Good morning all!
I am having trouble finding RESONABLY priced .32 cal barrels. I should have bought one from numrich last month. I went back yesterday and the site no longer shows .32 barrels! When did .50 and .54 become the only barrels being stocked? GM used to make a .32 drop in for TC but noew offer nothing below .40 cal! If I could get a used .32 for under 100.00 (is that possible) I'd be half way to a pot of brunswick stew!!! Any leads appreciated
Thanks All
Try Troy at Stonewall Creek Outfitters. Usually has Ed Rayle barrels in stock for a fair price. Excellent barrel! I used one on this rifle,
(http://i359.photobucket.com/albums/oo35/bogie_bucket/100_2355-1.jpg)
(http://i359.photobucket.com/albums/oo35/bogie_bucket/100_2354-1.jpg)
It makes a slim rifle with the 3/4" barrel. Points nicely tho! If you use this barrel make certain you use a smaller lock as even a medium size lock can be a bit overwhelming. Let us see you progress once you get the barrel!
Nice looking flintlock Bruce B. Love the color of it!!
Thanks Crazell,
I'll post pics but not anytime soon!!!! That's a beautiful rifle but I'd never be able to afford that kind of wood. I just want a "pretty little shooter"
Snuffy that piece of wood cost me about $30 It had a feew worm holes in it and no one wanted it (except me ;D) Just shop around and don't be too picky except for grain flow through the wrist.
Thanks Crazell, it's stained with "salad dressing". Vinegar and iron.
Quote from: BruceB on January 26, 2012, 08:54:22 PM
Snuffy that piece of wood cost me about $30 It had a feew worm holes in it and no one wanted it (except me ;D) Just shop around and don't be too picky except for grain flow through the wrist.
Thanks Crazell, it's stained with "salad dressing". Vinegar and iron.
What type of dressing? Like a red-wine vinegarret, or italian??
ROFL Crazell chrrs
Vinegar and iron.
I'm sorry BruceB I thought Crazell posted that pic! You did a remarkable job on that rife! Kudos! you must love shooting her! If I had a piece like that I'd be in the woods more than I'd be at work!
(not that I'd mind that but the boss would be ticked!)
Snuffy the 32 caliber 3/4" Ed Rayl barrel listed for $140 is as good a buy as you'll get! It's a great barrel. I know it's a bit more than you want to spend but worth every dime! You might request on the board if anyone has a decent stock blank, I have run across some really good wood by just keeping an eye peeled. Mongrel had some blanks for sale a while back for excellent prices. I bought one and was VERY happy with it (should have bought at least one more hdslp). Make certain you buy a quality lock, and that should be your only other major cash outlay. Buttplate, triggergaurds can be had cheaply. Trigger, nose cap, ramrod pipes and sideplate can be made by you. Go for it! If I can do it anyone can!!!!!
Thanks BruceB, I'll give it some thought. I realize what it should cost to build a nice rifle, I just can't swing it right now. I need to be less obsessive and hang till I find good deals. I miss a .32 on numrich for 114.00. I'll hang and see what happens. Also I'd need an inletted stock as I haven't done a complete blank yet! I appreciate your input and it's value.
Be well
Finding smallbore barrels at pretty much any price is a hit-and-miss deal right now. Has been for some time. There certainly seems to be a demand for them, but the supply isn't keeping up.
Green Mountain for at least a couple of years was focused on modern barrels, letting the muzzleloading field go pretty much untended. This isn't my imagination, this is the story I got from everyone I dealt with or talked to about the problem -- Track Of The Wolf, Dixie Gun Works, Muzzleloader Builder's Supply, Troy and Shannon Roop of Stonewall Creek Outfitters, Jack Garner, and on and on.... Most of these people I deal with face-to-face at the Friendship Shoots, so I wasn't just getting some BS spun my way by a rep on the phone. These are all dealers who wanted barrels, had customers with money in hand demanding barrels, and they couldn't get them. The situation seems to be improving but you are still going to see a lot of "Out Of Stock" notices where Green Mountain items are concerned.
There are a number of other makers of muzzleloading barrels, such as Ed Rayl, Colerain (who have been making straight-walled barrels for some time now), Long & Hammock, Rice, and others, but none of them are up for meeting the demand created by Green Mountain's neglect of its original customer base, and several of them are pricier by a dollar or several dollars than GM. Finding anything of small bore for under $135-$140, minimum, that's available at the time you actually want to buy it, can be incredibly difficult.
I have no choice but to buy the brand of barrel a customer specifies, assuming it's available, but paying out of my own pocket I won't buy another Green Mountain product. Their reputation and profits over the years were based mainly on black powder barrels, and they did everything short of discontinue those products in favor of barrels for modern guns, for like I say at least a couple of years. So far as I'm concerned they can pound sand and their modern-barrel profits both at the same time.
