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Re-crowning a barrel question

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buickmarti

32 Cal.
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My son bought a 44cal CVA Prospector pistol off of the internet. Someone has cut about 1/2" off the front of the barrel. It is square but has no crown. Taking it to a gunsmith will cost more then he paid for it and more then the gun is worth. I was reading online about using a brass carriage bolt and valve lapping paste - is this advisable? Capture.JPG
 
It would be better than none, but I would not take it too far.
Ahhh... but how to know when you’re nearing “too far”. That’s the trick. ;)

I would give it a shot. Use a magnifying glass or some such as you proceed, slowly sneaking up on an even, smooth crown.
 
If you are using the crown of the head and doing the "grinding" by hand you can use a brass or a steel carrage bolt along with the valve grinding compound.

You will need to remove a bit more than just the sharp edges where the rifling meets the bore at the muzzle. The idea is for all of the sharp corners including the deepest edges of the rifling grooves, leaving a very "dull" edge so it won't cut the cloth patches when a patched ball is loaded.

I've also used a 3/4" and a 1" diameter grinding "ball" to do the same thing.
These grinding "balls" are bonded to a 1/4" diameter steel rod that is meant to be chucked in an electric drill. If you use one to create the crown, do not chuck it in an electric drill. Just use your fingers to rotate the ball and let it pilot itself in the bore.

After forming the crown I use a small piece of the black "wet/dry" 120 grit carbide sandpaper with my thumb pressing it into the muzzle to finish the job.
Just rotate your thumb back and forth in a rotary motion while pressing it down into the bore.
This will smooth out the marks left by the valve grinding compound or the grinding ball and further dull up the remaining sharp edges on the rifling grooves.
 
Let's not get into talking about shooting it.

This gun is "teetering on the brink" on the forum and discussions about these guns in the shooting areas of the forum, in the past have been deleted.

It is an in-line gun and I've never seen anything that indicates that guns like this ever existed prior to 1866.

The only reason I left it here in the Builder's Bench is the topic is about working on the gun to re-crown its muzzle.
 
I have used ball bearings of various sizes and wet/dry paper (120-320 grit) to chamfer muzzles with success over the years. Like it better that carriage bolt head. Basic idea is to hold the sandpaper over the ball bearing (you can place ball on the floor and hold paper with your feet) and rotate the barrel bore on the bearing with the paper on it. I’ll usually start with a larger diameter bearing and 120 grit and end with a smaller ball bearing, maybe near bore diameter, and 320 grit. Stop when I have a slight chamfer on bore and rifling lands. This process brings barrels that are cutting patches around fast. Not suggesting as ultimate solution. Just letting others know what I do. Have seen this method suggest a few times, most recently by a forum member who was ‘voted off the island’ within the last month or so.
 
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