False Muzzle

[Rick Mulhern]

I've often thought about the possibilities of how a Sharps would perform accuracy-wise if one had a false muzzle option of loading like onto the old caplock rifles. Most any decent Rifleman knows that H. M. Pope made the most accurate muzzle loading rifles of his era. The way I understand how they were made is that before the rifle was bored....the false muzzle portion was cut from the end of the barrel and that the pins were then installed into the cutoff portion and then the barrel pin holes were then drilled from the same template. After this was done the false muzzle was attached and held in position with a fixture while the barrel was bored then reamed and rifled with the false muzzle attached so as to have a continuous twist throughout the false muzzle. Pope claimed that he would guarantee that if one of his muzzle loading rifles was loaded with the bullet being seated through the false muzzle and the bullet seated with a ramrod that his rifles from 200 yards would group ten shots all within the area of a silver dollar with many groups fired by him less than that! If fixed ammunition were used seated through the breech he advised that most groups would only average around six inches or so. In addition he stated that if one of his rifles had the bullet seated from the breech end using a 'starter' that the ten shot groups would usually run around four inches. In the instance where the ten shot groups were silver dollar size or less....he was loading the bullet through the false muzzle using a ramrod and then loading a metallic case with powder and a wad and inserting the case so as to abut the base of the bullet. I wish I was a good enough craftsman to build me a rifle akin to my 45 2 7/8 Shiloh's with a false muzzle! That would be interesting!

[Nuclearcricket]

Rick, somewhere, sometime in my past and I just don't remember where I had read an article on how to make a false muzzle for a pre-rifled barrel. The best I can remember is that you cast a plug in the muzzle end of the barrel and then marked and parted off the end that will be the false muzzle. you do not cut through the plug. Once parted off, the mating ends were squared and the false muzzle put back on the cast plug. This assures that the rifling lines back up and then your alignment pin holes are drilled. If a round barrel is used, not a problem but if its an octagon barrel then the flats will be off just a touch but that shouldn't really be a problem and the false muzzle could be turned round to eliminate the flats and just look pretty. One thing you would want to make sure that you did not do is drill the holes in a square pattern, you would want one or 2 of the holes off so that things will only go back together one way and one way only.
I know this isn't much of a detailed description but it may be a place for you to start.
Sam
P.S. Had a thought after I posted the above. Another possible way of doing it would be to have the end of the barrel cut off in a wire EDM machine, if you can find one with a tank big enough to handle the length of a barrel. Yes it would cause a very slight misalignment but at the most the cut should only cost you about .020 of barrel material the amount of rotation in that length wouldn't be noticeable. I will set down here later on once all of the morning brain fog has cleared and fire up the calculator and figure out just how much of a misalignment it would be to loose .02" for the cut off.

[Nuclearcricket]

Ok, went and got the mind sharpened up, dug out my trig book and crunched some numbers. I used .454 for a diameter as I was not quite sure what would be the best the bore or the grove so I just went down the middle. For a twist I used 18". That gave me an angle of 4 deg 32 min. If you were to cut the barrel with a wife EDM I figure you would conservatively loose a total of .020". That would give you a misalignment of .00158", probably not enough to really worry about. If you used a standard steel part off tool to cut the barrel off with I used .140" as a total loss and that would give you a misalignment of .011".
Hope this is of some help to you, or at least gives you some food for thought.
Sam

[Kurt]

If I was to make a falls muzzle I would use a mill and predrill three holes through the muzzle before cutting off the barrel for length using the lathe.

[Gunlaker]

I've thought the same thing. A heavy .45-110 with a false muzzle would be an interesting piece of artillery. I wonder if you could make it shoot competitively with a good slug gun. I'd want mine to be set up for cross patches.

I've also wondered whether two piece paper patched bullets in an off the shelf Shiloh Tollofson rifle would be an advantage over a regular cast bullet.

I've got a .38 cal false muzzle barrel but it's very hard to find a trustworthy gun smith in this part of the world so my barrel sits unused for now.

Chris.

[Kurt]

A cross patch would be beneficial

[Gunlaker]

I wonder if there is anyone out there still making false muzzle barrels? The barrel I have was made by Mr. Bresien who passed away not long ago.

Kurt, you've messed with many different bullets, probably more than anyone I know of. Have you ever tried a two piece swaged PP bullet in a cartridge gun?

Chris.

[Kurt]

Chris.

Yes I have. I even made some top punches to make a cavity so the two part bullet does not separate in flight. It is not worth the effort for a cartridge rifle. If you want expansion then a swaged HP is the answer.
For the ML rifle I can see an advantage of a two part bullet with a harder alloyed nose to keep it from deforming when you start if down the muzzle.
Ideal at one time made two part moulds.

[Rick Mulhern]

Ok, went and got the mind sharpened up, dug out my trig book and crunched some numbers. I used .454 for a diameter as I was not quite sure what would be the best the bore or the grove so I just went down the middle. For a twist I used 18". That gave me an angle of 4 deg 32 min. If you were to cut the barrel with a wife EDM I figure you would conservatively loose a total of .020". That would give you a misalignment of .00158", probably not enough to really worry about. If you used a standard steel part off tool to cut the barrel off with I used .140" as a total loss and that would give you a misalignment of .011".
Hope this is of some help to you, or at least gives you some food for thought.
Sam

Thanks for your effort Sam! In the finality of attaining the finest accuracy possible I think rather than taking a chance on 'butchering up' a fine rifle and NOT having the rifling continuous throughout the false muzzle that it would be more beneficial to start with an extra long barrel and build according to the way Pope did his rifles. The problem would be to find a 'gun crank' with the equipment and patience to do the work!

[Kurt]

Rick I have never seen a false muzzle with lands. Not saying that there are some.
The once I have seen are slightly tapered to start the bullet straight.
Some have pins and some are with the rifle muzzle turned down and the false muzzle is cupped to slide over the muzzle and locked down.