anybody buy a gonic blackpowder barrel?

[MUTTLY]

hows it shoot? Did it work out of the box? What load have you settled on?

[Dragon31]

I've got a .45 cal, 16 inch barrel for the Contender.  I still have not shot it.

[bigbore442001]

I had a 16" 45 caliber I picked up at a gun show years ago. It was reasonable and came with all the goodies.

It shot well but I sold it. The major issue I have with that barrel was that it was ported and a real SOB to load. I would just about break my wrist loading it. It was such a pain that I decided to unload it at another gun show.

[MUTTLY]

I've got a .45 cal, 16 inch barrel for the Contender.  I still have not shot it.

put it on a frame, put a cap on it and see if it will fire..., I've tried three different frames, still need to call gonic.

[Mayor of Hobbs Knob]

I have an older 15" .50 cal. barrel for the Contender.  Has a nice look and finish about it.  Got it with the composite forend.  Shoots real well but has a very tight bore.  Will not take any sabots I've tried and even a true .50 projectile is a real tight fit.  Fortunately it has the easy start barrel like the T/C muzzle loaders. Understand the old guy who ran Gonic Arms has died and that a son is trying to run the business with limited success. I would like to get a new breech plug just to have one on hand before they fold for good, but have had no luck contacting anyone.  I may just sell it as I really don't use it.  Still, it's a pretty thing (SS), works great with the right bullets, takes the 209 primers, and is probably going to be quite collectable.

[Dragon31]

Muttly:

Like the Mayor, I see the Gonic barrel as being well made and nicely finished (mine is still in the box with the original papers) and some day I will take it out and shoot it.  It just has not been a priority. I have five Contender frames and all have what I consider permanent barrels: .357 Max, 7 30 Waters, 30 30 Win, .44 mag, .357 mag.  I keep telling myself, "self you need to buy a G-2"  Self has not been listen to carefully.  The only Muzzle loader I have been using is the Savage.  It has really spoiled me.  I got my Gonic barrel when I wanted a frame and I had to take it to get the frame.  I think at 16 inchs I can put a rifle stock on it, which is what I may do.

[MUTTLY]

Still looking for someone who actually shoots a gonic BP barrel, mine will not ignite the primer, tried different frames ect, but no luck. Any 'smiths on the site want to tackle it? I had heard of others having this problem, thinking I need to back out the breech plug until I get ignition, the make my own breech plug that is the correct length, don't have a clue as to what steel to make a breech plug out of, any thoughts?

[bigbore442001]

I owned a 16" 45 caliber barrel with a muzzle brake a few years back. I sold it due to the fact that I needed the strength of King Kong to load the conical bullets down through the brake part of the muzzle. It seems that the holes in the ports caused it to be very hard to load.

I finally sold it due to that problem.

[billjoe]

Muttly- I shoot my 16" Gonic barrel using 10mm bullets inside a sabot.  They load very nicely.  I'm still working on getting the groups tightened up.  Right now I'm at 4-6" at 60 yds.  Not quite what I want from what is supposed to be a super accurate barrel.  My T/C Hawken will do 4" at a 100 yrds easily.  Finding someone who actually shoots these barrels seems to be few and far between.  When I get this load worked up, It'll be a sweet gun.  I'm using the barrel as a rifle.  Very light and should be a blast to hunt with.  And the kick is very mild shooting 90 gr Pyrodex RS.

I bought a spare breech plug for mine just a few weeks ago for $13.  Don't have the address at this second, but if you want a contact, PM me.  

bj

[jjvw]

I have an unported 45 cal 16 '' I got 15 years ago. It shoots a lot better than my 209 encore rifle. I'm using a Buffalo 365 gr bullet with 80-100 pyrodex pistol powder. It chrony'd over 1300 fps. It flips the 200 meter rams. The furtherest game was a whitetail at 160 yds dropped in its tracks. I have some 40 cal sabots I bought on sale but never tried them.

[billjoe]

Buffalo 365 gr bullet - are you using these in a sabot?  What's the diameter of them?

bj

[jjvw]

Sorry it took so long to respond. we're on vacation and can only use free hotspots. The buffalos are hp bullets no sabot. there wernt many 45 cal sabots when I got this barrel. I don't remember the size. I can check when we get home next week.

[MUTTLY]

OK, I finally dropped this gun off at the gunsmith's about a month ago, he said it just needed to be fitted.- (?)

I started this project with the thought of my 12 year old deer hunting with this gun, as in my area it is shotgun or muzzle loader only.

Hornady 200 grain .40 cal sabots and 90 gr. of pyrodex seems to work quite well, my son is shooting 3.5 inch groups at 100 yd. off sand bags, we'll see how he does with a little buck fever thrown in. Haven't shot over the crony yet....

I have an assortment of other bullets to try, from 180 grain knight sabots thru 300+ grain lead conicals.

[MUTTLY]

So Michigan has an early youth hunt, and the gonic barrel worked great.



Hornady 200gr. sabot over 90 gr loose pyrodex, shot was at 95 yards, the deer was quartering away, my son did a great job hit was high in the lungs, deer spun aroud and ran about 40 feet. It was down before the smoke cleared.

[Davemuzz]

 ;DCongrats!!!  I love to see the younger kids get involved in hunting....and I think it's great when they have a sucessful day!