Cutting a barrel

[Nixterdemus]

I have a Puma 44 mag, mod 92, short rifle in 20" octagon brl.

I was considering cutting 3" off the brl and 2 off the tube.

As well I need to lop about 5" off the forestock and a godd 2" off the buttstock.

The gun's a little nose heavy coz of that fat brl and from what I've read 17" gets plenty out of the cartridge. I know most will think it looks funny w/1" longer mag tube, but I hate to give up more than one rnd of capacity.

I realize I run the chance of ending up w/frankengun that no one else would want and I figure it might be a tad expensive on the metal work.

Just throwin' it out there...

[Buck Elliott]

The "sticky-out" mag tube could cause you some problems. It is, after all, just a relatively thin-walled tube, prone to bending & crushing, especially without the support & protection of the barrel. Other than that, it'll just be fugly.

[Rusty]

Nothing to it. I like to run a pipe or tube cutter around the barrel a few times just to scribe a line that will help keep everything square by giving you a reference.

[J Miller]

Nixterdemus,

I don't see any problem with what you are considering, with one exception. That's the barrel being shorter than the magazine. Why not cut both to 18". One inch of barrel more or less isn't going to affect the balance that much, and it will look much better.
Especially if you adjust the forearm to match.

Joe

[AJMD429]

Whatever you do, you HAVE to post pics.

That way, those of us too timid to experiment might become emboldened and make our own 'trappers'.

Plus, it gives the traditionalists an opportunity to poke fun at what you've done...

Seriously, I say go for it. Any 'modification' that makes a gun more useful or fun for you is fair game. The only thing maybe not nice is to do such a modification to a rare 'collectible' that someone else would highly appreciate in its original condition. (In such cases, I encourage the owner to trade for a less desireable gun of the necessary type to create the project.)

[Hobie]

http://www.coltforum.com/forums/showthr ... =shortened

I think having a mag tube 1" longer than the barrel is just a dumb thing to do. The tube will be hanging out there just begging to be damaged. The gun will indeed be a "frankengun". When you shorten the forearm lots of other things need to be moved as well. The above link shows a couple of neat jobs.

[Nixterdemus]

Those were some nice shortened firearms.

I looked at some ballistic charts and decided if I was gonna do it I wanted 17" for that and the little bit of extra weight off.

As far as the tube goes it's two inches a rnd evah so roughly. If I bring the mag tube back 3, 3.5 or 4" it'll all be the same as far as capacity is concerned. I'm not really gonna lose much weight via the tube so that's not a factor.

Can I mod a screw cap like the 454 on the end of the tube?

If the project all goes south I can always lop more off more of the buttstock and tack a couple of leather straps for the Clyde Barrow trenchcoat special...

[adirondakjack]

I had a 24" marlin .45 octagon barrel cut to 16 1/4". Balances great, just feels right. I told the smith who did it to preserve the relationship between the muzzle and nose of the mag tube so it didn't look hacked. It looks like it was born that way.

It's not that expensive, or shouldn't be. Cut, do a couple of dovetails, crown, done. FWIW mention life is easier cutting the back end of the mag tube. My smith hadn't thought of that, was thinking drilling, etc....


the long and the short of it.

[Nixterdemus]

Nice looking rifles. Thanks for the tip. Makes sense to cut from the back. I liked the idea of the twist cap coz then you could have preloaded tubes if you so desired.

I'm thinking set the mag tube back 3/4" and use a real deep, tapered crown. I mean really tapered coz theres so much of the Octagon brl available.

How great of an angle can you use on a crown?

Or maybe a two angle crown w/second angle a deep taper.

It would be different.

[Warhawk]

I have one of the "Buds $365 Specials" myself, haven't had it to the range yet but the only thing that I know I want to do is swap the butt stock for one from a saddle ring carbine.

If you want a short Rossi 44, you ought to buy a Rossi trapper. I have one of these too, worked over by Steve Young. It is a fantastic little rifle.

But if you are set on shortening the 20" short rifle, search Steve Young's posts. He talks about shortening the fore end on one of these guns.

[Sixgun]

Whatever you do, you HAVE to post pics.

Oh no. No pics please. Something that ugly will give us all a bad name here at Leverguns

In fact, I say Hobie deletes this entire post. ---------------------Sixgun

[Nate Kiowa Jones]

I have one of the "Buds $365 Specials" myself, haven't had it to the range yet but the only thing that I know I want to do is swap the butt stock for one from a saddle ring carbine.

If you want a short Rossi 44, you ought to buy a Rossi trapper. I have one of these too, worked over by Steve Young. It is a fantastic little rifle.

But if you are set on shortening the 20" short rifle, search Steve Young's posts. He talks about shortening the fore end on one of these guns.

This is it. A 20" oct with the fore wood set back about 2.5".



I think it looks much more proportional compared to the stock 20" oct.



Here's a 20" cut to 16" from the breech end.



If you plan to leave the mag tube protruding past the muzzle you will need to figure out another way to fasten it so it doesn't slip under recoil. Tha't's because the plug screw helps hold it by seating into the bottom of the barrel now.

