I'm Really Sick!!!
 

Was a the range on Friday and was shooting my beloved Hawken's Carbine .54 cal. I was working on coming up with a good conical bullet to ease the cost of shooting Barnes sabots. They are the only thing that this barrel shoots great.

So anyway, about have way through my fun time I notice that the barrel is really dirty or something about 6 or 7" down from the crown. So this is what I was shooting: Lee Molded Mini-balls, TC Maxi Hunters, Buffalo Bullets (460 gr) R.E.A.L bullets and even tried a couple of White bullets. I used a fiber wad on the R.E.A.L and White bullets. Rifle seemed to shoot fine and no problems. Neve once did I remember anything out of the ordinary. Each load was rammed all the way down the barrel and I didn't load the gun and talk at the same time. I went to the range because I knew it would be a very quiet day with not too many guys bothering me to shoot the schmidt.

Well I am getting a ling winded. I get betsy home and start to clean her. I notice that when I move the ramrod down the barrel there is a voided area about 6 inches from the crown. I inspect the barrel a little more thoroughly and realize that the barrel has a bulge in that area! I am sick. I love this gun.

Any thoughts guys. What the hell did I do wrong. I have been shooting BP guns for years and never had this happen before. I will have to replace the barrel, but I don't want to have this happen again. I got to know how it happened.

HELP!!!

That is a shame. Hard to say what happened. Unless there was a flaw in the barrel. is the bulge obvious on the outside? You can send the barrel out to a gunsmith I recommend to have the barrel sleeved and rifled to any twist rate you want. He may be able to mill off the bulge on the outside refinish the outside too.
Drop me a PM and I will give you his name and number so you can call him and discuss your issue.

I took some photos:






I looks worse then the photos show. And you can definitely see the bulge from inside the barrel. Not sure if you can see the bulge, but the bulge runs a little over an inch long. Very pronounced!

I went to the Green Mountain website and they didn't have my barrel. They did have a .50 cal barrel in carbine length (21"). I did write them an email and will see what they say. That .50 barrel was only $149.95. A great price, but I have a .50 cal barrel already.

I looks worse then the photos show. And you can definitely see the bulge from inside the barrel. Not sure if you can see the bulge, but the bulge runs a little over an inch long. Very pronounced!

I went to the Green Mountain website and they didn't have my barrel. They did have a .50 cal barrel in carbine length (21"). I did write them an email and will see what they say. That .50 barrel was only $149.95. A great price, but I have a .50 cal barrel already.[/QUOTE]

I think they stopped making .54 caliber barrels for some stupid reason. If that is true, we should try to do something to get them to NOT stop making them. Who else makes a long, .54 caliber, slow twist round ball barrel?

First Thompson Center stops carrying the .54 caliber barrel and now Green Mountain stops making them? What's that all about?

By the way, sorry about the barrel. If that's a Thompson Center rifle that came from the factory with that barrel on it, I don't believe Thompson center will replace it with another .54 caliber barrel. They will probably send you a .50 caliber barrel instead.And that's a shame.

It is an InvestArms rifle. And trying to work with the importers is a joke. I might get a response from Lyman. They get their guns from InvestArms. I will check it out!

OH NO!!!!!

Not the 1-24 twist 54cal. Those are so unique, finding the same barrel will be a major pain.

Bummer for sure. If you put a straight edge along the outside of the barrel you should be able to detect it readily. Maybe a rebore to .58?

The one and only!!!

As far as the .58 goes, I got one in the form of a TC Big Boer. I'm screwed. :confused0024:

Sent you a PM

Thanks pal, I got it. sounds like a good idea. Seeing how I can't find a barrel for the gun.

I have one of those barrels sitting in a gun safe. I could be talked out of it. Ron

I would have another range session with it before doing anything drastic. It's possible that it will shoot just fine.

This is one of my hunting guns and that is why I am double sick. The primary bullet I shoot is the Barnes MZ sabot. I am thinking of taking her to the range and checking it out with the sabot. If she shoots as good as she used to, I may do just that and keep her as is. However still waiting to hear back from old Idahoron on that barrel. But no matter what, I will keep all posted on the results!!!

:sheep:

NEWS FLASH!!!

While over on a primitive gun forum the boys over there may have given me an answer to how the barrel got bulged. It turns out I may have used my starter to get the bullet down the barrel and then forgot to ram it home.

