multi-barrels same gun?

[coredneck]

Just a thought I had awhile back, but reading another thread it looks like it could be done after all...I have a cabelas Investarm .54 lefty and would like both a smaller (.45) and perhaps a smothbore (.69?). Can it be done? seems that it shouldn't be to hard to just swap out the barrel with the only issue I could see would be size of the barrel in the stock.

 

[Old Hawkeye]

I recently acquired an Investarm Hawken style 50 cal rifle that came with an extra 62cal/20 ga smoothbore barrel. Only visible difference is the rifle barrel has sights & the smoothie has a front bead like a shotgun. Gun was made in the late 70's & it's the only "barrel set" ML I have personally seen. It was a factory offering. With the ease of switching barrels on a hook breech & can't believe we don't see this more often either with a factory gun or people just adding barrels to an existing ML. BTW, the outside dimensions of the barrel would remain the same.

 

[Bassdog1]

I have Senecas and Cherokees that accept 32, 36 and 45 Barrels I have thought a lot about just keeping one stock of each and having a case made to fit the gun with two extra barrels. Still on the prowl for a mint 45 barrel for each one and then may go that route.

 

[fleener]

I have a lyman GPR in .54 cal. It was my second ML that I bought 30 years ago. I was target shooting with it and the guy that was doing all the winning was shooting a custom barrel. So, I had custom barrel in .40 fitted to the rifle.

So, yes it can be done.

Fleener

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Just a thought I had awhile back, but reading another thread it looks like it could be done after all...I have a cabelas Investarm .54 lefty and would like both a smaller (.45) and perhaps a smothbore (.69?). Can it be done? seems that it shouldn't be to hard to just swap out the barrel with the only issue I could see would be size of the barrel in the stock.

It's been done lots of times, Thompson Center is well known for such things, and it's most commonly found using a hooked breech.

Green Mountain used to offer "drop in" barrels for Thompson Center Hawken rifles, and you could reduce your rifle to .40 or even .36, OR you could switch to a slower twist rate for round ball, or a faster one if for some reason you thought you needed to use modern projectiles. The drawback was only that as the barrels when lowering the caliber were the same dimensions as the original larger caliber barrel on the rifle, this made the drop-ins a tad heavier. On the other hand when trying to dink a squirrel or rabbit with a .350 ball using a head shot, some folks like a heavier barrel.

Speaking of TC I gave my son a graduation gift a couple years ago of a TC New Englander in .54....WITH the additional 12 gauge, TC made, drop-in barrel.

LD

 

[mooman76]

It certainly is possible. Easiest would be to find the barrels with the same set up. Problem is finding those barrels. I have a Cabelas Hawken that came with both 50 and 58 and it is nice being able to switch easy. I don't know if you can go as big as 69 or not but I'm sure you can get close at least. Do you have 1" flats?

 

[Grenadier1758]

One consideration is the depth of any screw holes for mounting sights or dovetails for underlugs and sights. In most cases a barrel of 1" across the flats is needed to safely bore out to 20 gauge. More likely would be a max of 24 gauge (58 caliber) in a 15/16" across the flats barrel.

 

[ohio ramrod]

I made both of my boys rifles from 50 caliber kits. Since I prefer 45's I fitted each one with 45 barrels. So now they both have two barrels, one 45, and one 50 caliber

 

[Old Hawkeye]

One consideration is the depth of any screw holes for mounting sights or dovetails for underlugs and sights. In most cases a barrel of 1" across the flats is needed to safely bore out to 20 gauge. More likely would be a max of 24 gauge (58 caliber) in a 15/16" across the flats barrel.

My 62 cal/20ga is 1" across the flats. The underlug is screwed on. The front sight is a screwed in brass bead. There is no rear sight. All the old Investarm Hawken style rifles had 1" octagons, so I think that is more the reason than the 20 gauge "needing" a 1". The barrel has more than enough thickness & having 1/32" less metal under a tapped hole than a 15/16" barrel would have doesn't appear to me to be a safety concern. My 20 gauge SxS Shotgun barrels are 1/4 as thick as my octagon smoothie. Going bigger than 20 gauge would be problematic even for a 1" barrel with screw holes & dovetails, but a 20 gauge shotgun barrel with just a screwed on underlug & front bead should work fine in a 15/16".

 

[Des52]

Just a thought I had awhile back, but reading another thread it looks like it could be done after all...I have a cabelas Investarm .54 lefty and would like both a smaller (.45) and perhaps a smothbore (.69?). Can it be done? seems that it shouldn't be to hard to just swap out the barrel with the only issue I could see would be size of the barrel in the stock.

I have a Traditions Frontier kit that came with a .36 and a .50 cal barrels. It's a handy little smoke pole. It likes both prb and TC maxis in both barrels. Bought a .36 maxi mold from a member here just for this gun.

 

[Grimord]

I had a T/C Renegade that I had barrels in .32, .36. .45, .50, .54, .56 smooth, and .58 that i could switch out as the need arose. Very versatile, and economical.

 

[boker]

I have a Lyman GPH , ITS 54 cal percussion, be cool to have smooth barrel to switch out on it.

 

[coredneck]

I am looking at this one and they have it in .50 as well, would it be as simple as getting them to sell a Xtra barrel ?