Main Discussion Area > Muzzleloaders
New project, coning a barrel
Eric Krewson:
I have a re-bore that came out badly, I had a nice Rice .50 barrel and wanted to turn it into a .54 so I sent it to "the" guy, it was flawed when it came back. The bore was so tight I had to buy a .526 mold so I could start a ball with a patch thick enough so it wouldn't tear. Because the gun isn't a great shooter, I decided to open the bore so I could thumb start a .530 ball.
I bought a Joe Woods coning tool for a .54, today I decided to put it to use.
The first step is to disassemble the gun and un-breach the barrel, having the right tools helps.
I studied the instructions carefully, once I started there was no turning back.
The kit comes with a template to cut the various grits of wet or dry sand paper to hone the barrel, the sandpaper wears out quickly so I needed a lot of precut pieces backed with double sided carpet tape.
It took a few tries to correctly orientate the sandpaper on the tool. I used a large tap wrench to hold the tool.
And off we go; I rotated the tool clockwise and the barrel an equal number of times counter clockwise.
I will use 220 grit paper until the ball with a dry patch will thumb start halfway into the barrel. Here I am checking my progress.
This is a labor intensive job, my old arthritic hands said to stop after an hour or so, more to follow.
Eric Krewson:
Like I said; the process is labor intensive, I am in my second hour, my 3M sandpaper had to be changed out often.
Done, most of the lands at the bore have been sanded away.
JW_Halverson:
I have always been leery of coning a barrel because I can easily imagine myself applying uneven pressure and ending up with gun with a bad crown.
Let us know how it turns out!
Eric Krewson:
The instructions specify that the barrel has to be held in the hands with opposing rotation and not in a vice to prevent an off-center cone. I didn't hardly put any pressure on the cutter, it feeds itself down the bore as it cuts with the 220-grit paper, the 400-grit sits in one place because it doesn't cut, only polishes.
Eric Krewson:
Rifle testing today, I had coned the barrel with a Joe Woods coning tool in .54.
I could thumb start a .530 ball and a .018 all the way in easily, before coning I had to pound in a .526 ball with an .018 patch. With the cone I could seat the ball with minimum effort, I believe I could have gone to a .535 ball if I wanted to
I started shooting and wasn't doing too well, I was chasing balls with what turned out to be a fairly loose back sight. Somehow, I had bent the front sight, I straightened it several times before I was satisfied with it. I was hitting left and low at 50 yards and had already drifted my rear sight as far as I was comfortable with so I gave the front sight a slight tap.
I was shooting 80 gr of 2F and shooting low with about a 3" group at 50 yards, I had trouble seeing my front sight.
I decided to bump my load up to 85 gr, BINGO!
I had a shiny front sight for the high shot, the sun came out couldn't tell exactly where the blade was, I had a spray can of sight black so I sprayed the sight and took two more shots, I think I can live with the results.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
Go to full version