Swampman said:
Other than just to have a .36, why wouldn't you just get the .40? I don't really understand the desire to own these small calibers in barrels that are way to big for their bores. Other than having a light handy rifle in say a 13/16" barrel, I don't understand the desire to own a rifle smaller than a .50.
Ah... well, fair enough questions there, Swampy.
The main reason is I just discovered one of the guys I work with has a ton of .36 caliber moulds and other related stuff. Which instantly solves the issue of moulds if I were to stick to the original .32 plan. And the small caliber is because it really is too much to be shooting gophers and tin cans with the .54 caliber barrel as I have been doing so far.
As for the weight, well... the offhand Schuetzen rifles weigh a LOT more than this rifle would. There's a definite advantage to having all that weight out there. I like muzzleheavy rifles for shooting - not for carrying.
If this were really serious, then I'd probably do what you're thinking of and buy an elegent little rifle. But this is just for fun - my main shooting interests aren't muzzleloaders, but I do have a lot of fun with the one I have. When I do go afield with a muzzleloader and murder in my heart, the hunt is usually for the local elk and moose, and that means the .54 barrel will be back on it...
CoyoteJoe said:
Green Mountain seems to be phasing out .36 caliber but if you try a few different suppliers you may find they still have one in stock. You might lap a .32 out to .36 in about 10 years of steady work.
Thanks for the tip on the barrel situation and where to look, Joe, I will look into that.
Have you actually tried a major lapping job like that or are you just guessing?
It takes me a couple of hours to lap a rifle barrel out, but that is a different process, for a different reason, and uses pretty fine grits. I have no idea how fast it would go if you started out with coarse grits like 80 or something like that.
I have an old .303 British barrel around here somewhere, taken off a bubba'd Lee Enfield. I could always use that as an experiment and see how long it takes and what the results are like.
I don't even know if it would work, Joe. Lapping would remove metal from ALL surfaces, including the sides of the lands. I'd want to look at what happened to that .303 barrel before starting on a newly purchased barrel.
If you can't find a "drop-in" any gunsmith could make one up for you, and if you're half way handy and have few tools you could do it yourself.
I think Track of the Wolf would make one up for you. They are good folks to deal with, I'd give um a call. :grin:
I do have access to a milling machine and lathe. But while I have an experimental bent, I also know when to have somebody else do the work to guarantee the quality of the results.
If something easier doesn't present itself, I'll talk to the folks at wolf scat. Thanks!
