doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion Classic & Custom Single Barreled Sporting Rifles @ doublegunshop.com WTB octagon to round barrel

I've got a really great 1903 Springfield receiver that was given to me by a great friend. It looks like Kornbrath and is almost identical in pattern and execution to Col Whelen's 35 Whelen receiver. That 35 was originally a .400 Whelen. It is well documented in Mr Rifleman and I believe there was close-up photography from one of the auction houses a couple years ago.

I want to build this receiver into a .400 to pay tribute to that rifle. I thought I had a line on an original early G&H style octagon to round with a full rib barrel, but it did not work out. A current discussion with Mr Furguson had me thinking, why not find an old German barrel and have it rebored? I'll have to turn the threads off and sleeve over the reduced barrel shank to fit it to a Springfield, but that's not impossible. I know I'm crazy, but I can't help it.

Anybody got a barrel they would part with that would go with this receiver?

Looks very interesting. I'd be concerned that the most likely place a German barrel might have come from would be a low pressure rimmed cartridge single shot. My other thought would be that if I was pretty sure sure of the provenance of the receiver/engraving, then I'd consider having a quality modern barrel machined in a close likeness to what you're trying to achieve.

A standard octagon to round barrel might be had for a pretty reasonable cost. An integral rib that looks good, might probably bump the anti way up. The right look from an orphan barrel might involve a good bit of luck. Is it worth rethinking the relatively large bore and high pressure based on serial number? Only thoughts, I'd love to stumble into something like that.

Perhaps this is what you intend, but I have seen a few Mausers that had round-to-octagon barrels. Which is to say they were round at receiver face and became octagon at the forearm tip. Exactly backwards of what I associate as "normal". They looked pretty good, though I can't say that I would have ever thought to do that since my experiences have strongly biased what I think is the right way to do it.

Yes, I'm looking for a Mauser barrel. Something like a 9.3X57 that can be opened from .366 to .411. There are plenty of them out there still on rifles, I'm just checking around to try to find a take-off barrel to keep from buying a rifle just to cannabalize the barrel.

I am under no illusion that this is the Col Whelen's receiver. That rifle is well documented. Mark Benenson was the last custodian that I know of. This one is just very similarly engraved. This was given me by a friend who collects military rifles and is not interested in modified recievers. I'd like to do something special with it and I can't think of anything better than making it up like the 400 Col Whelen had.

bsteele,
If you are in the market for a 9.3x57 barrel, I suggest you give Simpson Ltd. a look. Most of what they have in that caliber are on Huskys and are round. However, from time to time, they have other makes, which may have Oct. to round barrels with rib. The most economical would be one with a barrel and/or stock bad enough you can stand taking it down. Even then, you should have them measure the muzzle diameter first, to insure there is enough room. In the long run, you might be better satisfied to buy a blank and have it milled to the contour you want by one of the good young makers like Nathaniel Meyers.
Mike

BSteele,
You might check with Lothar Walther, I just looked on their site and they have a full octagon barrel with rib. While the illustrations show it for a Mauser, I gather they will make it for whatever you want. I don't know if they will round the muzzle portion now if they have the proper diameter bore. But WTH a phone call should settle that. By the time you buy an acceptable barrel, rebore it, sleeve the breach to fit an 03 you might be $ ahead to get one of theirs.

Thaine

Get a Lothar Walther contoured blank and fit it to the receiver. Wholesale about $225.