[Nixterdemus]

Thanks for allowing me to bounce the idea off ya'll. It appears that the short rifle special comes in at 1.6 lbs over the carbine and it doesn't feel right, to me.

I like the 20" brl, 10 rnd tube capaciity, weight and balance on the carbine so I'm not wishing to create a trapper model, yet I've already bought this short rifle and need to do something, somewhere down the road.

The 2.5" off the foresrock looks a lot better and thanks for posting the pics.

I guess cutting from the breech end is prefered coz you maintain the crown, blue and relationship to the mag tube.

I'm only guesstamating in my mind and that can be dangerous coz there's a lot of room to wander in there.

I think 2-2.5" of the buttstock(youth carbine?) and 2.5-3" off the brl would put me closer. I had measured and determined that I could cut no more than 5" on the forestock. I would probably save that 2.5"-5" for the last cut.

I saw that plug screw and had wondered about it and its function.

Steve, you had shown a pic of a flat burrstock pad as being more practical. I was curious that if the rifle brl was level would this flat, straight pad be on a 90 degree angle in relation to the brl?

Just eyeballing the curved buttpad it looks like the angle would be less than 90 degrees.

Could be an optical illusion on my part.
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You cut the brl 4" and only cut the forestock 2.5".

So, you cut another dove tail and if you'd cut 4" off the stock you could've used the same dove tail to affix the stock from the breech cut brl?

[missionary5155]

Good morning
One aspect of this"Modification" would be to cut the barrel first and fire a few rounds to see if the extended mag tube had any influence on bullet flight / accuracy as it leaves the barrel.
I have cut off several barrels that were "wallered" out by poor cleaning techniques of previous owners.. always use a muzzle protector ! Never thought about leaving to mag tube out front and doing some accuracy tests.

[Nixterdemus]

I reckon that might be possible. Never thought about that as I was more concerned w/leftovers covering the mag tube.

I had considered not cutting the mag tube any. The little plug that Steve mentioned was gonna be used to support an AL or SS bridge that would angle from the bottom of the brl down to the top of the tube.

Now that would probably be ugly beyond compare for the sake of the two extra rounds in the tube.

[Nate Kiowa Jones]

Thanks for allowing me to bounce the idea off ya'll. It appears that the short rifle special comes in at 1.6 lbs over the carbine and it doesn't feel right, to me.

I like the 20" brl, 10 rnd tube capaciity, weight and balance on the carbine so I'm not wishing to create a trapper model, yet I've already bought this short rifle and need to do something, somewhere down the road.

The 2.5" off the foresrock looks a lot better and thanks for posting the pics.

I guess cutting from the breech end is prefered coz you maintain the crown, blue and relationship to the mag tube.

I'm only guesstamating in my mind and that can be dangerous coz there's a lot of room to wander in there.

I think 2-2.5" of the buttstock(youth carbine?) and 2.5-3" off the brl would put me closer. I had measured and determined that I could cut no more than 5" on the forestock. I would probably save that 2.5"-5" for the last cut.

I saw that plug screw and had wondered about it and its function.

Steve, you had shown a pic of a flat burrstock pad as being more practical. I was curious that if the rifle brl was level would this flat, straight pad be on a 90 degree angle in relation to the brl?

As it is the crescent butplate is about 90 degrees more or less but you can cut it whatever you want. I prefer a slightly negative toe on hard recoilers. It doesn't dig into the shoulder chest as much. See pic below.

Just eyeballing the curved buttpad it looks like the angle would be less than 90 degrees.

Could be an optical illusion on my part.
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So, you cut another dove tail and if you'd cut 4" off the stock you could've used the same dove tail to affix the stock from the breech cut brl?

You cut the brl 4" and only cut the forestock 2.5".

The 20" stainless gun only got the forend cut 2.5".

The Blue and color-case 16" oct started as a 20" and both the barrel and the forewood were cut 4" from the breech. So, yes the dovetail for the forend tennon was reused on this gun.

If I wanted an 18" oct Rossi with a shotgun style butt I would start with a 24" oct, cut the muzzle to 18", (This will eliminate the twist-in mag hanger) re-hang the mag tube with a Marlin style hanger and cut and redovetail the fore wood back about 3". For the butstock I would use a Carbine stock as is or cut it and add a plate or pad. When cut to shotgun style the crescent rifles stock doesn't look right to me.

[jhrosier]

I'm thinking that if you were to have the forend shortened and the barrel turned to half round, the gun would be a bit lighter and not too ugly.

Jack

[Nixterdemus]

That dang ole Steve needs to write a book coz he has some interesting reading. Thanks for your experience and insight. I takes a while for my brain to engage, but it's slowly comin' up to speed.

Your take on the negative toe is intriguing. I'm envisioning this angle is a more suitable muscular-skeletal configuration that assists in a better distribution of energy, more equally diffused over the entire area of the buttstock possibly pressing the skin and muscle back and up combining w/muzzle rise for more of a rolling sensation.

I can see cutting down a 24" to an 18" to drop one style hanger for another.
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I'm not sure about the half rnd brl. It would be lighter, yet I'm not sure if it would be as much as taking 2.5-3" off the end. An option to consider.