shorting a barrel

[dave n]

Let me explain what I'm wondering about .
I have a tc renegade and a tc hawken .
I love the way the renegade carries and handles . I don't like the way it shoots . Three inch 50 yd groups .
The Hawken , I don't like the way it carries or handles but it will shoot 50 yd clover leafs all day long .
So my question is , will I loose the accuracy from the Hawken barrel if I cut it down to 26 inches . I'd like to put it in my renegade stock .
Thanks for your replies . Dave N

 

[ncmtmike]

Now I am not that knowledgeable :hmm: But I think if you shorten the Hawken barrel you will lose some of the rifling twist? I cut down a GPR from 32" to 21" made a "canoe" and it didn't really affect accuracy out to 25 yds,but I don't have a reason to shoot out to 50 :wink:

 

[flahipneck]

IIRC a lot of Hawkens have 15/16" barrels while the Renegades are 1"

 

[necchi]

Well first off ya wanna check the width. Most Hawken the barrel is 15/16 from one side to the other (across the flats) and all Renegade are 1".
They did make some Hawken with 1" barrels.

If you do swap, there is no need to shorten the barrel.
I believe the only thing that needs cut is about a 1/4" off the bottom rail. The rest is drop in, leave the barrel long, :idunno:

The 15/16 will fit in the 1" channel, but you hafta take care to make it fit snuggly or it can shift around (move) with each shot and point of aim will change. There are/can be several ways to do this with either shims on each side or silicon, or,,???
It get's hinky near the breech an hook area because the breech actually fit's over the lock plate and you need that area just right.
It's a custom "rigging" job but it can be done.

 

[M. De Land]

Sounds like a good place to use glass bedding to me. :grin:
If it were me I would plug gauge the bore and find out where any tight spots are.
If your going to shorten it you want the muzzle to be the tightest spot if possible.
Then lapping comes into play as it is possible to profile a bore in a taper or choke from hand lapping. Mike D.

 

[dave n]

It's a 1" barrel . I just like the 26" renegade length . My worry is loosing accuracy if I cut 2" off the Hawken barrel .

 

[Zonie]

If you cut off the muzzle perfectly square with the bore and you reform a new lead in (crown) that is centered with the bore and equal all the way around, the accuracy will be unchanged.
Also, while forming the crown, all of the sharp edges must be rounded off so it won't cut patches when they are loaded.

If the cut is at an angle to the bore or the crown is uneven the accuracy will suffer.

Don't forget, if you cut off the muzzle you will also have to cut the dovetail for the front sight and install it correctly.

 

[galamb]

It shouldn't make much of an accuracy difference with regards to the barrel itself - if it shoots fine now, with 2" nipped off it should still shoot well afterwards.

What will change - your sight plane will be a little shorter. You will lose some velocity, maybe not much (25 fps) but sometimes the "step" goes all funky. So be prepared to "possibly" have to work up a new load.

If you have a "good" gunsmith local to you familiar with black powder, you may want to consider having them cut/crown the muzzle - it's usually fairly reasonable.

I have cut and crowned a couple barrels myself - not rocket science, just requires some patience. If I could get it done for 25/30 bucks locally, I wouldn't bother doing it myself.

 

[Artificer]

If you cut off the muzzle perfectly square with the bore and you reform a new lead in (crown) that is centered with the bore and equal all the way around, the accuracy will be unchanged.

Also, while forming the crown, all of the sharp edges must be rounded off so it won't cut patches when they are loaded.

If the cut is at an angle to the bore or the crown is uneven the accuracy will suffer.

GREAT points!

It is possible when a bore is correctly shortened this rather small amount, as Zonie explained, it MAY even be a bit more accurate than it was before - though this depends on muzzle wear and how accurately the muzzle was faced and chamfered/coned originally.

Don't forget, if you cut off the muzzle you will also have to cut the dovetail for the front sight and install it correctly.

The front sight MAY also need a little filed off the top to get you back to your old zero, though maybe not. It is just something one has to shoot the rifle and see if and how elevation is changed, though it won't be a whole lot if it does change - as long as the new dovetail cut is the same depth as the old one.

Gus

 

[dave n]

Thanks guys . I was leaning towards no loss in accuracy but I thought it would be a good idea to run it by others with knowledge .
I do have a very competent gunsmith I've used Iin the past .
I think I'm gonna pull the trigger on this project . It'll also step me up from a 50 to a 54 , more whompability(stole that phrase) :grin:

 

[necchi]

You could just go with a shortening barrel,

 

[dave n]

that was bad but you did get a chuckle out of me .

 

[coloradoclyde]

:rotf: :rotf: :rotf: :rotf: :rotf: :rotf: :rotf: :rotf: :rotf: :rotf: :rotf:

 

[Ken Cormier]

Made me giggle like a little girl.

 

[wvbuckbuster]

Now that's funny :rotf: Dan.

 

[Col. Batguano]

:hatsoff: :rotf: :grin: :shocked2: :haha: :wink: