached by phone at 717 642-6696.

 

[Dphar]

Hey guys,
I have (from one of my ill fated internet auction buys) a TC New Englander .50 cal barrel with the rifling rusted out. Does anyone have any experience with sleeved barrels, re-bored and rifled to a larger caliber or any other form of barrel restoration? Main thing , is it worth it or is it easier to find a used barrel of your choice. I would kind of like to make a .54 or .58 cal round baller out of it.

Cost far more than its worth.
Buy a GM. Anything you find used is likely junk too unless its never been shot.

Dan

 

[CoyoteJoe]

Unfortunately Dan, GM doesn't make a tapered round barrel to fit the New Englander. So the options are, rebore, reline, obtain a new barrel from T/C, expensive if even obtainable, or have a barrel blank custom turned to fit, VERY expensive. I certainly agree that buying another used barrel off eBay is probably not a good option as so many used ML barrels are trash.
That is why I chose the Bobby Hoyt rebore for my own New Englander. My winter project (one of many) will be to reshape the stock into a vague representation of an English sporting rifle, or in this case I guess it would be more like an English sporting carbine. :haha:

 

[mjones1579]

You are right, the 2nd barrel I bought on auction arms for this gun was advertised with a picture of the bore with a bore light shining down it. Good photographer. Other that that New Englander barrels have about dried up.

Thanks for your input.

 

[Dphar]

You are right, the 2nd barrel I bought on auction arms for this gun was advertised with a picture of the bore with a bore light shining down it. Good photographer. Other that that New Englander barrels have about dried up.

Thanks for your input.

I goofed on the barrel recommendation.
But for the most part TCs are outside my field of expertise.

Dan

 

[Pittsburghunter]

Do what you can to clean the heck out of it and shoot it! Then clean it some more and shoot it again.

Older T/C barrels had some pretty deep grooves. It might look like a sewer pipe and shoot just fine.

Worth a try shooting them is the cheapest part of this sport.

 

[ozark57]

I agree with "just shoot it" One of my pawn shop specials had a simular bore and shot great after a good cleaning. Hoppes #9 and a bore brush then an undersized bore brush wraped in 3 000 steel wool. Keep cleaning until you get a clean patch. You may be amazed at how good it will shoot a patched ball.

 

[Zoar]

Agreed. Clean and shoot it. I inherited an old gun that everyone else took one look at and signed the death certificate.

I soaked it for a while in penetrating oil, then cleaned it till shiny. Soooprise soooprise, it shoots ragged holes at 40 yards.

Took maybe an hour of my time and a little elbow grease and some fine steel wool and a handful of cleaning patches that were both bought just for such a workload. I so enjoy bringing barrels back to life.