Knowledge on barrels made in the 1970s through 1990s

Garypl, i have a 40 cal with a douglas barrel and it is also very accurate.

I still have a .45 Douglas barrel that I plan to use to build another rifle. Started working on it 20 years ago with my son. We fitted the breech plug and then he became interested in girls and lost interest! It has been sitting in the rack all this time and after I finish my Kibler SMR I plan to resume work on it

Bill Large, then Kenny Bresien, Webb Terry and the likes were shooters.. themselves and their barrels competed against one-another at Friendship. They also made barrels of nearly any size - slug and bench guns of some 2” octagon are not uncommon, many with false muzzles. IMO, that’s the difference from the others.
Many good barrel makers out there today, but few will make you what these guys did.

bptactical said:

Let’s not overlook Sharon barrels.
Damn fine barrels

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I have a beautiful Sharon Swamped barrel on my .50 cal Lancaster. It is a wonderful barrel,beautifully made & accurate to boot! One of the absolute best IMHO.

My friend passed his patch collection onto me. The patches were hand punched out from canvas, pillow tick, teflon and even karate dojo canvas! I do like the way he organized his patches. He kept extensive notes on each of his rifles such as: maker, lock, flint size, barrel make, bore dia. Groove dia, type of rifling, and notes on each range date. Ball dia , powder type and amount, patch material and thickness and shooting results for the day. He told me he would wipe the bore with a mixture of water and simple green between each shot with good results.

I have used hand cut Colerain, Green River and Rice barrels and found them all to be quite good!

Lets hear more about sharron barrel experiences and ideas that the old timers used with these various older barreled guns.

TC said:

Lets hear more about sharron barrel experiences and ideas that the old timers used with these various older barreled guns.

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I have a full swamped Sharon barrel on my .50....second from bottom.

TC said:

Thank you for the feedback. Does anyone out there have experiences with a Will Large barrel?

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had two of them, sold one called, "old maids dream". it was a 50cal. and 50 inches long. It made a hell of a Lancaster. the other one is a 47cal. that Bill had marked it (50 - .668 ) which meant it would shoot a score of 50 and the spread was about the size of your thumbnail. Built it into an underhammer using a Arkansas action 40 inch barrel. Benched it at 50 yards, and it shot a 50 on a buffalo target. Bills equipment later became known as green River Rifle works. his barrels were chocked at the muzzle. It took a little extra hit to start the ball , but then it slid down easy. then the bullet would expand when fired and catch the riflings . so, if looking for one, look for Bill Large or Green River. the are a 7 lands and groove barrel.

The rifle i recently got has a bill large barrel and has the same characteristics. The first 10 -15”or so inches nearest the muzzle is noticeably tighter than the rest. The rifling is also very deep. It is a 50 cal and takes a .495 ball with a .022 patch. The first time shooting cloverleafs at 50 yds. Is this a common theme - tighter barrel near the muzzle with these older barrels? Do the any of the newer brands have this feature too?

TC said:

Lets hear more about sharron barrel experiences and ideas that the old timers used with these various older barreled guns.

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I have a Sharon trade rifle .54 cal that I got in '78. Took a long time for mevto finde the right load, but it has gotten several deer, a turkey and some hogs.

Smokey Plainsman said:

Douglas barrels had issues with runout. This is where the bore and the outside flats of the barrel are not concentric.

I had a gun with a .40 cal Douglas barrel that would cloverleaf at 50, but the sights had to be heavily adjusted due to the runout. I could of bent the barrel I suppose but never felt comfortable.

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I had the EXACT same issue.

I recall during the 1970's Numrich and Douglas were pretty much the only games in town. With Bill Large being the only "custom" barrel maker. It seemed then that both Numrich and Douglas barrels had the run-out issue. I think it was in Dixie's catalog where they recommended cutting off one or two inches off the barrel. Preferably from the breech end. But then you would loose the barrel threads for the breech plug. LOL I don't recall the Bill Large barrels having this issue. But it was like a year wait to get a barrel from him.
But, that is what we had to deal with then.

Rick

The chunk gun barrel you call 'old maids dream' Wasn't it" Old maids a thinking '?if it was then it was made for Margery Pepiot of Greenville stocked by Bill Irons Soddy style & I shot it at a chunk gun match at Allen Coons place amongst a host of very fine & agreeable gentlemen. Chunk gunners have far too much fun ! Re barrel makers in general Iv'e have not met many bad ones. No one mentions Orion barrels they where & might yet be good barrels but I think he retired . I recently stocked up a 290 cal long barrel stamped G Tyler but I suspect it was some skilled limited run maker .I did stock up one 50 cal can't recall maker but it wasn't accurate . Incidently As I had been to the first MLAIC International matches at Quantico base I headed west to Gallapolis so rang Bill Large. He asked was I going to the Eastern RVs at Shawnee state forest ? So I went pure Porky but a member and caught the last days . Met Phil Cravenor & bought three Miguelet locks off a blanket used them all up since Then went west with North Star.
Regards Rudyard

Bighorserider said:

Douglas barrels were known for their accuracy and runout. They just needed to be breeched with the runout pointing either up or down so it could easily be accounted for with sight elevation.

