I have a Martini-Henry barrel with a corrosion ring ~1/64-1/32" deep etched into the rifling around 4" from the crown. It looks like the barrel was stored with something stuffed down the barrel (tompion, maybe?). The barrel is definitely not pristine, but the rest of the rifling back to the chamber is excellent and worth keeping.
I want to be able to shoot the barrel, but also want to maintain it's original external appearance, so cutting it down from its current 33" length isn't an option. It will be shot with paper-patched bullets, so a sharp-edged etched concentric ring in the rifling would cause accuracy problems.
I have yet to find a smith who can create a taper-bored replacement barrel with 7-groove Henry-style rifling, although Bob Hoyt has successfully made replacement Martini-Henry barrels with a straight bore and conventional rifling.
Does anybody see any issues with lathe counterboring down past the ring to create a new "crown"?
I want to be able to shoot the barrel, but also want to maintain it's original external appearance, so cutting it down from its current 33" length isn't an option. It will be shot with paper-patched bullets, so a sharp-edged etched concentric ring in the rifling would cause accuracy problems.
I have yet to find a smith who can create a taper-bored replacement barrel with 7-groove Henry-style rifling, although Bob Hoyt has successfully made replacement Martini-Henry barrels with a straight bore and conventional rifling.
Does anybody see any issues with lathe counterboring down past the ring to create a new "crown"?
