I don't know exactly where to start this thread. Maybe just a basic description of what's being built is good enough to start with.

I'm making a rifle barrel chambered in .416x348 Win, to fit on an H&R Topper receiver.

But... There's a little more to the story.

A few years back (5 or so), I got in on one of the last auctions in which they were selling off the last of the A-Square property after it went out of business.http://thehunterslife.com/forums/showthread.php?t=16802&highlight=A-Square I bought a bunch (10), of their test barrels. Among the bunch were 5 of them in .416 caliber, chambered in:
1) Rem Mag,
2) Taylor,
3) Hoffman,
4) Chapuis, and
5) Rigby.

You can see pictures of those barrels in the thread from the link above.

Y'all may recall the .416x.348 Win Cape Gun I made. (http://thehunterslife.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12911 ) I sleeved the right barrel of a Huglu 16 gauge SxS. That firearm was brutal because it has a 'small' shotgun-type stock on it, AND because the loads I put in it were a little faster than QuickLOAD predicted, so the recoil was very unpleasant. However, I REALLY liked the .416x.348 Win CARTRIDGE!

I've been looking for something to chamber in that cartridge ever since I made the Cape Gun. One of the 'ideas' was to put .416x348 Win barrel on a Husqvarna rolling block. You can see my first attempt at refurbishing a RB action here: http://thehunterslife.com/forums/showthread.php?t=15825. I'm in the process of getting that RB receiver ready to put a barrel on, but I've got to find the #$@%^&* breech and hammer blocks.

However, I also recently purchased an H&R Topper Receiver for dirt cheap. ($50) The wood for it cost me $85. Now to put a barrel on that receiver, you need the 'lump'. I had two choices: 1) Machine my own, and then weld it to a barrel, or 2) Buy a barrel and attach the lump from that barrel to a rifle barrel, thereby fitting the barrel to the H&R receiver. I chose #2.

And that's where this thread gets started; the process of fitting one of those A-Square test barrels to the chamber of an H&R shotgun barrel.

So let's start the pictures with some close-ups of some of the barrel 'issues'.

In this first picture, you can see the hole that goes clear into the chamber. This is for the "copper crusher". (This is how they derive the "CUP" pressure value.)

I believe I COULD plug that hole for a low pressure round, but, remember that these barrels are already chambered, so "plugging the hole" - even if possible - is not an option. Therefore, I have to cut that breech off right at the front of that hole.

There are also two more 'flats' in the breech of these test barrels. Fortunately, while they effect machine-work, they don't shorten the barrel any more. This notch is part of the mechanism to lock the barrel in the universal breech.


Here's a picture of parting off the rear portion of the chamber of the test barrel (.416 Rem Mag).


Cutting the chamber off just ahead of the hole leaves me with 24.25 inches of barrel, AND shortens the chambering sufficiently to allow me to cut the .416x348 Win chamber. :D

Next comes "the lump". As I said, I bought a 12 gauge barrel solely for the purpose of cannibalizing the chamber and lump from it. I wanted a 12 gauge so that there would be plenty of 'space' to insert the CHAMBERED barrel stub. Here are some pictures of the chamber and lump once removed from the shotgun barrel.


The "lump" ended up being 2.8" long. That was 'good' in that it gave me plenty of room to make the barrel stub the way I wanted. "The way I wanted" was to thread the "lump" about an inch or so in from the muzzle end. I would cut the rifle barrel stub just barely longer than the "lump", (turned out to be 0.007" longer), and as close to the ID of the "lump" as I could get, and still get the rifle barrel stub in. I would thread a corresponding part of the rifle stub that would screw into the threads in the "lump". When all properly fitted, the stub would be covered in Lock-tite and screwed into the "lump" becoming "one".

Here are photos of the threaded (20 TPI) "lump".
From the muzzle end:


From the breech end:


Next came 'reducing' that herkin' test barrel 'down to size' and cutting threads to screw into the "lump". The breech end of the test barrel is 2" in diameter, and the barrel proper was 1.25" in diameter. There was A LOT of metal to remove. The ID of the 12 gauge chamber ("lump") was 0.808". The depth of the 20-pitch threads was 0.0375". Therefore, I had to reduce the test barrel's breech from 2" to ~0.881". Almost an inch and a quarter. As it turned out, it was easiest to just thread the whole stub until it screwed into the "lump" as designed. THEN, reduce the breech end of the rifle barrel stub to JUST fit in the breech end of the "lump" as the stub was screwed into the "lump". Worked like I knew what I was doin'.

I didn't get any pictures of the operations associated with fitting the rifle barrel stub to the "lump". (If I don't remember to bring the camera out to the shop when I first come out, by the time I'm ready to take some pictures, I'm not going back in the house to get the camera.)

