Knowledge on barrels made in the 1970s through 1990s

[TC]

Does anyone have knowledge, opinions, experience with some of the old school barrel makers such as Bresien, Large, Douglas and others? How was the quality as compared with todays offerings?

 

[rafterob]

I have not heard of Bresien but Large and Douglass barrels have a reputation as top notch. Rice Barrels began CNC production years back which allows more precise and finer finished barrels but don't know that they shoot any better than the old barrels.

 

[Flint62Smoothie]

Oh boy ... you may also want to search around here and elsewhere on the term '12L14' steel, but BEWARE ... as to some the use of that steel is a VERY controversial topic for sure!

Might be best to read up here:
https://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/threads/douglas-barrels.106355/
https://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/threads/rice-barrels.102313/
It is said that Oregon, FCI, Colerain, Long Hammock, Getz, Hoyt and others all use 12L14, whereas Green Mountain uses high quality 4140 chrome-moly steel. I have or have had barrels from those makers that must be the 12L14 steel ... and all have safely survived within the typical charges used.

 

[TC]

Thanks for the replies. I have a friend who is 89 years young and was just yesterday telling me about his 50 plus years of black powder shooting. He produced a shoe box full of shooting medals and began to regale me with his knowledge of everything he knew about round ball black powder accuracy. He talked about the quality of some of these barrels that he used on the custom guns he made. I tried to absorb as much as i could. I called him back today and found out more about Bresien barrels. Ken Bresien was a avid shooter from western Ny that produced some highly sought after barrels at the Friendship matches. Im guessing that these various old school makers barrels will show up from time to time and would like to learn as much as possible about them.

 

[Flint62Smoothie]

I'm guessing that these various old school makers barrels will show up from time to time and would like to learn as much as possible about them.

Sounds great ... please share here whatever else you may learn!

I found his obituary here: Kenneth R. Bresien, black-powder gunsmith

 

[oldwood]

Oh boy , here we go again. In the Forum Archives , there should be a recap of this discussion. I personally have used most of the early barrels in builds in the 1970's and beyond w/ no problems. The only catastrophic rifle blow up was local. Two teen age kids "borrowed" dad's repro , factory made plains rifle , stoked it up with modern smokeless ctg. reloading powder , and touched it off. Result.........One dead , one injured. Who's fault?????? Wasn't the gun's fault. ......................The only other failure might have been written up in Muzzle Blasts Magazine a few years ago. The recipe for failure?......Taper and flared modern made long rifle barrel. A deeply dovetailed , most forward barrel hanger. A short started patch/round ball directly at the hanger dove tail. .............The result was a split barrel. Can't remember , but don't recall if any injuries resulted.

 

[TC]

One thing that seems to pop up in some articles back then is a consensus that rifling depth should be .012 deep .

 

[TC]

For patched round ball and accuracy.

 

[rich pierce]

GRRW barrels were also highly accurate.

 

[Smokey Plainsman]

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.

 

[Bighorserider]

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.

 

[waksupi]

Douglas Premium or Supreme barrels are the ones that happened to be bored straight.

 

[bptactical]

Let’s not overlook Sharon barrels.
Damn fine barrels

 

[ronaldrothb49]

Douglas barrels were drilled from octagon blanks so most did have runout. The flat with the runout was stamped with their name. That flat was supposed to be used as the top or bottom flat. It was a little more work to line your breech plug up that way so naturally you had idiots who ignored that and did it their way creating a rifle that was only good for one range. If you have a Douglas barrel with 2 X's stamped with the name that is a premium barrel with no runout. Have over the years used most of the old makers barrels, Montana, large, Getz, Douglas, etc. Still have a Douglas and a Getz barrel that have never been used, My parts buying kind of got way ahead of my building.

 

[TC]

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

 

[French Colonial]

Goodoien barrels are/were supposed to be very good quality

 

[ohio ramrod]

I have had good experiences with both Douglas(four) and Bill Large (2) barrel, nothing but good to say about them!

 

[nhmoose]

Ken Bresien at Fort Ty Fall shoot

Me shooting one of Kenny's heavy barrel flintlock bench gun

Shot off!

 

[TC]

That looks heavy! What is the weight, caliber, length of that rifle. Did you shoot that in a particular class of competition?

 

[garypl]

I still shoot my .40 flintlock with a Douglas 1:48 barrel and it is very accurate. Good friend of mine had an over-the-log .50 half stock with a heavy Bill Large barrel - he won many matches with that rifle!