Mike what is the name of the guy set up across from the Blacksmith shop at Friendship? It slips my mind right now. He can make what you want at a reasonable price if he's not picking that banjo ROFL
That would be Howard Kelly (or Kelley) of Webertown Rifle Works. First-rate barrels. Unfortunately I don't have contact info for Howard right now -- get in touch with the NMLRA business office at Friendship, IN and they can provide his phone number. I'm going to need to do that, myself, as soon as I work up the nerve to commit to the cost of purchasing ten or a dozen 28" barrels. Got the work lined up to cover the cost, and then some, but thinking of the total price makes my wallet whimper.
Howard's prices are about on a par with Green Mountain's, and you'll probably have to place an order and wait, but he's a true craftsman, a good guy, and one heck of a banjo plunker and fiddle player. Those of us who are regulars at Friendship, either as vendors or customers, know we're "home" when we smell the wood smoke from the Primitive area and hear the SNAP and BOOM of muzzleloaders firing, the ring of hammers on anvils, and the notes of Howard's banjo, over on Commercial Row and the firing line in front of it.
Quote from: BruceB on January 27, 2012, 09:38:36 PM
Mike what is the name of the guy set up across from the Blacksmith shop at Friendship? It slips my mind right now. He can make what you want at a reasonable price if he's not picking that banjo ROFL
I think you are talking about Tip Curtis. He works out of Cross Plains, TN. His place is called the Frontier Shop. He has the shed and big truck right across the creek from the BS shop. I bought a GM .32 barrel from him two years ago. His prices run about average for the industry.
http://www.nmlra.org/classifieds.asp?ID=13
Tip's Frontier Shop is next door to Howard's trailer and display table on the corner. Tip sells merchandise (good stuff, too) but Howard actually makes the barrels you buy from him.
Yep Mike it's Howard! I don't have his price list here right now but I'm sure you could get a straight octagon, 3/4", and 32 caliber from him reasonably and to the length you wanted.
I ran into a dealer today @ an outdoor expo who had a GM .32 flintlock bbl for the tc/lyman w/fiber optic sights. I asked him about it & he said he had 6 of them, brand new, $250.00 a pc. I got his card w/web address, web sight & telephone #. I don't have a gun they would fit but I thought some of you might be interested.
Thanks everyone.
I agree with you mongrel about GM! They made their name with front stuffers now they bailed for a market with greener grass!
Gray Bear, I'd be interested in the contact info for those barrels even though 250.00 seems high? I'm guessing they're drop ins with thimbles and sights? Be ewll all
Snuffy, if you're looking for a barrel for use with a T/C or Italian-made Hawken-style, watch the barrel diameter. The .32 calibers offered by Numrich were 7/8" diameter. The barrel channels on the Hawken-type guns are 15/16".
Of course if you're also considering building a gun from scratch, then the barrel diameter isn't an issue and ideally you want to get the lightest barrel you can find.
BTW I do still have a number of stock blanks for sale. They're good-grade curly maple and priced at $75 plus $20 shipping. It's not a huge savings over what you'll pay from a variety of vendors' websites, but it's a few dollars less anyway.
If you can stand to wait till June I'm always finding deals on good wood at the Friendship Shoots. I use most of what I buy but if someone comes along who seems to need a certain chunk of wood more than I do I'm easy to get along with -- I'll sell it for what I paid plus a fair amount to ship the blank. I don't find much good curly maple at a substantial savings over what I've already got to offer, but plain maple, walnut, cherry, and some ash are usually available at half the price or less than you'll pay, retail.
Sooooo Mike you still got some of that wood out of that lot I bought the blank from???
Aye, that I do....
Thanks for the input Mongrel,
I can definately wait till june for a "cheap" piece of wood. I am trying 2 projects at once ( more like 15!!!! ADD) one is a .45 flinter (ultra hi) that I want to put as little cash into as possible. That one is 7/8 across the flats. The other is a .32 or .36 caplock from whatever I can gather up. It's a future project in that I plan to amass the parts as "good dealls" show up! I'd drop the cash of a plain jane stock for the flinter if it was inletted (barrel) and cheap! My plans are for a half stock on that one. Keep me in mind if you should see something at friendship ( really envious you get to go that!!) never been to a rondy but would love it!!!! Looking for one kinda close for this season.
Be well, Snuff
I can sell you a barrel-inletted halfstock blank right now, cheap, if you want it, but you have to know the barrel diameter you intend to use. If you won't be getting a barrel till you find a good deal then you'll need to wait on the wood, till after that, since you have no way of knowing exactly what you'll end up getting.
I'm fortunate in that I live only a short ways from Friendship and am one of the vendors there -- I only come home to sleep, during the Spring and Fall Shoots, and I have access to the other dealers and their stuff that not everyone normally does.