Barrel woes

[marlinman93]

A number of years ago I was offered a set trigger Remington Hepburn for a very cheap price. So cheap my conscience wouldn't allow me to buy it, and I offered the seller 6x what he was asking. He was selling it for a widow next door, and she was thrilled he got so much for it. It did have a big problem, and that was the heavy barrel was chopped to 22" to make it easier to hunt with.
I figured I'd still gotten it cheap enough I could rebarrel it, and began looking for options. I talked with a highly regarded gunsmith and was told he could lengthen it back to 30" by making up an 8" piece of octagon, bore it, and after aligning it with the barrel, tig weld it on, and then polish it down outside, and install a full length liner to make it original looking. I liked this option as it kept all the markings, and retained the original caliber cartridge of .40-70SS. So had him fix the rifle.
Upon getting it back I finished polishing the barrel out, and rust blued it. Set it aside and waited for decent weather to do some load testing. At about the 6th shot or so the case wouldn't extract! I helped it out with a cleaning rod, and examined it to find a bulge on one side of the case! Put it away, and later called the gunsmith. At first he questioned my loads, as I was shooting smokeless. But when I told him the loads, and that they were used in 3-4 Ballard rifles I owned in the same cartridge, he said he'd take a look at it. But he was swamped, so it would need to wait.
Fast forward some years, and the Hepburn was still waiting for him to find time to get to it, and it seemed something always got in the way. So I took it to a local gunsmith friend, who told me he'd try to save it by sleeving the chamber. But when he got deeper into it he found the extension had likely caused the boring for the liner to "walk" off center, and the end to end difference was .012" different! Couldn't be saved, and if he saved it, it likely would never shoot well.
So we ordered a new Green Mountain .40 cal. tapered octagon #4 weight blank, with 1:16" twist, and 35" length. He's going to fit it to the Hepburn, and get dovetails cut for front sight, and forearm lug. Then Give it back to me so I can polish it out, have the factory rollstamps engraved back on it, and the new caliber engraved also. Going with a .40-65 chambering as I have too many .40-70's now, and tons of .40-65 brass and dies.
Hope to get it done around Christmas, or just after, and then I can begin the parts I need to do. Then hope for dry, and warm enough weather to do some load workup!

[Tycer]

A lesson in patience. Looking forward to the range report!

[M. M. Wright]

Too bad the first choice didn't work out marlinman but your fix sounds great. Love me some of them Green Mountain barrels. When I re-barreled my muzzle loader I used a Green Mountain on it. Still shootin' good and it's 20 or so now.

[Griff]

Ah... patience, such a great virtue... but so !@#$%$$%^*%$##%^ bad that we have to have it!!!

[marlinman93]

My friend Gordy is very good at turning work around, so it's just a case of when the barrel arrives from GM. I talked with him this morning to discuss the front sight dovetail. Originals were a very wide .467" wide, and that's the width of the sight on my old barrel. I asked Gordy to go with a 3/8" dovetail on the new barrel as I have a large selection of nice globe sights in the 3/8" and can pick one I like, and has a good aperture selection, plus a spirit level for longer shooting.

[Bill in Oregon]

Call, sorry to hear of your barrel tribulations, but glad you are finally getting it sorted out.
Just this afternoon I took delivery of a Green Mountain #3 weight barrel, 1:17 twist, to be fitted to a Swedish roller and chambered for .44-77.
There is a special satisfaction in having a black powder cartridge rifle built in a 154-year-old chambering in this year of our Lord, almost 2022.

[earlmck]

So we ordered a new Green Mountain .40 cal. tapered octagon #4 weight blank, with 1:16" twist, and 35" length. He's going to fit it to the Hepburn, and get dovetails cut for front sight, and forearm lug.

Just this afternoon I took delivery of a Green Mountain #3 weight barrel, 1:17 twist, to be fitted to a Swedish roller and chambered for .44-77.

Val, Bill -- we're gonna' do the "Oregon Territorial" buffalo shoot at the Millican COSSA range the second weekend of July (7/8, 9, 10). Just in case you get the itch to really challenge those new toys

Plus we'll be doing the regular shoots on the fourth weekends starting with April, where we dedicate Saturdays to the buffalo guns, usually to 1000 yards but occasionally adding in the 1200. And Thursdays (Friday for the "Territorial") is practice time -- steel buffs are all up looking sassy and you can shoot all the ammo you can stand to burn.

[Oldncrusty]

Impatiently waiting to see the finished project.

[2ndovc]

It's frustrating waiting on that call from the "Smith". Mine has a 1885 I dropped off a while ago and still waiting for "the call".

Looking forward to seeing your project!

jb

[Bill in Oregon]

Earl, I recall those steel bufflers at the COSSA range dodging the bullets from my Model 1884 trapdoor, with disturbing regularity!

[marlinman93]

The Hepburn that's getting rebarreled is the 2nd one down from the top in this picture of some of my Remingtons.



That picture was after the original barrel had been lengthened, and I rust blued it and reinstalled it. Hepburn above it is my engraved .45-70 with the long Malcolm style scope. I don't use the scope much anymore as it doesn't have enough elevation to get past 500 yds.

Earl,
I'll try to make it over your way, but not the July weekend. That's our anniversary and not sure I'd make it past 43 years if I was off shooting that weekend!

[Bill in Oregon]

Vall, you will like it over there, and Earl is a swell guy to shoot with. In fact, if you take him to the Tastee Treet in Prineville for burgers and shakes, he might even let you beat him, but not by much.

[marlinman93]

Vall, you will like it over there, and Earl is a swell guy to shoot with. In fact, if you take him to the Tastee Treet in Prineville for burgers and shakes, he might even let you beat him, but not by much.

Do I have to take Earl first? Or will he let me beat him on a promise to take him afterwards?