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Offline Silvertp

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Rebarrel rifle?
« on: October 31, 2011, 08:22:59 AM »
I shoot a 50 cal. Browning Mtn Rifle.  It is made for shooting balls with a 1:60 twist.  Ive taken elk and white-tail with it. 

I'd like to move up to at least a .54 for my elk hunting and am leaning toward shooting a conical bullet.  For an elk and bigger game is .54 where I need to be?

Can I have a .54 cal. barrel screwed onto a breech plug and fitted to my Browning such that I only need to change barrels depending on what I want to shoot / hunt? 

Who makes a good barrel and what twist would you recommend?  Is the breech plug / barrel fitment critical for accuracy?  Any good Smith Recommendations?

Silvertp
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Offline Rock Home Isle

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Re: Rebarrel rifle?
« Reply #1 on: October 31, 2011, 09:43:25 AM »
I remember the Browning Mountain Rifles, they were a very well made firearm of very fine quality. You are very lucky to own such a fine quality replica of blackpowder history. But inorder to accurately answer your questions and offer consistant advice there is some information that I need about your firearm.What are the dimensions of your barrel?
 
For example: My CVA Mountain Rifle is 15/16 across the flats and has a barrel length of 32 inches. The barrel is a hooked breach and if I were to replace the barrel I would need a replacement barrel of the same dimensions in the new calibre desired and possessing a hooked breach. So when I buy my replacement barrel, I would then need to install the hooked breach plug into the new barrel, or ask and make sure that the breach plug is installed at the company that I bought the replacement barrel. Then upon recieving the new barrel I'll need to drill and tap the barrel for a Percussion Drum or a Touch Hole, depending on whether my firearm were percussion or flint. Next is to install sights, followed with tennons to hold the barrel to the stock, and finally I would brown the barrel....because I like the look and feel of a browned barrel. Once all this is done, I could swap barrels/calibres  whenever I wanted.
 
If I am very fortunate I could find an aftermarket manufacturer that sells drop in replacements....But I know of none for the Browning Mountain Rifle.

 
Your choice of a .54 calibre for elk hunting is a good solid choice. I've taken many elk with a .50 calibre, but when I started hunting with a .54 calibre, I found very quickly that the .54 calibre possessed much more terminal energy and shooting a conical bullet just made things even better. Being limited to open sites here in Colorado, I limited my shots to less than 100 yards. It defeinately put the hunt back into hunting...  8)
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“Lost?? Hmmm... been fearsome confused for a month or two, but I ain't never been lost!”
Henry Frap the "Mountain Men"

“Ain't this somethin'? I told my pap and mam I was going to be a mountain man; acted like they was gut-shot. Mother Gue said to me; ‘Make your life go here, son. Here's where the people is. Them mountains is for Indians and wild men.’  "Mother Gue", I says "the Rocky Mountains is the marrow of the world," and by God, I was right. Keep your nose in the wind and your eye along the skyline.”
Del Gue in "Jeremiah Johnson"

Offline Winter Hawk

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Re: Rebarrel rifle?
« Reply #2 on: October 31, 2011, 04:05:18 PM »
Check out Track of the Wolf.  They will put together a barrel with breechplug, underlugs, sights, ramrod thimbles etc.  Give them a call and see what they can do for you.

-WH-
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Offline Silvertp

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Re: Rebarrel rifle?
« Reply #3 on: November 01, 2011, 03:43:08 AM »
Rock Home...thanks for the comprehensive reply.  I see I left out some critical accessories like sights, drilling for percussion drum, thimbles.  I  see how the price for a "complete barrel" would start adding adding up.  I like the idea of buying a quality bbl and skilled smithing that would give the best in accuracy, fully knowing that I would be the weak-link in closing the deal on an elk. 

Price wise I could probably pick up a used .54 but then I wouldn't know what I had.  (not had the best of luck finding used rifles that meet my accuracy expectations) 

Winter Hawk... as you recommend, I did find the Track of the Wolf website...lots of good info.  I'm thinking about building one of their "kit" rifles but my budget sez I should talk to them about fitting a new barrel. 

