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I've been working with the Tolley to get a proper load set up for it.
It seems to like one bullet much better than the rest, it'll usually get individual barrel groups that look very promising, but with the odd -flung waay outta the group- shot or two that have been frustrating.
The gun was sold as a rough piece with great potential, the wood was what seemed to be a jungle smith's rush job to get the thing back into some hunt decades ago. I'd bedded the head of the stock before I ever shot it, but have been looking into a more thorough once-over by some seasoned old DR mechanic.
Finding a qualified smith anywhere near me here in California's been a snatch and a half. Thanks to someone here on the site I've recently had the chance to talk with one near this part of the state who's got thirty years of restoration experience under his belt. This guy was kind enough to return my call and chat with me about the Tolley for a short while recently and from that conversation I'd gotten primed to set into a bit of work on my funny old BPE rifle.

I went ahead and took on the task of bedding further around the action. While the wood and metal were getting a bit more intimate with each other and the bedding compound was setting up, I took the barrels out to the machine shop for a bit of a crown job.

My gun's a bottleneck 450, it runs .458 bullets.
I made up a bore guide out of Teflon barstock and a lap out of aluminum barstock. Turned the aluminum to .475 and gave it a 45 degree taper, also gave it a pilot to run in the Teflon guide. I was able to run an exact fit with the aluminum and the guide, I took a soft lead roundball from one of the sixteen bore rifles and swaged it into the chamber, then layed out a center point and ran that in against a live center in the lathe.
Holding the barrels in my hands and setting the pilot into the bore guide at the muzzle, I was able to slowly lap (with valve grinding compound) a very discreet recessed crown for each muzzle. I'd lap for a minute or two, then re-bevel the lap to keep a fresh 45 degree face on it, each barrel took ten or fifteen repititions of lap-then-re-bevel and refreshing of the lappinig compound to get the crowns clean and consistent, perpindicular to the bore axis.
I then took .490" soft lead roundball and swaged the bores from the breech end out to the muzzles to de-burr the crown job.
At this point they look very good, it was impressive to see just how outta whack the Tolley's crowns were.

Haven't shot the gun yet, won't likely get it out till tomorrow or the next day.
I have high hopes and a great sense that the gun will *at least* group better, hopefully this second pass with the bedding work and having refreshed the muzzle crowns will get me closer to the end of fiddling with loads and tuning.

Anyone here ever have the muzzles of thier double rifle re-crowned or do it themselves?
Do you know what process the smith took or care to share what your procedure was?
Did it make a difference?

--Tinker

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--Self-Appointed Colonel, DRSS--

"It IS a dangerous game, and so named for a reason, and you can't play from the keyboard. " --Some Old Texan...

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