Pedersoli Barrels

[rustyrelx]

I have seen of late a good many Pedersoli barrels that have been bored off center. These have all been for the 74 Sharps. Most were simply just removed and another barrel installed. Well I went to hard route. I had the barrel turned to half octagon. That centered up the foreward part. Then I had to take a file to the octagon portion to "center" a few flats. That done I had it blued. Now the proof will be in the shooting to see if I have accomplished anything. Sure has a better look and feel to it now.  I trimmed down the forearm to make it look more like an origonal 77 Sharps. I like to trim lines of a 77. Then I trimmed down the pistol grip some, smoothing out the look, making it more trim and sleek. So now it looks kinda like a transitional 77, with half round 32" barrel and pistol grip stock at 10 pounds. So it would have been acceptable at Creedmore BUT it has double set triggers. I also deepened the chamber to 45 2 7/8. from 45 2 1/10. I had 300 loaded and 200 case rounds and a chambering reamer so I figured why not. Anyway this out to be fun.  Don

[john boy]

Don, when you say Petersoli, do you mean to say Pedersoli, as in DAVIDE PEDERSOLI & C.?
Or do you mean to say ... Pedretti & Sons because there is no company named Petersoli
Where have you seen these  "good many Petersoli barrels that have been bored off center"  If there is an issue with '74 Sharps barrels by either company, it would be all over the Internet.  I haven't heard mention of even one

[rustyrelx]

John Boy Yes Pedersoli. These are not new products are a little bit older as to how old I cannot say as all I have seen is the barrels. One must look closely at the muzzle. If you think maybe you have one just "mike" it. That will tell you. But the first thing to do is LOOK at the muzzle of the barrel. Its hard to tell if the barrel is off center, it takes a good eye to see it. I am a retired gunsmith for the Fed. Govt. , having put 26 years into the field.
I went back and corrected the spelling...Thanks JB

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[john boy]

Don, talking about bore cuts off center ... a friend and I replaced barrels on '92 Rossi's in 45 Colt.  I lucked out - not to bad turning on the live centers of the lathe.  My friend's was so bad, he had one heck of a time cutting the 'new threads on a REPLACMENT BARREL.  I've got a couple of Pedersoli '74's.  I'll have to take a look see at the muzzles.  Regardless of what they may be ... they both shoot nice groups at 1000 yards with verniers that are mounted plumb

[john boy]

Don, I was curious about the 2 Pedersoli's I have with 34" barrels. So I dropped a certified plug gauge in the bore of each and then measured N - S - E - W on the flats of the octagon barrels

Rifle 1:  731 - 728 -727 - 726 ... SD of 0.00216 ... rifle vintage 2002
Rifle 2: 718 - 716 - 708 - 723 ... SD of 0.00624 ... rifle vintage 2005

Dragging a broach through a 34" barrel, I'm gonna say ... They did a darn nice job on these 2 rifles that have match quality bores.  What kind of numbers were you seeing for being off center?

[rustyrelx]

JB: I didn't measure them. If I could visible see that they were off center then it had to be 1/16 to 1/8 or so. They were obvious. Terribly off. If I had any as close as your I wouldn't mess with them either. Don't get me wrong an off center bore will shoot. Its just when things start warming up the changes happen. Always the proof is in the shooting.
Once upon a time I used to build National Match M14m's and NM 1911's. Those were the fun work. Then I had all the black guns and the mg's, they were our bread and butter.

[rustyrelx]

JB: Ya know this is why Sharps went to round barrels in the Borchardt. They had better control over machining

[john boy]

Don, I don't believe that there is any gun manufacturer that can run a bore cutter and a long broach cutter down a barrel that is going to be perfectly straight.  Revolvers - maybe but a long barrel is going to have harmonic vibrations

[rustyrelx]

JB. Yes I agree with you. Perfectly straight is an absolute. What we're talking about is best that can be done. Barrels were drilled from a blank, honed then rifled. Might have been good to turn the outside diameter of the barrel, on centers, after it was drilled but before honing. Or maybe after, but definitely before cutting grooves. In that way one would be able to get it as close to absolute center as possible.

[rustyrelx]

Harmonic vibrations are what is encountered at each shot. But theres other factors in harmonic vibrations also. How s the barrel installed into the action, are the parts correctly fitted, etc. Barrel is just a part of the whole. Therefore the barrel should be concentric so that the vibrations are the same from shot to shot. One of the reasons octagon barrels were given up years ago. Octagon barrels were a carry over from the muzzle loading era. I for one like octagon barrels but I can live with the limitations that I understand. You will note that all countries went to full round barrels before the turn of the century. 1900 that is, lol