Anybody put a liner in an old smoothbore barrel

[Eric Krewson]

A friend of mine came across the deal of the century on estate M/Ls, 4 of them, all original and mostly in very good shape. I saw three of them, two bench rifles from around 1840 and a rather odd smoothbore with an unusual hooked breech (picture to follow).

My friend has a bunch of original rifles and fowlers, all started out in questionable shape but being a good gunsmith he brought them all back to life and shoots them on a regular basis, he doesn't own any closet queens. None of his rifles and fowlers have any collector value, just every day guns.

He is wanting to resurrect the fowler but the barrel shows evidence of having flaws filled with some kind of metal filler, small spots, about the diameter of a pencil eraser. To me the barrel looks like an older repurposed military barrel in about 70 cal.

It looks like lining the barrel would be the only way to make it shootable again, perhaps turning the 12 into a 16. Anybody know where to buy shotgun liners or people who do this work at a reasonable rate?

 

[gemmer]

Bob Hoyt relined an original .69 cal 1816 musket barrel for me.

 

[hawkeye2]

"perhaps turning the 12 into a 16"

Hoyt can't put a 16 gauge liner in a 12 gauge barrel unless it is thick enough to bore out as the liner would be too thin. He did a 12 gage damascus cartridge double for me last winter and had to put in 20 gauge liners as the barrels were too thin to bore out for the 16 gauge liners. Cost was $125 per barrel + shipping (about $10). For that kind of money I would never go the DIY route.

R. A. (Bobby) Hoyt
Freischutz Shop
2379 Mt. Hope Rd.
Fairfield, PA 17320-9756
(717) 642-6696

 

[theoldredneck]

I converted a 13 gauge damascus double to a cargo gun years ago. The right barrel 50 caliber rifle and left 28 gauge smooth bore. The liners came from T J's, I bought directly from him. At $125 per barrel even though I can do it myself would probably send to him. Lining a questionable damascus barrel makes it heavier. To me the added weight is not a problem but some do not like it. Over the years I have lined muzzleloaders and cartridge guns. Lined smooth and rifled bores, with good liners accuracy or patterns are great.

 

[Rudyard]

Re Mr Hoyt I have seen a Fergusson rifle barrel bearing his name the rifle was made by or for the Late Ernest Cowan. Does he offer a Fergusson Breach perchance ?. His skill is legendry . Who else offers a breach ? . With the CNC
tooling perhaps they are better able to produce them now . Not that I rate the system but a patron wants one & while the rest dos'nt faze me the multi start plug bit does .
Regards Rudyard