Utilizing a fixed cylinder bore barrel to it’s greatest potential

I got an irresistible deal on a fixed cylinder bore barrel. So far it seems like a great noise maker. Of course I started testing with cheap birdshot loads. I’ve been rolling self healing targets with it and it seems to Peter out about where my steel pistol plates are. My next attempt was comparing #4 shot and it seems slightly better. Both are cheap 1 1/8 ounce loads. But the #4 shot is 1255 FPS instead of 1200 FPS. The number four shot did seem to swing the 6” steel plate slightly better. Not sure if it’s due to the higher velocity or higher energy per pellet on target. And 9mm seems to swing the plates just as well with less recoil and cost per round.

Have any of you put a cylinder bore through the wringer before? How do I make it sing? Do I need even larger shot? Are light specialty loads with super high velocity the ticket? Do I need high brass maximum payload loads? Cast cheap buckshot or round balls? Or is it a lost cause?

And one final question. I’ve seen wads from BPI for steel/nontoxic waterfowl loads. Little to no cushion section and thick shot cup. They say that they need to be slit at least 2-4 places 2/3 or 3/4 of the length of the wad. Has anyone tried the wads without as many slits, or not slitting them as deep as recommended?

Thanks!

If you're handloading I bet some of those long shot wads that are not slit would hold the shot together longer. I think I saw a youtube video about converting them to a Flightcontrol style. I think anything past 25 yards or so you'll need a choke of some sort.

http://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOb8kUAvsnM

What are you trying to achieve?

A 1-1/2 oz. shot load at subsonic velocity from 1050-1080 fps performs well in a cylinder bore.

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Originally Posted by dverna

What are you trying to achieve?

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I suppose I want to see how far I can propel a rolling self healing target or how hard I can swing the steel target without a longer barrel and some choke constriction.

I’m sure a .690” round ball would wrap the steel target around the bar reliably. But short of a single projectile, what is the next best thing?

I’ve got the barrel. I’m trying to find a good use for it and a way to make it practical.

If other people came out to shoot with me with a similar setup, how can I have an advantage? And preferably cheaply!

And on a side note, This seems like a perfect way to use less than round homemade shot which I’ve been considering attempting. If 25 yards is all it’s got, I doubt anyone can tell a difference between premium shot or teardrop shaped shot at that distance...

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Originally Posted by Outpost75

A 1-1/2 oz. shot load at subsonic velocity from 1050-1080 fps performs well in a cylinder bore.

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Thanks! I’ll add that to the list of things to try.

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Originally Posted by Barry54

I got an irresistible deal on a fixed cylinder bore barrel. So far it seems like a great noise maker. Of course I started testing with cheap birdshot loads. I’ve been rolling self healing targets with it and it seems to Peter out about where my steel pistol plates are. My next attempt was comparing #4 shot and it seems slightly better. Both are cheap 1 1/8 ounce loads. But the #4 shot is 1255 FPS instead of 1200 FPS. The number four shot did seem to swing the 6” steel plate slightly better. Not sure if it’s due to the higher velocity or higher energy per pellet on target. And 9mm seems to swing the plates just as well with less recoil and cost per round.

Have any of you put a cylinder bore through the wringer before? How do I make it sing? Do I need even larger shot? Are light specialty loads with super high velocity the ticket? Do I need high brass maximum payload loads? Cast cheap buckshot or round balls? Or is it a lost cause?

And one final question. I’ve seen wads from BPI for steel/nontoxic waterfowl loads. Little to no cushion section and thick shot cup. They say that they need to be slit at least 2-4 places 2/3 or 3/4 of the length of the wad. Has anyone tried the wads without as many slits, or not slitting them as deep as recommended?

Thanks!

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So typically you would use a cylinder choke for Skeet shooting with #9 shot. #4 shot is pretty big, the type used typically with a full choke for duck hunting (example). More here:
https://www.bing.com/videos/rivervie...F&&FORM=VRDGAR

You could have someone like Briley’s backbore it and pick up some choke, or install screw-in chokes.

I have a ‘97 Win pump that Briley’s worked over and it seems to like larger shot, but most any size fades past 30 yds. I killed a cottontail one night at 30-35 steps and hit him with one #5 pellet.

Cylinder bore can be used to shoot slugs and round balls quite well. However, to get good accuracy you should put rifle sights on the gun.

Good round ball loads can produce groups of about 4" at 50 yards. I have not had any success with 0.690" RB's. I started out my "slug" endeavours about 50 years ago with a used Lyman 0.690" RB mould and shooting the balls out of my Pedersoli Muzzleloading 12 ga. Accuracy was dismal! That was a naked 0.690" RB rattling down the barrel so no wonder! I have tried the o.690" RB in shotcups but most of what I could find had petals that were too thick for the 0.690" ball so petals sheared. The few shotcups I found with thin enough petals also sheared so accuracy was still poor. Others have had success but not me!

I have had good results using 0.662" RB's and 0.678" Rb's in shotcups and also 0.735" RB's on a hard card wad column. These have all produced 4" +/- a bit groups out to 50 or maybe 60 yards. After that groups tend to get exponentially bigger as the range gets longer with something like 12" groups at 100 yards.

As mentioned above, you could have the barrel threaded for screw in chokes which would make the gun much more versatile but that tends to be fairly expensive, here anyway, $180 last time I checked. Another option is to by a screw in choke adapter that is silver soldered onto the barrel. Brownells sells those. You may also be able to find an old Poly Choke adjustable choke or Cutts Compensator with choke tubes or a Powr Pac which is similar. They are all silver solder to the barrel rigs that you may be able to install yourself. Well, apparently Poly Chokes are still available!

