Getting this train back on the tracks, I know panther asked about an unbreeched 20 guage barrel so my answer won't exactly give him what he wants.
I was thinking about it and came up with a answer that might help. It isn't "HC or PC because the barrel is round but here's my thought.
A great many pawn shops have old H&R, Stevens, Wards, Sears etc single shot break open shotguns.
Many of these guns were beat up badly and that works to our advantage because it knocks the value of them way down. If the stock was beat up bad enough the pawn shop dealer might be happy to get rid of the thing for $30. You know he didn't give the original owner over $15 for it.
If a person bought a old beat up 20 guage like this they could remove the barrel, chuck the rest in the recycling barrel and have a start on their project.
My 1908 Stevens 20 guage has a chamber diameter of .695 and this necks down to the 20 guage bore about 3 1/8 inches down from the breech face.
If one cut off about 3 inches of the chamber and then ran a 11/16 (.687) tap drill in just deep enough to give them the breech plug length they wanted to use they could bottom tap it with a 3/4-16 UNF tap.
That .695 chamber diameter is still within the minor diameter tolerance for 3/4-16UNF threads so no real strength is lost by having some of the old chamber still inside the breech.
The outside of my barrel in this area is 1 1/8 inch so using a standard 3/4-16 UNF breech plug made for a 1 inch or 1 1/8 inch barrel would work.
Hell, they could even use a TC Hawken style breech plug that is made for a 1 inch octagon barrel and extend the plugs flats forward on the barrel until they ran out of material (the barrels are tapered forward of the old cartridge breech). These TC Hawken plugs have 3/4-16 UNF threads on them and are available from Track of the Wolf. http://www.trackofthewolf.com/Categories/PartList.aspx?catID=14&subID=143&styleID=520
Another alteration would be the muzzle.
Many of these barrels have full chokes and these would need to be reamed out to 39/64 (.609) or even 5/8 (.625). On my Stevens that would leave a barrel wall of about .053 which is mighty thin for a muzzleloader but with the quality steel even these old smokeless powder shotguns used it shouldn't be a safety issue.
I would avoid using any temperatures over 500 degrees F on these barrels because some of them were heat treated for strength and you don't want to heat the barrel up hot enough to reduce the strength.
500 degrees is more than hot enough to do any soldering that is needed to attach ramrod pipes, etc.
Something to think about. :hmm:
I was thinking about it and came up with a answer that might help. It isn't "HC or PC because the barrel is round but here's my thought.
A great many pawn shops have old H&R, Stevens, Wards, Sears etc single shot break open shotguns.
Many of these guns were beat up badly and that works to our advantage because it knocks the value of them way down. If the stock was beat up bad enough the pawn shop dealer might be happy to get rid of the thing for $30. You know he didn't give the original owner over $15 for it.
If a person bought a old beat up 20 guage like this they could remove the barrel, chuck the rest in the recycling barrel and have a start on their project.
My 1908 Stevens 20 guage has a chamber diameter of .695 and this necks down to the 20 guage bore about 3 1/8 inches down from the breech face.
If one cut off about 3 inches of the chamber and then ran a 11/16 (.687) tap drill in just deep enough to give them the breech plug length they wanted to use they could bottom tap it with a 3/4-16 UNF tap.
That .695 chamber diameter is still within the minor diameter tolerance for 3/4-16UNF threads so no real strength is lost by having some of the old chamber still inside the breech.
The outside of my barrel in this area is 1 1/8 inch so using a standard 3/4-16 UNF breech plug made for a 1 inch or 1 1/8 inch barrel would work.
Hell, they could even use a TC Hawken style breech plug that is made for a 1 inch octagon barrel and extend the plugs flats forward on the barrel until they ran out of material (the barrels are tapered forward of the old cartridge breech). These TC Hawken plugs have 3/4-16 UNF threads on them and are available from Track of the Wolf. http://www.trackofthewolf.com/Categories/PartList.aspx?catID=14&subID=143&styleID=520
Another alteration would be the muzzle.
Many of these barrels have full chokes and these would need to be reamed out to 39/64 (.609) or even 5/8 (.625). On my Stevens that would leave a barrel wall of about .053 which is mighty thin for a muzzleloader but with the quality steel even these old smokeless powder shotguns used it shouldn't be a safety issue.
I would avoid using any temperatures over 500 degrees F on these barrels because some of them were heat treated for strength and you don't want to heat the barrel up hot enough to reduce the strength.
500 degrees is more than hot enough to do any soldering that is needed to attach ramrod pipes, etc.
Something to think about. :hmm:
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