doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com MY BOSS RENOVATION ADVENTURE

George,
Best of luck on your new project. I suggest you purchase the Donald Dallas book BOSS & CO BEST GUNMAKERS. A letter to Boss could confirm the date of manufacture but the Dallas book indicates that your gun was made c.1860 - which means it's a pinfire conversion.

Thanks for the suggestion, Steve and the reference to the Dallas book. I have been in touch with the Company and I am waiting now on a history of the gun from them...Geo

PS: The 1871 date was my guess based on an extropilation; the seller said he thought it was a pinfire conversion...all the more interesting!

im sure you will come up with some thing the gun certainly warrants the attention.

George you should have bought the one Cabelas had listed for a couple of years....better over all condition and you could've even shot it for $1200 bucks.

jOe, I didn't have $1,200; I had $750. You're just jealous because you won't be joining me and the other high rollers at the next Boss&Co shotgun owners of America get together...Geo

Couple of points to bear in mind for your project:
Sleeving with damascus tubes is very possible, I have seen a couple of examples and, although the joint is rather visible if looked for, a passing glance will probably miss it if you are lucky with the match in pattern.
As a converted pinfire, you may well find that the wall thickness at the breech and on through the chambers is considerably less than a more recent centre fire barrel. This means that there is less thickness to accommodate the old breech piece and the internal top-hat of the new barrel.
This thinness also could compromise the safety of the barrel in the chamber area, not a good idea.
One option might be to use 16b tubes sleeved into the 12b stubs. These might more closely match the external dimensions of your old 12b pinfire barrels.
Lastly, extractor holes can run very close to the chamber internal surfaces and might make additional welding necessary on the donor barrels after machining the top-hat.
I would suggest that having a good set of damascus tubes re-lumped to fit your gun may be a neater solution and possibly no more expensive, if you can find someone with the skills to do it.

The one at Cabelas was a 3" magnum.

I have a trigger plate Joseph Lang 12 bore NE with exquisite engraving. The Damascus barrels are dented and have holes.
I have a really nice set of heavy Belgian 12 bore damascus 30 inch barrels.
I am sending the gun and barrels to a prominent gunsmith to see if he thinks it is feasible to sleeve the Belgian barrels onto the original Lang barrels.
So many "experts" here have told me it is NOT feasible, I hope to prove them wrong. If it can't be done, then we will just use nwe steel tubes.
Mike

George
Interesting project.

I have two photos that you and others may be interested in viewing. I do not remember where on the web I plucked them, maybe from Keith Kearcher.
Good luck with your project.





LARGE Photos
http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/7980/398395belg2800lbud.jpg
http://img694.imageshack.us/img694/5973/398395belg2802lbud.jpg

I am very appreciative of the excellent advice I am getting from some guys I consider to be real experts. I also recognize the value of jOe's reminder to keep things in balance; a project like this could get out of hand both in relation to expense and to disappointment in the results.

Toby, I haven't seen the gun yet so I will be on the lookout for the possibility of thin chamber walls. I realize this is a pretty old gun. The switch to 16ga would be a plus for me.

Birdog, I'd be thrilled it it turned out looking the photos you posted...Geo