I got the starter out and lined it up and sure enough, it matches the bulge. At least I know now how. But it doesn't make it feel any better. Somehow I got interrupted during my loading process and didn't finish the job!

Am I just stupid or just getting old????? :confused0024: :bash:

It happens. I've done it myself with my .54 Great Plains flinter and a patched ball. The shot sounded kind of funny and I knew immediately what I'd done. Fortunately there was no harm to the barrel.

I have done it only once too, but luckily I was shooting BH 209 (progressive so needs compression to go bang), so all it did was go pop and push the bullet about 6 ft out of the barrel. Was I lucky

Lucky it didn't blow up on you.

I did the same thing once using BH209 and i was also very lucky. I knew as soon as it fired what i had done.

rafsob

I sure hope Ron can help you out. That is my favorite mass production sidelock and would hate to see its life end so early.

BTW have you ever tried 54x50 sabots? Ive got a bunch and 50cal bullets upto 385gr you can try out. Ive got some cheap 50cal 325gr and 335gr HPs that should be awesome in that gun. They dont even need more than 1500fps to perform properly and they are "bonded".

I don't konw how you did it. But if you just pushed the bullet down that far and then no more, then you shot it, and the barrel bulged?? The recoil would have been horrendous. You definitely would have noticed the difference the second you touched off the shot.

Be careful with that. If it bulged then it is definitely weakened. No way I would shoot it again. Especially an import.

I do not wish to question the experts. But I can't see how BP coud have that much pressure to do that?? Especially with a conical?? That far down the barrel?? I bet there was a problem there to start with. And doing that just exacerbated it. Tom.

Got to disagree with you there HEAD. Recoil from a short start is less than a normal load. If the projectile exits the barrel the shot usually sounds a little funny with less report than normal. (Personal experience.) And BP can not only bulge a barrel, but split it as well.

You may be right Tom. I was using Goex 2F and was using 60 to 85 grs during my shooting session. I did think of calling customer service for Cabalas and see what they could do for me.

I am a little concerned about the idea of the barrel being weakened. But it is a very thick walled barrel and I think that is what may have helped me not get hurt.

Thought I would throw this out there real quick. I called Cabalas and they are going to see if they can do a special order from Investarms and will call me back in a few days. So this looks like I may be in business, but will not keep my hopes too high. Will keep all appraised on this situation.

If this works I will be surprised and grateful. :barmy:

If you are saying there is less recoil then there must be less pressure??. And with less pressure, how could the barrel have bulged?? The only way the barrel could have bulged is with a pressure spike. And a pressure spike gives considerable recoil. I have experience with pressure spikes.

Are you saying the barrel bulged with lower pressure?? I don't see how that is possible??

But if it is possible then I definitely would never shoot that barrel again.

There is definitely something wrong. And IMO safety is always JOB 1. And really there is only one job-and that is safety.

We are talking about a $200 barrel. Not nearly enough for me to risk an accident with. Regardless of how well it shoots. Just an opinion. Tom.

I have never had this happen to me but I have talked to people who have shot a short started load and buldged a barrel. They did not get a bigger recoil but the main thing they said was that it sounded funny. Then they noticed the buldge when loading their next load.
I know its second hand information but its all I have.

My first thought when I saw this was a short start but the first post kinda excluded that...I've never seen such a long, short starter... :)

Hopefully Cabelas will come through for you...

Newton say the amount of recoil is determined by the amount of mass leaving the barrel, and the speed at which it leaves.

Newton say the amount of recoil is determined by the amount of mass leaving the barrel, and the speed at which it leaves.

Pressure isn't part of the equation.

The short started bullet will have less speed, because it has less time, less distance, being pushed. Same mass, less speed; less recoil.

Physics say recoil will be less, when bullet is short started.

I am on vacation this week sorry for the slow reply. I sent you a PM. In short I will send the barrel for you to try out. Ron

Cabalas called back and told me what I thought they would. They can't help me, because the company is in Italy. This pisses me off! Why sell a gun they can't service in anyway!!! They should be upfront with customers on this issue. Did have an issue with a head light that was made in China. It was still under warranty. They ended up giving a new light. Now that the Hawkens is not under warranty anymore, I am Schmidt out of luck!!!

Now I am back to plan whatever!!! :confused0024: