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Oregon Barrels was owned my Joe Williams and he'd do any set of specs you want. He died 2 years ago, but I think the business survived and is being run by his old machinists and overseen by his widow Susie. Springfield, Oregon 97477
Phone: (541) 741-4118

Ed Rayl also can do what ever you want. Inside and outside. He's in Gassaway West Va. He has a very deep back-log and some times you'll need to wait for a while, but his barrels are always good. 304-364-8269.

Remember to tell them you want grooves wider then lands. The geometry is far more important then the twist of the rifling for any bullet that's not very long. Twist starts to become more important when a bullet is about 2.5 to 4.5 times longer then it is wide. In other words on a 62 cal gun your bullets will necessitate a tighter twist when they are 2" to 3" long. Such a bullet would be 1200 to 2300 grains. (that may kick some....don't-cha think) A .600-.620 bullet of about 1100 grains and moving at 2000 FPS would be best served with a 1-22" twist. But a 600 Nitro Express shoots "only" a 900 grain bullet at "only" 1900 FPS, so that will give you an idea of what the recoil would be like.

The bullet you show has no such problems inherent to it's use.

That bullet going anywhere from 800 to 1800 FPS is going to be very effective and with a 1-38 twist should shoot quite well at any practical range. My guess is that it will weigh in the 340 to 385 grain range. 1-38" is a bit of "over-twist" for it at 1400 FPS and higher, but when going under 1200 FPS it would be quite easy on the shoulder and still very deadly. So the idea of a bit faster twist then needed is to have the ability to shoot it at 45 ACP speeds with excellent accuracy and still be able to load it up to be a "moose flattener' when needed, with no loss of that accuracy.

I have been hunting and killing game from deer to buffalo and moose with a 62 cal flintlock since 1994 and I use a cast round ball shot at $1700 FPS and so far I have never recovered a ball from any animal except the buffalo, and even that one went from mid body to the skin on the neck of the other side. Such large projectiles work very well on game. Even my moose had a wound that went clear through and exited.

As a side note; does anyone out there want to own a 66 cal (16 bore) Rigby style rifle? I made this one for a man several years ago and his health has failed enough that he needs to sell his hunting rifles. It comes with a ball mold and has been very accurate. It is rifles in Forsyth style and has a slow twist so it's not made to shoot light loads. The sights were set to give a 75 yard zero (as I recall) and the load is 165 grains of 3f if memory serves. He's asking $3400. If interested let me know.

Tm 16 bore with peep 2 by
Steve Zihn, on Flickr

TM 16 bore with Peep by Steve Zihn, on Flickr

TM Rigby 12 by Steve Zihn, on Flickr

TM Rigby 5 by Steve Zihn, on Flickr
I made this rifle fist with a set of sights on the barrel but later he asked me to replace the rear with the peep sight. So that's why you'll see the older irons on the barrel in the bottome picture.

Edited by szihn (14/02/22 03:28 AM)