short barrels

[Runner]

How short is acceptable in a plains style gun?

 

[rich pierce]

Whatever you like- but halfstock originals were more often closer to 36" than 30", and were heavy, 1" or more across the flats at the breech. The CVA and TC rifles that first came out as plains rifles were meant to appeal to guys who were used to rifles and shotguns that were under 8 pounds, often under 7 pounds. Mighty handy guns they are, too.

 

[Runner]

Thanks. Still trying to figure parts to make this first parts/practice rifle as good as I can. There is a 28 inch 62 on Ebay right now. That is CVA/TC Hawken barrel length, but it is shorter than I would like. It may go cheap enough to make it attractive. I would prefer a 36 or 38 inch barrel in 58, but don't want to spend a lot on this first learning attempt.

 

[Russ T Frizzen]

My S. Hawken has a 34" barrel, and would lose a lot of its grace if it were shorter.
A couple of us bought some of these used barrels at one of the on-line auctions , and when we got around to using them, they were all bored off center. Visions of a cheap gun evaporated instantly. There is usually a very good reason why these barrels are up for auction, and you have to be careful. With Track and others selling quality barrels for low prices, I don't believe I'll ever buy another auction barrel.

 

[TANSTAAFL]

My S. Hawken has a 34" barrel, and would lose a lot of its grace if it were shorter.
A couple of us bought some of these used barrels at one of the on-line auctions , and when we got around to using them, they were all bored off center. Visions of a cheap gun evaporated instantly. There is usually a very good reason why these barrels are up for auction, and you have to be careful. With Track and others selling quality barrels for low prices, I don't believe I'll ever buy another auction barrel.

Off center to me is no big deal. I have seen very few of the old Douglas standard barrels that were "not" off center, from a little, to a lot.

Most of the older barrels were made using solid octagon stock and were drilled as close to center as possible. Just make sure the off center is at the breech, or, up or down at the muzzle. If off to one side at the muzzle, it can make for some rather extreme looking sight adjustments.

 

[BS]

Thanks. Still trying to figure parts to make this first parts/practice rifle as good as I can. There is a 28 inch 62 on Ebay right now. That is CVA/TC Hawken barrel length, but it is shorter than I would like. It may go cheap enough to make it attractive. I would prefer a 36 or 38 inch barrel in 58, but don't want to spend a lot on this first learning attempt.

If I really planned on buying an item off E=Bay, would I tell the world where to find it? I don't think so. :m2c:

Must be you are not really serious about buying it.

I have an underhammer with a short 62 cal barrel. It balances nicely, but looks short......no big deal, it's only a underhammer.

I would think a 28" 62 is sort of a misfit for a traditional rifle, but a great hunting lenght.

Do I need another 62? naw, but I can hear a .69 calling.

Good Luck,
No-BS

 

[Runner]

At 28 inches, I don't know if I was or am serious about buying it. It is from the Scott barrel company in Oklahoma. I have no info on them other than the Ebay items for sale. So far they look pretty good in the pictures, but they might be junk. So yeah, I did tell the whole world about it. I emailed the person and asked for more info on their barrels. I was told send a SASE for a list. There is a 54 pistol barrel, an octagon to round 12 guage 44 incher, and a 28 guage octagon to round from them listed also. Only the 12 guage and the 62 appeal to me, and the 12 isn't going cheap it seems. It jumped to 95 bucks the first day and has been holding since.

Years back when I started into this hobby and was reading everything that was available, the first thing they told you about building a rifle was this. Push a piece of dowel into the bore that is a pretty close fit and that is long enough to stick out of the end about 2 feet or so. Rotate the barrel until you find the flat where the dowel sits the highest and closest to aligned with the bore. Mark that flat. The two foot extension will tell you how bad the alignment is off and whether or not it is in more than one direction enough to make the barrel junk. It was expected that the barrel be off perfect center at least a little on every gun you built. There are junk barrels that are way off center, but none of them was expected to be perfect. Today's method of boring a bar and then grinding the flats afterward has pretty much eliminated that problem, but I can't believe that all of the books don't still include those instructions.

I got stupid and the call of the wild wild got in the way for a number of years, so I never did build that rifle I planned on. Since I waited this long, I learned not to start with the good wood and the 700$ parts kit for the learning attempt! This is hands on practice gun. Some things are acceptable on it that otherwise would not be because of that.

THanks for the help guys!

 

[Russ T Frizzen]

What I should have said is the barrels were bored on an angle to the long axis of the barrel. They were way off center at both ends, but not to the same side of the barrel. There are ways to deal with this, but if they didn't take the time to properly bore the barrel, I wasn't interested in using it. I cut it in half and made a pair if table lamps from the pieces. I blued them up and used some maple scraps and they looked great. I used to get a kick out of my wife's gun hating friends saying how unique and attractive they were. She got them in the divorce and I suppose there is some irony in that. She was a gun hater, too.

 

[Runner]

This barrel is new from the manufacturer. I emailed him and asked if he has a longer 62. I understood about the warning. There is a 54 CVA on Ebay right now that has the breech plug out but the drum is still in place. Guy said all it needs is to have the breechplug screwed back in!