Coned muzzle

What effect does a coned muzzle have on the accuracy of a firearm? I confess that while I understand the purpose of a coned muzzle, I have no idea what the process is to produce one. I assume there is some sort of after market tool that can be had with instructions on how to cone a muzzle.

Joe Wood makes a fool proof tool to cone muzzles. He can be contacted at [email protected]. I've used his tools on a couple of guns and they don't seem to suffer any accuracy problems at all.

"What effect does a coned muzzle have on the accuracy of a firearm?"

It improves the accuracy. That is because the patch and ball will be loaded more in uniform and with greater ease. You will never regret having your rifle's muzzle coned. Le Grand

Hey!!! We have not done this one in about 6 months!!!

:rotf:

Feady on the right---ready on the left

Ready on the firing line!!

Commence firing!!!

I ordered one of the tools for my 50 cal and WOW was I impressed. So easy to use and the groups really tightened up.

No more problems with patches getting cut while putting in the ball even tight patches. Now I need to order one for my .45 rifles. Glad someone posted the site because I forgot who I bought it from.

I am gitting behind the bar !! OK Line i s HOT !!

Was this a 1 in 48, 50cal twist??

Holster those weapons, boys!

Remember, we're here to help. :grin:

deaconjoe, just pay no attention to the naysayers (and pay no attention to that man behind the green cutrain, too).

Joe Woods' tool works great; it's easy to use, and it does a good job. they cost (if memory serves) about forty bucks including the ever popular shipping & handling. what you get is a bronze tapered reamer without the teeth, with a bit at the end which will be the same size as the interior (i.e. land- to- land) diameter of the bore. you need some two sided carpet tape and some wet/dry sandpaper. the carpet tape comes from any bigbox hardware store, and the sandpaper can be had at any autoparts place. using a pattern (supplied), you tape the sandpaper to the tool and after you take the barrel out of the rifle, you slip the tool into the muzzle and turn it, thus abrading away a cone using the cutting action of the sandpaper. the cone is kept concentric to the axis of the bore by the bit at the end (where there is no sandpaper). after an hour or so, you'll have a coned muzzle and this will allow you to dispense with the 'short starter,' and you'll be able to start a patched ball by hand, cut the patch at the muzzle, and run the whole deal down the tube using the ramrod.

i confess a bit of initial trepidation, but i spkoe with Joe on the phone and he assured me that if i followed the directions that came with the tool, all would be well. he is a very engaging fellow, and he was right- once i held the thing in my grubby fingers, the lightbulb went on.

i haven't seen any significant accuracy change in the rifle i've coned. most of the stories i've heard seem to indicate that if it has any effect on accuracy, the coning actually improves things a bit. those stories of a good barrel gone bad all seem to have a heard- it- from- a- friend- who- knew- this other- guy ring to them.

i'd recommend coning your rifle, and the only reason that i haven't coned all of mine is a shocking combination of laziness and cheapskatedness, so-- go for it.

msw

MSW said:

deaconjoe, just pay no attention to the naysayers (and pay no attention to that man behind the green cutrain, too).

Click to expand...

So far, every response has been favorable toward coning. Where are these "naysayers"?

I've coned several rifles and I couldn't be happier.

Okay folks and thanks for the responses, suggestions and encouragement. This will be a "silent" X-mass gift to myself.... I hope you and yours had a happy Thanksgiving.

Claude said:

MSW said:

deaconjoe, just pay no attention to the naysayers (and pay no attention to that man behind the green cutrain, too).

Click to expand...

So far, every response has been favorable toward coning. Where are these "naysayers"?

I've coned several rifles and I couldn't be happier.

Click to expand...

Where are all of the "dyed in the wool" short starter and sledge hammer fans? We have to have someone in favor of a .005 oversize ball with a .020 patch!

Maybe all the target shooters are still drowsey from all that turkey.

Usually we get at leat one person that does not understand the concept of coning, has never used a coned rifle, has never held a coned rifle, but knows he would not own one!

:blah:

Gosh fellows, lets argue some, I'm bored! I'll take whatever opinion you don't want!

:rotf:

I've thought a lot about this,and I have two questions:

#1. Will it reduce the value of a really fine contemporary longrifle?

#2. What is the history behind it? Was it done "way back when", or is it something fairly new.

I admit....I like the idea,but I'm hesitant :hmm:

Cponing was done for decades before the civil war. After the was, when target shooting became very popular, flat crowned muzzles became the rage. It was those guns that continued to be shot into the 20th century, while a few of the old time guns continued to be used in the Appalachians, by poor farmers and hunters, to feed their families. If you coned a bench gun, it would detract from hits value. If you cone a hunting rifle, it won't. It might even enhance its value to someone who knows what it is, why you did it, and the fact that you don't have to carry a short starter with you to load the gun anymore! There is book out on Possible Bags, that was published probably 20 years ago. The author traveled all over inspecting the possible bags in museums. Unlike may modern- post civil war - bags, in the older ones, he found no short starters, and no provision for loops or keepers to hold a short starter. He wrote a piece for Muzzle Blasts about his book and noted that his long investigation of possible bags led him to understand the prevalence of coned muzzles on rifles.

But ... Paul could it not also mean they(the oldtimers) used smaller diameter balls/thinner patch combos instead ... thus no need for a starter, even without a coned muzzle? Just curious cuz I do not know the answer here. :hmm:

Davy

Sorry Ghost, I agree with you this time. Coning is a good thing!!! :rotf: :rotf:

Greetingw Ghost!

I have no experience with coning and see none of it at the shoots where the best in the world are! I would pit my crowned but not coned rifle against any coned that you can muster up in a shooting match!

So you find the rifle that has been coned and I will shoot against it. There, how is that for putting up or shutting up!

rabbit03

:blah: :blah:

Thanks for your reply. I like what I am hearing,but I wonder: is it very risky to use the tool discussed and do it yourself? Or should it be done by a professional rifle maker?

Seems to me that you are dealing with precision work that could cause problems IF you didn't do everything just right :hmm:.

It's real easy to do if you have the right tools. If you don't, send it off to someone you trust to do it right. Easier loading and Period correct for most rifles. Even up into the 19th century. Hawken rifles were coned in such a manner for this reason. I recommend it and have done so with my rifles. In fact it has improved the accuracy in some of them.

Hey Ghost. I think ya have the argument you were looking for. Read Rabbits post. I think it sounds like a challenge. :shocked2:
Watch yer hair, I hear Rabbit is pretty salty with that crowned Hawken gun a his. :blah:
And NO!, ya can't borrow my rifle. :rotf:

der Forster said:

Seems to me that you are dealing with precision work that could cause problems IF you didn't do everything just right :hmm:.

Click to expand...

I've never coned a muzzle nor do I have experience with a coned muzzle but...

As for my experience with patched ball rifles, they're surprisingly forgiving. The simple cloth patch makes up for a lot of minor imperfections in the bore of a rifle and possibly the muzzle. No serious smokeless rifle shooter would run a cleaning rod muzzle first if he/she can avoid it; much less running a brass/wood/wonder-rod down the bore, muzzle first, after every shot and no telling how many swipes for cleaning- yet we do it all the time.

...Just food for thought.