Any idea how long these have been are around? While going through a 1980 Shooter's Bible, I noticed that Rottweil had a picture of tube sets next to their "American Skeet Model" O/U. They state: "The First shotgun specifically designed for tube sets."


Showing my ignorance here, but I actually thought these were a more recent development.

Invented by Clyde Purbaugh in 1957! The tube sets were made for the gun not the other way around.

Claude, actually.

A 1978 ad from American Shotgunner...

I had Claude open the chokes on my first sxs, a BSS 12g. I believe he was in Monrovia, CA or somewhere there against the mountains

His Remington 1100 conversion was another interesting concept. Took a standard frame 20 and put a liner in the barrel and reworked the action. Made a heck of a skeet gun. But reliability was less than perfect. You know, nothing bothers a clay shooter than one gun malfunction. Repeated several times in a day or even week and even the best gun was off the the smith or sold down the road. Still see it today.

What a horrible liar my memory is, I can mentally see his name written as Clyde.

ever' once in a while, I see someone pedling a set of his tubes around the range.

TTBOMK, Purbaugh made the first successful sub gauge tubes for shotguns, using aluminum. I think he had worked in the aircraft industry and learned about working with aluminum. Tube inserts for rifle cartridges were available long before that, though.
And yes, he was in Monrovia. He spawned quite an industry. Skeet master was run by a former employee. He had two sons, Bill and Jerry, who ran the bid'ness for a while after Claude retired. He's gone now, like the San Gabriel Valley Gun Club.

Claude built my conversion 1100 in .410. It is a darn sight more reliable than the original factory 1100 .410s. My 28 gauge 870SC Purbaugh conversion is without a malfunction in I can't imagine how many years. I bought my Purbaugh .410 at an auction where it was advertised as a 20 gauge because that's what it said on the Remington barrel. No one took the time to look down the barrel.

the former employee to claude that branched out was dick gonser. dick made skeetmaster tubes. dick got the cancer and sold off his business to me as a military retirement gift in 1999. I currently have all the remining stock and corp records to his business. dick passed away in Glendora ca in 2012.
im aging now, and I never was able to pursue my dream of relaunching it.
if anyone knows of any young inspiring barrel smiths wanting to jump into the trade, id be glad to give them a boost.
lmk.....
https://www.gunauction.com/buy/16244173

2007 to 2019 quite a slow reaction time bObski....

Just saying.

ole claude............

I have skeet guns with Purbaugh, SkeetMaster, and Briley tube sets.

All work well

I even have a couple of home made tubes, they are rough but do function

I sold my last purbaugh tube set 3 years ago. sad to see it go but a short stocky fellow had to have my 26" k32 tubed skeet gun.

The only way I would ever consider using a tubed clays gun is if I could have a carrier barrel set to accept them that, with tubes installed, closely matched the weight and handling characteristics of my 12 ga. barrels. When I compete in sub-gauge sporting events I use different guns for each gauge. Not ideal, I know, but IMO no worse than tubes in a 12 ga. barrel set that increase the weight of it by the weight of the tubes.

There's a lot of folks who love them, tho'.

SRH

a carrier bbl is a new concept created to address the issue of weight.
personally, I think its silly, since 99% of skeet shooters like to weigh their guns UP.
the external bbl weight was designed to be attached to the 12ga bbl when the owner shot the 12ga events. the weight matched the weight of the tubes. this concept has been in place for decades and was accepted as the norm.
but...the vast majority of 12ga o&u's kick, so the vast majority of 12ga events ended up being shot with semi autos. it wasn't uncommon to see all the tube owners break out their semis for the 12ga and doubles events.
then, all of a sudden, everyone just did away with 12ga ammo and guns and shot the 12ga events with 20ga guns.

so...here comes the carrier concept. why?
makes no sense since weighing the light 12ga guns up was always the goal.

this is why to this day, I feel the 4 bbl set concept wins the day. 4 bbls, 4 gauges, all the same weight.

No, it's not about weight only, it's about handling ..... what your muscle memory feels when you shoulder a gun and swing it. The whole world doesn't revolve around skeet shooters, and what they like, either. Carrier barrels make perfect sense when you're really serious about sub gauge sporting clay competition.

Nothing wrong with a 4 barrel set, as long as they all have the same handling characteristics. Many do not.

SRH

that was the intent of the 4 bbls being exactly the same.

A little bit of a drift here.
I need a barrel hanger (band) for a Remington 3200
Mike

Stan, the problem with the four barrel sets was that the sight picture was very different from 12-20-28 then a major drop off to .410. You could get them to balance the same with a bit of work. Then you had to make sure the POI was all the same, many were not. Tube sets had the exact same sight picture. Plus many shooters liked the extra weight on a sustained lead type of game. I find 9.5-10.5 guns too heavy these days. 6.5-8 works well for me.

I have shot them all. Four pump guns, four semi autos, four barrel sets, tube sets, 20 ga 1100 concerted to 28 &.410, 25 1/2”, 26”, 28”, 30”, 32 and even 34”. In the end they all worked when I did my part. It’s the Indian not the bow or arrow.

I have one on my 4 bbl 3200 skeet gun. buy the set, ill throw that hanger in for free for you to rob it off the 12ga. lol:>

Good plan
I have a number of 3200s and some with barrel sets and some with
tube sets.
But I have wanted either a K32 or 3200 with 16 gauge barrels.

SOOOO, I just bought this

https://www.gunbroker.com/item/817175321

Odd that it has the trap stepped vent rib ?