Cheers!
Silvertp

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Offline Rock Home Isle

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Re: Rebarrel rifle?
« Reply #4 on: November 01, 2011, 03:44:37 AM »
Here's the link to Track of the Wolf
 
http://www.trackofthewolf.com/Index.aspx
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“Lost?? Hmmm... been fearsome confused for a month or two, but I ain't never been lost!”
Henry Frap the "Mountain Men"

“Ain't this somethin'? I told my pap and mam I was going to be a mountain man; acted like they was gut-shot. Mother Gue said to me; ‘Make your life go here, son. Here's where the people is. Them mountains is for Indians and wild men.’  "Mother Gue", I says "the Rocky Mountains is the marrow of the world," and by God, I was right. Keep your nose in the wind and your eye along the skyline.”
Del Gue in "Jeremiah Johnson"

Offline coyotejoe

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Re: Rebarrel rifle?
« Reply #5 on: November 05, 2011, 12:09:36 PM »
Rebarreling a muzzleloader is not rocket science, I've done dozens with basic hand tools. However I have no idea what the Browning breechplug is like, that could be a sticking point.
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Offline Winter Hawk

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Re: Rebarrel rifle?
« Reply #6 on: November 08, 2011, 02:49:36 PM »
Have you tried Lee's R.E.A.L. bullets in your Browning?  I had a T-C Pennsylvania Hunter in .50, flintlock, 1-66 twist and it would put 5 of them into 4" at 100 yards.  I don't remember what they weighed, but around 325 grains pops up in my mind....

Sure wish I still had that rifle.  But I was living in Alaska at the time and thought I needed to go to .54 and traded it off.  Dummy!

-WH-
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Offline Silvertp

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Re: Rebarrel rifle?
« Reply #7 on: November 08, 2011, 05:55:25 PM »
Coyote Joe...
the back of the breech plug looks like a Capitol "L".  I have to put the rear of the barrel in at about 45 degrees to hook it.


Winter Hawk
Its been 20+ years since I tried conical bullets.  I can't remember what type they were, but I am sure they were not Lee REAL bullets.  The ones I tried were passing through the target leaving oblong holes.  Being a novice I just figured the rifling was too slow to stabilize the conicals so was happy with shooting round balls because at that time deer were the largest game I hunted with the front stuffer.

Is it likely that a different conical...like the Lee R.E.A.L could be stabilized?   Appears that is the case in your rifle.  If so I'll have to give them a try. 

Silvertp

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Offline coyotejoe

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Re: Rebarrel rifle?
« Reply #8 on: November 21, 2011, 06:13:59 AM »
Unfortunately there is a lot more to the breechplug issue than just the hook on the end. The bolster into which the nipple screws must be of the same size, shape and location as your original barrel so that it will fit up properly with the lock plate, in other words, the whole breechplug must be an exact duplicate of the original. The Thompson/Center rifles and the Italian made clones of the T/C are so common that a manufacturer has found it worthwhile to produce replacement breechplugs and even complete "drop-in" barrels for those rifles. The Browning just never sold that well and they've been off the market for 30 or 40 years now so I very much doubt you'll find anything ready made to fit. Your easiest route to a .54 caliber would be to get your original barrel rebored, Ed Rayl can do a good job but I don't know what his backlog may be like. If going to .54 caliber I'd stay with the round ball, it is certainly adequate. I personally don't care for conicals as large as .54 caliber, I may be more recoil sensetive than some but when you touch off 100+ grains of powder behind 400+ grains of lead that crescent steel buttplate will definitely speak to you.
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The story of David & Goliath only demonstrates the superiority of ballistic projectiles over hand weapons, poor old Goliath never had a chance.

Offline Winter Hawk

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Re: Rebarrel rifle?
« Reply #9 on: November 21, 2011, 03:39:59 PM »
The suggestion of R.E.A.L. bullets was in lieu of getting a .54 barrel. 

It's been a while since I last looked at this thread, my apologies for not getting back on this sooner.  The R.E.A.L. slugs are solid no skirt to deform and fairly short.  I believe that is why they stabilize in a round ball twist barrel.

-WH-
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"All you need for happiness is a good gun, a good horse and a good wife." - D. Boone
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