New Englander With poor bore

[vintovka]

I have a New Englander .50 that is really as new outside but has a pitted bore. I believe it was taken from box, fired once or twice, and put back in box uncleaned. The bore is uniformly pitted but still shoots things like maxi-balls relatively well. Will shoot patched balls but accuracy is poor. Sold to me as "like new in box" and has been a real irritant to point its been sitting n safe for over a decade. I would like to either a) have it reamed/rifled to .54, b) replace with a new TC .54 barrel (or better yet a 12 Guage) or c) bore the .50 to 20 gauge shotgun. Advice requested.

 

[Kansas Jake]

Send it to Bobby Hoyt and have him fix it. He may be able to clean it up or have it rebored to what you want.

 

[Okie Hog]

Sold to me as "like new in box" and has been a real irritant to point its been sitting n safe for over a decade.

i bought a .54 New Englander barrel that was supposed to be "shiny": Thing was badly rusted and pitted, Shipped it to Bobby Hoyt, who turned it into a .58 with rounded groove rifling. That barrel is very accurate with patched round balls.

 

[nhmoose]

Robert Hoyt
Barrel repair
Freischutz Shop,
2379 Mt. Hope Road., Fairfield, Pa. 17320.
phone # 717-642-6696

 

[vintovka]

i bought a .54 New Englander barrel that was supposed to be "shiny": Thing was badly rusted and pitted, Shipped it to Bobby Hoyt, who turned it into a .58 with rounded groove rifling. That barrel is very accurate with patched round balls.

cost?

 

[bpd303]

Best to give Bobby a call for estimate. If he is in the shop working he will not hear the phone so let it ring a while. Have you tried fire lapping the barrel?

 

[Okie Hog]

cost?

Mine cost about $125 plus shipping.

Best to call Mr. Hoyt early in the morning, like 8a.m. EST.

Yeah, sometimes after spending hours on a ruined it may shoot OK. But the pits are still there and the bore will easily rust and will be hard to clean. Best have the barrel re-bored.

 

[Greg Blackburn]

Cost will be very little. I had been outright lied to by a seller on Gunbroker. However, Mr. Hoyt was able to clean it up and it's still a .54. Give the man a call, send him your rifle, be happy.

In a throwaway world, there is satisfaction whenever something can be repaired.

 

[sussexmuzllodr]

He recut my T/C Hawken .10 deep. Shoots great

 

[mooman76]

Try shooting it and see. Some people have stated even a pitted bore sometimes shoot surprisingly well. I'd polish the bore abit first to help with any roughness.

 

[Dixieshedhunter]

Hoyt rebore! Read my Tree Hawk thread above. It was affordable.

Pete Davis

 

[vintovka]

Thanks for all the good suggestions!! Absolutely not sure what to do with it at this point. I'm out $275+ ship (1999 dollars) on it so far and adding another $200+ into it gives me pause. Thinking of parting it out as it looks externally new. Would add disclaimer on the barrel with pics so not to pass the PITA on. I have several other MLs so its not critical to me to have this one fixed altho it looks so nice on the wall.

 

[TheSpamPotential]

I have the same situation with a .50 caliber TC New Englander.
Mine is a lefty, as am I. I bought it for $30 from a local pawn shop.
It had Pyrodex fouling in the barrel. I cleaned it all out.
I only bought it because I got it cheap, since I saw the pitting in the shop.
I've given serious consideration to reaming it out to 20 gauge.
A rifled 20 gauge would be interesting, too. I could use the same round balls that I use in my Pedersoli Howdah.
Although, getting it reamed and re-rifled in .58 cal wouldn't hurt my feelings, either.

 

[SmokepoleSam]

A 20ga is .62cal, I don't think anyone would ream a .50cal that large. A .58cal would be a 24ga, in a 1"barrel it might be doable.

 

[vintovka]

A lefty for $30 is quite a deal. I shoot ML trap with a 28" Dbl 12. Afraid a shorter barrel would not deliver what i need and would be a only a cyl bore if the New Englander .50 was reamed straight. An original 12G New englander bbl would be best but just a dream. Starting to miss my 20 g that fit my .50 TC HAwken. Was a rare Sharon barrel kit i sold long ago. 28" mod IIRC and used plastic wads and milk carton overwads. Was bane of pheasants before they all died off in California (like the state is doing now).

A 20ga is .62cal, I don't think anyone would ream a .50cal that large. A .58cal would be a 24ga, in a 1"barrel it might be doable.

The 20 gauge barrel mentioned was 15/16 AF to ramrod rib and round forward (iirc)
Does seem a bit thin. Really think you need at least 1" to safely accommodate breesh threads

 

[bang]

I reworked 2 barrels myself. If you are interested I'll pm you how I did it.

 

[Okie Hog]

The New Englander barrel tapers from 1 1/16 at the breech to 15/16 at the muzzle. .58 caliber is easily doable.

 

[TheSpamPotential]

I reworked 2 barrels myself. If you are interested I'll pm you how I did it.

PM sent.

 

[vintovka]

Never got the PM am interested as i have the machinery to do it.

 

[nkbj]

And, if you should happen to have an unusual size ball mold that you want to cast with, a rebore to smooth bore or rifled can accommodate that.