I have Lothar Walther 16 gauge conversion inserts, and will need a barrel hanger and ejectors to complete the rough set.

Mike

this is why carriers are confusing in pursuit of the ultimate goal of weighing up a gun. no one I know in the sport trims guns down. its always up.
just say I/E: your 12ga bbl weighs 3 lbs.
and the total gun with the 12ga bbl on is 7.5lbs.
add a tube set any ga.....figure 1 lb.
now you have a gun weighing 8.5lbs.
great.
but, if you go back to the 12ga bbl, its only 7.5.
so....you add a 1 lb weight.
done.

but....now you have a 7.5 lb 12ga gun with an extra carrier bbl.
you add 1 lb worth of tubes.
so now you have 8.5lb gun PLUS whatever the carrier bbl is.
it WONT match the 12ga bbl set up. itll be off again.

the way I see it is a carrier bbl is only for those who choose to bypass shooting 12ga all together.
which is conflicting since all someone has to do is get a tube set and put any set in the 12ga and leave it...and never load the 12ga ever.
why get another carrier bbl?
answer: gizmo fad.

YES, you nailed it

I just wanted a heavy skeet 16 gauge to play with.

My light 16 gauge guns are not much fun by station 5.

Mike

Completely agree, Jon. My point is that it's easier for you to "do your part" when your muscle memory doesn't have to adapt to different weights and sight pictures. The Indian likely shot the same bow all the time, wouldn't you bet? Bet'cha he didn't shoot lightweight bows for lightweight arrows, and vise versa.

SRH

Indians couldn't hit jack with a bow anyway....

I've had a number of tubed skeet guns, from Rem 3200s to a K80. I hated them. Guns that start at 8 1/2 lbs and then tubed make for some really slow guns. All of them went down the road. I prefer a 4 barrel set for a multigauge skeet gun. The "carrier" barrel concept is about halfway between to me. The exception I ran across was a 682 with a carrier setup. It was a light (low MOI) gun to start with.

Where have you been hiding Chuck? I like better balanced guns too, but I’m betting most tournament skeet shooters will not agree with your sentiment. They like those barrel heavy tube sets. When tubes became more and more popular, 4-barrel sets became less and less popular with those guys.

Mike, do you still need a bbl hanger for your 3200? I have a few, mostly from 32 inch trap guns, I can send you one gratis, just let me know address, etc.
Dennis Potter
dennispotter@att.net
262 378 7540

Dennis
Thank you
Email sent

Mike Lowrey
milowrey@sbcglobal.net
806 359 0142

The whole purpose of a carrier barrel is that it is bored out to reduce weight to the point that, with the tube set in place, final weight will be the same, or very, very close to the same weight as the original 12 ga. set. Some responses seem to assume that the weight will not be the same. If it isn't, I'd have no interest. If it can be made to be, and my understanding is that it can, the advantage of the carrier barrel set remains.

SRH

Back to Claude Purbaugh conversions & tubes.. I'd sent a PM to Eightbore a while back seeking some insight/help, but have received no response, to date. ??

Does anyone here know of who might affect some repairs to sets of his 20ga. tubes or be capable of fabricating a set of ejectors for a set of his tubes fitted to an early B.C. Miroku 12ga. Superior skeet gun.. or modifying or locating a std. 20 ga. 1100 bolt for one of his .410 conversions?

If so, pls. send me a PM Thanks!

kolar and briley can replace cracked chambers on purbaugh tube sets.
I have the molds for ejectors but im OOB and cant set up shop just for you. sorry. try the big guys.

my logic is this.
skeet requires weight to balance a gun. 99.9999% of skeet gun owners complain that skeet guns are too light, so they welcome the weight of tubes and adjust butt weight to compensate. the result is you get a balanced gun for 20-28 and 410.

so, now you have a 12ga bbl by its self. then you get a tube set PLUS the carrier bbl attempting to equal an already light set up.
that is (IL)logical.
take il-logic one step further....
bbl co.'s reduce weight of tubes with (ultra) lights and make a carrier bbl ultralight...to equal a 12ga bbl.
no gain in my eyes. backwards engineering. the rig will just return to being....too light.

my 3200 4 bbl set is factory 8.5 lbs.
that's on average, 1 lb heavier than typical skeet guns of its time.
take a 3200, add tubes, counter balance it with a adjust buttplate and thick pad, you got the balance and most likely a 9 to 10lb gun. perfect.

take a 12ga 7.5 citori. add a carrier to it (reduced weight,) then add the super light tubes. maybe you get at most a 8.5 lb gun.
add an adjustable butt or nice squishy pad, now its getting butt heavy. so back goes the weight up front with an external bbl weight.

why?

gadget addiction.

just get tubes, balance and shoot it.....like generations did before you.
I can attest.....more skeet shooters put more money into guns and gadgets than they do ammo and practice....chasing ideas and building false confidence in the gun.
and 99.999% of it is caused by the guy next to them having it, making them want it, and the industry offers it, and markets it as the answer to all your skeet problems.
lol.

don't believe me? look at some for sale rooms on line and look at all the guns that have been modified to the owners needs. very rarely do you see a gun that hasn't been butchered.

tw

Good luck on your quest to get the old ones up and running

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Remington-Model-A-1100-20-ga-breech-bolt-assembly/183851164745?hash=item2ace622449:g:YPAAAOSw4yJdB5w9

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Remington-model-1100-20ga-standard-complete-bolt-assy-after-market-LOT-20/173771242003?hash=item287592ba13:g:TuAAAOSwJ89cUxzs