Be that as it may, here are some pictures of the "lump" and the rifle barrel after being fitted together.






And the "whole thing":


The finished length is 24 and an 8th of an inch from breech to muzzle.

The OD of the "lump" was about 1.12", and the OD of the rifle barrel was 1.25", so I had to take about and eighth of an inch off the OD of the barrel to match the OD of the "lump". I only turned that part of the barrel out to the length of the forearm down to that OD.

Since the lump and rifle barrel were "one", AND "clocked" up in the 4-jaw chuck, it was time to chamber the barrel. I decided I would cut the chamber "by hand". Meaning, no power turning the head of the lathe. OY! It took THREE HOURS to cut it, and near the end, when the reamer was essentially cutting its full length, I REALLY had to 'lean on' the wrench I was using to turn the reamer! BUT... the chamber is "perfect", with a headspace of 0.003". No pictures of that. You guys have seen that. Not too different from watching paint dry.

Once the chamber was cut, it was time to reverse the barrel in the chuck, holding only the "lump", and prepare to profile the barrel. Recall that the rifle barrel was 1.25" in diameter and now about 1.12" out to the length of the forearm. Minimally, it had to be profiled to fit the forearm. Beyond that, I wasn't sure how I would profile  the rest of the length. The forearm is 8.5" long. The 12 gauge shotgun barrel goes from ~1.12" at the front of the receiver, to 0.890" at the end of the forearm. That's a taper of 0.028" (both sides) per inch of barrel. That taper would have to be cut with the cross-slide. Trouble is, the total travel of the cross-slide is 3.3". The total length of cut needed to 8.5". Which meant moving the cross-slide three times. That's the 'bad news'. The 'good news' is that I don't have to buy a $350 tapering jig.

Here's the profiling activity.

Clocked up in 4-jaw chuck:








After cutting the diameter of the length of the forearm to the OD of the "lump". This is the "starting diameter".






And with the forearm resting on the part of barrel that will get its profile:


After cutting the profile for the forearm, I decided to just make the rest of the barrel without taper. That would keep the weight up to reduce recoil, and keep the most 'meat' at the muzzle, aiding at least, in minimizing 'oscillations'.

I got started profiling the rest of the barrel before I realized that I hadn't brought the camera out to the shop. So no pictures of the 'act' of profiling. However, I do have pictures of the almost "finished product". It's 'almost' finished because I have only given it a preliminary polish. I still have some scratches to remove. Oh yeah, before I get to those pictures: The people that sold me the stock set, didn't send the "butt bolt". So I'm waiting for them to send that along. Therefore, I can't attach the butt to the receiver yet. Also, the forearm attaches to the barrel using a screw into a stub on the barrel. The rifle barrel has no such stub. Yet. So the "assembled" pictures may look a little 'funny'. Also, I'll be refinishing the wood and bluing the barrel.

Here are the "almost finished" pictures.

First, all the "pieces". In this picture, you see another of the test barrels. The one I used looked EXACTLY like it. Beneath that is the barrel off of the H&R that I put the .500 S&W barrel on. It is a 12 gauge barrel identical (but much prettier) than the 'scrap' 12 gauge barrel I bought for this project. The "built" barrel, and the stock pieces.


Here's a close-up of the breech ends of the various barrels and the receiver.


Here are the chambers of the two barrels so you can compare profiles.


And here are two pictures of the "built" barrel breech.

One from the top:


And one from the side:


And finally (sort of) the whole shebang:




Once I get the barrel finish-polished, blued, and the stock pieces attached, I'll post a "completed" set of pictures.

Paul

PS - Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that the plastic trigger guard on the receiver also broke. Had to get a new one of those. But, Numrich had it, and it's on its way.

Paul

PPS - Also forgot to mention that I have to cut an extractor slot. I have ordered an extractor for a .45-70 Gov't. It MIGHT be a little on the "tight" side. If it is, I'll just 'shave' it a little. Much easier than making my own!

Paul

AND... I forgot to mention sights. On one hand, I don't want to get too carried away with the quality of the sights. I could get some nice NECG sights ( https://www.newenglandcustomgun.com/Gun_Services/Front_Sights.asp ) that would very quickly double the cost of the project. But I don't want some funky cheap sights either. I will have to give this subject some more thought.

Paul

I'll post some information on the .416x348 Win reloading, as well as a link to the range report on the  Cape Gun. But I'll also post more load workup data for this firearm because I limited the max pressure of the loads for the Cape Gun to about 18,000 PSI. I'll let this one run up to the high 20s, low 30s.