I have not shot birdshot through a cylinder bore so no advice there.

Large buckshot may shoot okay too though I think it generally benefits frrom a choke.

Try a few things and see what happens! It's a good excuse to go to the range.

Longbow

I have an old Montgomery Wards "Long Range Winner" in 3" 12ga that has the 30" barrel cut to 18.125" and no choke. I have found heavier shot groups tighter and filler helps. The 1 1/2oz @ subsonic(<1120fps) is spot on. Hunting Chuckar Partridge in Idaho I found the first **** with a quick mounting gun worked and any subsequent shots just knocked the leaves off the sage brush. The 1 1/2oz subsonic with #5 shot threw very even dense patterns out to 35-40 yards.
All that being said trust the butcher paper test patterns. I used corn meal for filler but that fancy new stuff is better....

KB

Sent from my SM-A326U using Tapatalk

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Originally Posted by Outpost75

A 1-1/2 oz. shot load at subsonic velocity from 1050-1080 fps performs well in a cylinder bore.

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Slower is better when you want a pattern to hold together. Larger shot is better also. Listen to Outpost, he knows what he's talking about.
Good Luck,
Rick

Paper shooting is your friend!

I was gifted a vent rib barrel for my 1100 REM that had been cut to about 20”. I bought a snap on fiber optic front sight and with no rear at all I am able to shoot 4” groups at 40 yds with commercial Winchester slugs.

As Long Bow said, "you need Rifle Sights " on it. But to really get it to perform you need to send the Barrel to Vang Comp. They can also install the Rifle Sights.

The Vang Comp process consists of Lengthening the Forcing Cone to 3" long from it 1/2-3/4 current length. Then the Back Bore the Barrel to .745 until the last 2" which taper back down to .730. Then they port the barrel with 62ea. 1/16" holes on either side of the Front Sight starting back 2" from the muzzle.

The end result will make your gun pattern 00 Buckshot (9 Pellets) into 7" at 25 yards. It will also shoot slugs or round balls well and your Birdshot will do the same thing, but spread out faster past 25 yards..

A Stock Cylinder Bore Barrel will pattern 00 Buck into 15" at 15 yards and add 1" to the pattern for every yard beyond that. and that is what you are dealing with right now.

This process is considered the "Ne Plus Ultra" for Police Shotguns in this country for the last 40 years! And this company has done literally Thousands of Barrels for Police Agencies, the Military and even DHS.

This outfit is always busy and sometimes their lead times are long, but if you only send your barrel it can be turned around in 2-4 weeks.

www.vangcomp.com

Hope this helps? Also see this thread. https://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/....php?t=1651983

Randy

I picked up the Lyman 5th edition shotshell manual over the weekend. Also scored some used charge bars at a reloading shop out of state that I’d never been to before.

I ordered some components and hope to be able to try some loads from 1-1/4 all the way up to 1-5/8 ounces. Lots of discontinued powder and components in the manual. Then others are still unavailable. And was excited to see a few loads calling for buffer with larger shot, but was quickly disappointed after further searching that at least one of the components is unavailable with every buffered load I checked.

Read up on lengthening the forcing cone and back boring a barrel. Vangcomp pricing is a little less than buying the tools...

So a few more questions. I didn’t see any subsonic load data published in either manual I own. Is it okay to gradually decrease powder charges from published loads, to get down into the subsonic range? Or does that break the no substitutions rule?

And is there a published source for subsonic loads I haven’t discovered yet?

Thanks!

Yes, Slug R Us and Metrogun both have subsonic load data as does BPI:

https://www.metrogun.com/handloads.html

https://www.ballisticproducts.com/Br...ctinfo/00BSUB/

Hah! I have exceeded my limit for attachments so can't post the Slugs R Us info. The site seems to be gone now. I also have some other subsonic data. If you'd like copoies PM me your email then I'll send them as email attachments.

Longbow

I'm sure Leon would be able to help with this stuff as he is "Slugs R Us" now. Maybe his new website should be "Leon's Slugs R Us?" He's got a YouTube Channel named "Buck and Slug Reloaders."

Whoa, Leon: Just saw your picture on the Video on duplicating some Winchester load. You've dropped a bunch of weight haven't you? You look good,,, and I Mean that in the Most "Un Gay" way!

Randy

I currently have 2 cylinder bore guns they shoot fine but the pattern does spread a bit faster shooting at a 35-40 yard Grouse is normally a waste of time . There are exceptions I had loaded some 1 7/8 oz (1050 f/s ) of #9 shot and they patterned well in the cylinder bore a bit to well I could not get the load to spread adding wads . Recoil was also fierce. I did test one on a 2 1/2 " live maple at 21 feet the tree was shattered and fell so much for shot being no good for home defense! .

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Originally Posted by RickinTN

Slower is better when you want a pattern to hold together. Larger shot is better also. Listen to Outpost, he knows what he's talking about.
Good Luck,
Rick

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As FYI in my 1939 Vickers boxlock game gun with 2-1/2" chambers my general purpose load is 1-1/4 oz. of no.6 shot at only 1000 fps. Stone killer on almost everything. RST custom loads them for me.

I use #4 or #5 lead shot in my cylinder bore on rabbits and such. Carries a bit further than 6’s.