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Said it before I did. Considering price compared to custom made barrels, putting the stamp on the top or downside should not be difficult.

rickystl said:

I recall during the 1970's Numrich and Douglas were pretty much the only games in town. With Bill Large being the only "custom" barrel maker. It seemed then that both Numrich and Douglas barrels had the run-out issue. I think it was in Dixie's catalog where they recommended cutting off one or two inches off the barrel. Preferably from the breech end. But then you would loose the barrel threads for the breech plug. LOL I don't recall the Bill Large barrels having this issue. But it was like a year wait to get a barrel from him.
But, that is what we had to deal with then.

Rick

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Actually Douglas stamped their name on the flat with run-out at the breech, you were supposed to use that flat as the top or bottom flat. Naturally you had idiots who wouldn't take the extra time to do that and that's where you get rifles that will only shoot at one distance. If there were 2 X's stamped with the name then you have a premium barrel without run-out. Also Douglas barrels came 44 inches long. You were supposed to cut 2 inches off the muzzle. Something about the rifling process they used didn't cut consistently in the last couple inches.

Hi, I’m BPTACTICAL and I’m a Sharon junkie….

First rifle I ever built at the tender age of 13 was a Sharon Trade Rifle as a High school Industrial Arts project(try that this day and age).
It was a great rifle and it got me hooked on rifle building.
The rifle is long gone, stolen by a former roommate.
I always swore I would build another.

Fast forward many years and I lucked into a matched pair of full stock Sharon Hawken rifles that had been built in the 70-80’s. They are pretty interesting, one is a flintlock and shows the more delicate and refined architecture of a flint age rifle while the other is percussion and shows the more robust traits of a later era plains type rifle. Both are 54 caliber.

A little further down the road I managed to find a unicorn, a gent here had an un-built 54 caliber Trade Rifle kit that was still in the box.
One of these days I reckon I’ll put it together.

I managed to top off the stable a couple years ago by picking up a 54 caliber half stock percussion Hawken. Not sure who the builder was but it was put together well.

Maybe one of these days I will be able to manage the time to get out to the range.

ronaldrothb49 said:

Actually Douglas stamped their name on the flat with run-out at the breech, you were supposed to use that flat as the top or bottom flat. Naturally you had idiots who wouldn't take the extra time to do that and that's where you get rifles that will only shoot at one distance. If there were 2 X's stamped with the name then you have a premium barrel without run-out. Also Douglas barrels came 44 inches long. You were supposed to cut 2 inches off the muzzle. Something about the rifling process they used didn't cut consistently in the last couple inches.

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That's probably a more accurate accounting of what my memory was trying to recall. LOL The Douglas barrel on my gun was indeed very accurate.

Rick

Rudyard said:

The chunk gun barrel you call 'old maids dream' Wasn't it" Old maids a thinking '?if it was then it was made for Margery Pepiot of Greenville stocked by Bill Irons Soddy style & I shot it at a chunk gun match at Allen Coons place amongst a host of very fine & agreeable gentlemen. Chunk gunners have far too much fun ! Re barrel makers in general Iv'e have not met many bad ones. No one mentions Orion barrels they where & might yet be good barrels but I think he retired . I recently stocked up a 290 cal long barrel stamped G Tyler but I suspect it was some skilled limited run maker .I did stock up one 50 cal can't recall maker but it wasn't accurate . Incidently As I had been to the first MLAIC International matches at Quantico base I headed west to Gallapolis so rang Bill Large. He asked was I going to the Eastern RVs at Shawnee state forest ? So I went pure Porky but a member and caught the last days . Met Phil Cravenor & bought three Miguelet locks off a blanket used them all up since Then went west with North Star.
Regards Rudyard

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the 50 cal. barrel was stamped "old maids dream" it was 50 inches long. we turned it into a langcaster. heavy , but a good shooter. we still have it.

Dear Uncleluie . Bill Large was known for his barrel added humour likley another elderly women . I some time put jests underneath the barrel s like my own snap matchlock I put " finest selected Montana barrel company 5$ reject ". because it was. Another Matchlock had "Matchlock shooters of the World Ignite !" " You have nothing to lose but your brains !" It was for a Union Rep .Another has " Build a better matchlock & the world will beat a path to your door ! ".
A group of India made but worked over till they where a fire risk Muskettoons had engraved ' Nock'. 'Egg' & ' Probin' visible. But under the cocks was 'Don't,' ' Duck' and' Keep' respectivly . The buyers might never know but some gunsmith down the years might get a laugh out of that .Off topic a bit but I once bought a Marble type match case the screw off top sort & waterproof .But it was so hard to open I took it back to the shop in Quesnel where I bought it & the shopkeeper gave me a new one that worked fine ,But he didnt want to old one & gave it me back .So as I was hitch hikeing I resolved to open it put a note inside & leave it in the roadside gravel knowing sooner or later some fellow traveller would spot it and lilkey struggle to open it up . The note said "Yes I had trouble getting it open too "! .
Regards Rudyard