Here is a picture of the cartridge and some bullets:


On the left is a 450-grain boat-tail spitzer that I got from MidwayUSA. It was a special one-time-only run. The BC for that bullet is 1.103! Moving to the right in the image is the cartridge with that BTSP loaded. To the right of that is the cartridge with a Hawk Bullets 400-grain spitzer loaded. To its right in order are all Hawk Bullets: 500g RN, 400g Spitzer, 350g Spitzer, and 300g RN.

Paul

A Kreiger barreled H&R....cool job!

QuoteA Kreiger barreled H&R

It IS a bit of lipstick on a pig, but the Kreiger barrel was close to being a throwaway. I think the rolling block build will be more 'elegant'. Also, a lot of what I do has more value as 'training/learning' than mercantile.

Paul

Don't know so much, personally would prefer the break barrel...

Forgot to add   https://williamsgunsight.com/product-category/rifle-sights/

Yeah, I looked at the Williams sights (and site). Going to have to give 'sights' some considered thought.

As for preference for break-barrel... NOT ME!

Paul

I think it looks COOL

RJ

The replacement trigger guard came in today, and after only moderate swearing, I got it installed.

As I was giving thought to refinishing the stock, and finding and selecting sights, it occurred to me that I have an H&R rifle that I REALLY like that was produced by "the factory". It is the Model 1871, "Buffalo Classic", chambered in 45-70 Gov't with a 32" barrel. It looks like this:

Note the following:
1) Long forearm. I like that.
2) Straight wrist. I like that, too.
3) Williams' sights. I like those.

So...

I can make the Buffalo Classic butt stock from the butt stock I have. :D. I can make the Buffalo Classic forearm, and use the piece from the existing forearm (that mates with the receiver), on the fabricated forearm. The Williams sights are readily available. Furthermore, the shape of the barrel on the Buffalo Classic is very similar to the .416x.348 Win barrel. It's longer - 32" instead of 24" - and the Buffalo Classic is 0.800" at the muzzle, not the 0.890" of the .416x.348 Win. That's a non-issue, as the front globe is dove-tailed into the barrel. I can make that as deep as necessary, OR get a slightly lower front globe.

I may look around for a Buffalo Classic stock set. I haven't seen any for sale, but you never know. If I don't find a set quickly, I'll make them. I will need to get the Buffalo Classic butt plate if I make the stock set.

I think stock set and sights are a 'done deal'.

Paul

Thanks, RJ. I think it will look a lot better with the Buffalo Classic furniture.

Paul

I will post QuickLOAD load data and external ballistic (trajectory) tables for the 5 Hawk bullets seen above, all of which I have in hand. I'll put each in a separate post so it's easier to read, find, and cite. Here is the data on the 300-grain round nosed bullet. (You can look at Hawk bullets here: http://hawkbullets.com/)

All of the calculations are configured to give me as close as I can get to the following personal criteria:
1) Muzzle energy less than 3200 ft-lbs. (Keeps recoil to the level of my .338 Win Mag shooting 225-grain bullets, which I can shoot at the bench without it being unpleasant.)
2) Deliver (impact energy) more than 1500 ft-lbs to 300 yards.
3) Have a trajectory such that I don't have to aim "off hair" at 300 yd for the animals I would hunt with this cartridge.
4) Have an impact velocity that allows the bullet to perform TERMINALLY, as designed.

The following images are screenshots of QuickLOAD.

The first image is of the Cartridge Input:

Since this is being fired from a single shot rifle, I can seat the bullet out to 2/3rds of a caliber without worrying about the bullet moving in the neck because of other cartridges being fired. That allows me to get the same MV with lower pressure. When I start fiddling with barrel timing, I can use the seating depth to fine tune the load to a specific exit time.

Next is Powder Used:

There were several powders that "made the cut" in terms of percent of case capacity, pressure, and velocity produced, but I like I4831 for large capacity cases and the pressure is good at only 27.7 kPSI, so I chose it.

The next three are Output files. The first is the Pressure vs Time curve:

I'll point out in a later image that the amount of powder burnt before the bullet exits the muzzle is less than 100% (actually, ~85%). Were it 100, a line would appear on this graph showing at what distance down the barrel 100% of the powder is burnt. Had I used I3031, I THINK I might have gotten 100% burnt in the barrel. However, it's kind of moot, because I don't think I'll be using the 300-grain bullets.

The next two are the Internal Ballistics:

In this image you can see the Max Pressure, the pressure when the bullet leaves the barrel, the bullet exit time, the percentage of powder burnt BEFORE the bullet exits, the MV, ME, and "efficiency". You will see the significance of this MV when we get down to the trajectory table.


In the above image, you can see the numbers for various internal ballistic components. If you are interested and need an explanation of any of them, let me know. I rarely look at this page. When I do, it's for when 100% of the powder is burnt and associated data.

