Douglas Barrels

Have a model 1962 Tingle Target Rifle in .45 cal. It also has a Douglas barrel. As already mentioned, the 32" barrel on mine is a little muzzle heavy shooting off hand but still seems to be an extremely accurate rifle. Easy to load, clean, and is very accurate. I wouldn't hesitate to buy a quality muzzleloader with a Douglas barrel on it!!
Respectfully, Cowboy 🤠

Interesting and good post Jim. I would also add that run out usually assumes that although the bore is on a slight tangent to the exterior that it is in a straight line but often is not. Many of them have a curve where both ends will be fairly centered and the middle will have wondered off an a curved bore will result. It can even have a bit of a spiral.
This can be caused by several things when the blank is being deep hole bored.
1. hard spot in alloy deflects the bit.
2. Oil pressure increase was inadequate to remove the boring swarf as the hole lengthened.
3. Dull boring bit leading edge.
When the bore is angled off on a straight tangent my feeling is that this occurs when the flats are milled not in the boring operation.
I built a black powder cartridge rifle a few years back that had this trouble and it was on a GM barrel. The bore was with in a .004 thousands of center at breech and muzzle but shot about six inches left at 100 yards. It still was plenty accurate but the sights needed to be adjusted off center a bit for the calm air zero, to account for it.

This is what was supposed, or so the story goes, and the gun was a custom build, so the builder didn't have "deep pockets". The fellow's insurance provider went after the barrel company because they did have some liability insurance, and some minor assets, and the fellow in the accident lost some fingers or some such result.

Today, I'm told, due to the Douglas Barrel result which also caused premiums for liability insurance for barrel makers to go way up..., that small companies that make gun barrels, or car parts necessary to vehicle control and safety, and etc. insulate themselves by locating in states unfavorable to "money hunting" lawsuits, and also own very little of the equipment, etc. in their production facilities.

The machinery, and the building(s), are all now leased from another company. All that the company making the item owns is several dozen of that part in various stages of completion. So..., sue them and the only assets that can be attached are the unfinished products as the machinery and building are not "owned" by the company. In a state where one must prove the company officers knew they had a defective product that might fail..., very tough to do..., the plaintiff isn't going to be successful.

LD

Douglas used a hot drawing process somewhat like extruding to achieve an octagon shape and then bored and rifled the bbl.....if the drill "walked", the bore was off center. If the Douglas stamping was put on the bottom, the bore runout was vertical and could easily be compensated w/ the sight adjustment.

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Agree. The stamping was supposed to be put on the top or bottom flat of a rifle.
Good barrels that contributed much to the growth of the ml game.

I had a friend who was probably one of the top gunsmiths in Alaska for many years tell me that he has seen more than one premium barrel that when dial indicated in his lathe spindle, looked like a jump rope when viewed down bore at slow RPM.
None of them are perfectly straight and runout is not really on a straight line.

there is a way to take care of run out. yo bore the blank. then turn it between centers. then mill the flats . is a slow process but you have a bore parallel.to the out side. bob hoyt does it that way.

The debate goes back and forth about 12L14.

Here is a list (not extensive, but most of the barrels many will come across) as to who uses what:

Ed Rayl 8620
Green Mountain 1137
Colerain 12L14
Rice 12L14/4140
Oregon 12L14
Don/John Getz 12L14
Longhammock 12L14/1137
FCI ”“ Charlie Burton 12L14 (formerly owned by J. Goodien)
Jim McLemore 4150
Sleepy Hills 4150 (out of business)
Robert (Bobby) Hoyt 12L14

Pedersoli 4150

I could never find and have never asked "what" steel Lyman, Thompson Center, CVA or Traditions uses or has used. Some/many TC barrels were supposedly made by Green Mountain which would make them 1137.

Given that some of the best barrel makers in the business have used and continue to use 12L14 that alleviates any concern that I might of ever had after listening to "warnings" about how unsuitable the steel is.

Unless you grossly misload it you will most likely never have an issue with a 12L14 barrel.

M.D. said:

I had a friend who was probably one of the top gunsmiths in Alaska for many years tell me that he has seen more than one premium barrel that when dial indicated in his lathe spindle, looked like a jump rope when viewed down bore at slow RPM.
None of them are perfectly straight and runout is not really on a straight line.

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M.D., really? So wat? I have a Douglas premium on a TC stock that will outshoot almost any other rifle on the range. The way they were made allowed them to be sold at less money than custom barrels.

The point is some barrels are bored crooked and in most cases the straighter the boring job the better the accuracy.A barrel blank can be perfectly straight but the bored hole curved.
If the bore is curved, turning it to center by centering the ends won't correct the windage. The curve needs to be mapped out and orientated to the vertical.
I found this out from actual rifle building not theorizing.

I know if hoyt gets a bore that is crooked he does not use that blank. he starts with the bore first then every thing else is worked to the bore.

I have a .45 cal. long rifle with a Douglass barrel on it . It is the most accurate rifle I have.After reading everything I could and talking to guys including Don Getz, I came to the conclusion it was safe to shoot. With not going over max loads, I feel safe shooting it and sleep well at night. This my opinion and others may differ.
Don