I am looking to upgrade my TC PA Hunter to a GM fast twist interchangeable barrel and I don't think they come with the QLA; EC or otherwise a recessed muzzle for loading conicals and sabots.

I never had a barrel that didn't have one and was wondering if it was a pain in the butt to load a conical or sabot in a barrel that didn't have one. Anyone care to comment on this? Cayugad; if you read this post; did your GM Carbine come with one on it? I wanted to call GM about whether their drop-in barrels have them but I am working without access to a phone every hour they are open.

No there is no QLA or recessed muzzle, but that does not make loading sabots or conicals anymore difficult. I load them all the time in the rifle. In fact I prefer that they do not have one. All my old Thompson Center Rifles did not have the QLA and I have been loading roundball, conicals, and sabots in them for years. I never saw it as a problem.

Whether they have a barrel to fit your PA Hunter I do not know. If you can get to a phone talk to Kerry. She can answer all your questions and set you up with what you need.

yOU WILL FIND THAT CONICALS WILL SHOOT BETTER WITH A BARRLE THAT DOSE NOT HAVE A QLA SYSTEM
BUT THEY ARE NOT HARDER TO LOAD AT ALL .

Can't say I really find a whole lot of difference in accuracy or loading ease/difficulty.

Me too. Lee

I never saw much use in the QLA, I always thought it was just a waste of barrel. However I can notsee any reason why it would be any less accurate?? I guess you could just consider it as a deeper recessed crown. IMO the crown is considerably more important. Tom.

HEAD0001

I have two GM-LRH barrels that I bought several years ago from GM. They were 32" barrels on sale - so when I got them I took them to my local gun smith to get them cut back to 28." He asked if I wanted a false muzzle for easier loading and alignment. Never heard of it at the time but he showed me several really old ML's that had what he was talking about - so I said go ahead.

Both of those barrels shoot conicals great and my hunting partners newer 54 cal TC Hawkin with a TC-QLA - it shoots conicals just very well, actually I shoud say he shoots it very well, but in the same paragraph I should also say that TC did have a proble with QLA's on some of their inlines.

If the QLA is cut in centered on the bore it will work fine if it is off a little bit it will cause the bullet to drift as if the crown was damaged.

What they are referring to is that many barrels with a QLA will not shoot conicals well. I have a Omega that shoots 3 to 8 inch groups at 25 yards with pure lead conicals. Probably for the reasons that sabotloader mentions.

A QLA section can do NOTHING but detract from accuracy when the rifle is fired. At best the effect is minute.

I have 3 CVA/BPI guns with their eazy load muzzle/QLA system. All 3 shoot sabot's, conicals and even PRB well. Under the right conditions they will hold around 4" groups with heavy conicals at 200 yards, around 3" with sabots at the same distance. I would guess that the centering of the recessed muzzle and possibly the diameter of the cut back may be the key to whether it works well or not. I find that it is easier to get a load started straight in the bore with the QLA since it does not allow much side to side wobble which can damage the base of the bullet and could affect the accuracy.

Another technique you could look into is to have the GM muzzle coned. I saw a 40 cal FL that had this done and you could start a RB with finger pressure. The muzzle looked about the size of a 54 cal but sloped in to 40 within about 3/16". I'm not sure how that would work with a conical though.