doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com making heavy barrels lighter

I have a set of 26" sleeved barrels on a vintage gun with minimum barrel wall thicknesses of over 35 thousandths. The only problem is that the sleeved barrels make the gun heavier than it should be for a gun with 26" barrels. Does anyone have any experience with making a set of barrels lighter, either by removing metal from the inside or from the outside to lighten up the barrels by a few ounces? Barrels with minimum BWT of 28 or 30 would be just fine. Thanks.

By far the easiest and safest way would be to have the gun overbored, opening it up about ten thousandths. Over boring is very popular these days on new guns and doesn't involve any of the pitfalls encountered with striking the outside of the tubes. If anything, over boring is likely to improve patterns and reduce felt recoil. I like Skeet's Gun Shop in Talequah, Oklahoma (918-456-4749) for this type work.

Rich, might be just a question of proper balance...I would try that first, I know this will add a bit to the overall weight but once properly balanced it might not be that noticeable...for me taking out metal would be the last option, I'd always take the cautious approach, you can also look at lightening up the forend and try and balance it that way.

Claudio

Joe and Claudio, Thanks very much for your thoughts on this. I want to use this old gun as a woodcock gun and, at 7 lbs., it just weighs more than it should with the 26" sleeved barrels. I have heard good things about Skeet's from my gunsmith too.

Any way to add any weight in the stock to balance it more?

Without getting my book of figures and a calculator out I tend to thinking that taking 10 thou off the inside diameter is not going to make a significant weight reduction.
I would be weighing the 3 gun component parts and comparing the weights with other guns of more suitable weight.
It could be that you have a big solid action that someone sleeved to a short barrel length rather than a light action with a unnecessarily heavy barrel set.
Some vintage guns were made HEAVY, some light as wands.
As CJO says, balancing the gun can make it feel much lighter.

Claudio just gave you the best advice you are going to receive on this forum. Shaving a few ounces off of a 7 pound weapon does not a woodcock gun make. If you are content to carry a 12 gauge that weighs over 6.4 lbs. through the alders, you are not concerned with weight but balance. I believe Trevallion wrote a series of articles for DJ on adjusting the balance point with weight. Throwing money at a problem does not always get the best result.

Thanks for the advice. Much appreciated.

I think a gun I had bored lost 2.5-3 ounces by removing .010 from the bore but that was for a 30" gun. It's more complex than a straight weight loss because small barrels loose less and bigger ones loose more. Think about the diameter of the bore. A large diameter barrel with .750 bore will loose more weight, metal reamed out, than a tight bore like .710 for the same amount of reaming. Mike O did mine and he did a very nice job.

Sometimes you just can't get there from where you start at. Easier way to get a 6 pound grouse gun is to drop down to a 16. Heck at most grouse shot ranges an ounce is more than enough shot because my grouse seem to be gone in a flash. A thirty yard grouse shot where we use to hunt would be a once in a year or longer fluke. A 16 with two fairly open chokes holds a lot of appeal for early grouse.

It's not too easy to make a gun significantly lighter. I'd find another gun.