.44-77 and paper patch?

[Distant Thunder]

I finally had some time to inspect this barrel this evening, here's what I found.

This is billed as a "SHARPS44 32" .44 Cal #1 Sharps Profile". I don't know if that is the same as a #1 Heavy.

As received it is 34.25" long and weighs 8.1 LBS. on my UPS scale. It is already octagoned with a round stub on the breech end and the finish is quite good. Very little polishing will be needed.

A .4358" gage pin slides through easily and evenly, but a .4368" pin will only just start in on both ends. I figure the bore to be .4365 +0/-.0003".

I slugged the barrel pushing the slug in several inches from the muzzle end. The groove diameter measures .4455". That would give about .0045-,0046" groove depth. So I would say the bore is tight, but I don't think it's excessively so.

The bore is centered on the barrel within .001- .002" total. I checked it with a gage pin in the bore and a depth mic so I have to give it a bit of range. It would be way too much work to set it up and check it with an indicator. It's damn close so I don't see splitting thousandths here.

I also weighed the action, 3.2 LBS and the wood, 1.75 LBS. Figuring the barrel weighs an average of .2365 LBS per inch it would weigh 7.1 LBS @ 30" and 7.568 LBS at 32".

So, 3.75 + 1.75 + 7.1 = 12.6 LBS! It does not look like it will make iron sight weight for BPCRS even at 30", but would make it for scope. I don't want to shoot silhouette with iron sights anyway really and if I get the urge there's always the .40-65!

All of this makes me pretty determined to go with 30". I'd like to keep the rifle at no more than 13 LBS with iron sights. And it will fit better in the safe at 30"!

I think I can send this barrel to Shiloh and get back a good shooting PP rifle. It might be better if the bore was a thousandth or two bigger, but I don't think it's enough to make it a scrapper!