And finally the Trajectory table:

On the previous pages, the "boss" was the Max Pressure. Since I had lots of "room to move" with pressure, I could set the MV so that the ME was about what I get out of my .338 Win Mag loads, that are "comfortable enough" to shoot as many as necessary from the bench when working up loads or sighting in. As you can see, this MV (2065 f/s) yields a ME of 2840 ft-lb. "Easy" shooting. About 30-06 level of recoil shooting a 200-grain bullet. Next to look at is the other end of the table: At 300 yd (my self-imposed max range), the Impact velocity (IV) is 1504 f/s and the Impact Energy (IE) is 1504 ft-lb. The IE is the minimum I want at 300, and the IV will allow the bullet to "mushroom" properly. (These Hawk bullets have "dead soft" copper jackets and PURE lead cores. They deform at lower IVs than "high performance" bullets. Drop is 20" at 300. That's "on hair" for moose, buffalo, or brown bear.

Looking at the Internal Ballistics and Trajectory table, you can see how I manipulated the Max pressure, Muzzle Velocity and Muzzle Energy, by selecting the seating depth of the bullet, the powder used, and the charge. Having about 7 kPSI of pressure head room, I could have upped the MV. However, I would have REALLY UPPED the ME - meaning recoil. Since I met all of my performance criteria with this MV (can something be "more dead"?), there is no need to beat me, or the rifle, up.

The 300 grain Hawk bullet is the "worst" choice of bullet given the above personal criteria. When you see the output of the other bullets, you'll see why.

Paul

PS - The reason the images are "different" from one another is because I sized all of them to the same WIDTH so that they would be easy to read. Some of the small ones were too difficult to read in their original size.

Paul

The following images are screenshots of QuickLOAD for the 350-grain bullet.

The first image is of the Cartridge Input:


Next is Powder Used:


The next three are Output files. The first is the Pressure vs Time curve:


The next two are the Internal Ballistics:





And finally the Trajectory table:

You can see that the pressure went up significantly to 31.3 kPSI with and attendant increase in ME (recoil) 3183 ft-lb with not much improvement in delivered energy (1847 ft-lb) and NO gain in trajectory. Hits a LITTLE 'harder' (AT BOTH ENDS) and gains nothing in trajectory. Not making the cut.


Paul

The following images are screenshots of QuickLOAD for the 400-grain bullet.

The first image is of the Cartridge Input:


Next is Powder Used:


The next three are Output files. The first is the Pressure vs Time curve:

Still not getting 100% burn in the barrel.

The next two are the Internal Ballistics:

Pressure up to 31.5 kPSI. (Only about 200 PSI from the 350.)



And finally the Trajectory table:

Slight increase in ME to 3240 ft-lb. Right at the 'top' of where I prefer. Put differently, I don't want to go above this if I don't have to. However... Look at the energy delivered to 300 yd - 2000 ft-lb. That "thumps" EVERYTHING in North America (and most of everything everywhere else too). Drop at 300 is now 23": On the "edge" for aiming off hair on brown bears. This bullet is looking "good". But.. It's gonna get better. :D


Paul

The following images are screenshots of QuickLOAD for the 450-grain bullet.

The first image is of the Cartridge Input:


Next is Powder Used:


The next three are Output files. The first is the Pressure vs Time curve:


The next two are the Internal Ballistics:

Look at that Max Pressure. It went DOWN to 29.4 kPSI!



And finally the Trajectory table:

Here's where things start to get "good". The ME is DOWN to 3100 ft-lb. That's "good". The 300 yd energy is still at 2000 ft-lbs because that's where I put the 'ceiling'. (Again, "how dead" does something have to be?) Drop at 300 is now 28". To much for brown bears but not for moose or buffalo. Lookin' good TO ME.


Paul

The following images are screenshots of QuickLOAD for the 500-grain bullet. The last one.

The first image is of the Cartridge Input:

Next is Powder Used:


The next three are Output files. The first is the Pressure vs Time curve:

Never made the 100% burn-in-barrel. Oh well. One of my rifles that shoots 'like a laser' only burns about 85% of I4831 in the barrel.

The next two are the Internal Ballistics:



Pressure is DOWN AGAIN, now to 27.6 kPSI. Essentially what the 300-grain bullet's MP was.

And finally the Trajectory table:

Here's the one! ME is down to 2957 from 3100. (You CAN feel that, I assure you.) 300 yd energy is still 2000 ft-lb because I set the MV for that. Drop is now 34", almost three feet - AT 300 YARDS. So, still OK for buffalo, on the 'edge' for moose.

So... If I ever get a chance to hunt buffalo (bison) with this rifle, I'll take the 500-grain bullets. If I'm after moose, I'll take the 450s.

This is just the PRELIMINARY work-up. Paper-whipping. I've got several powders I can choose that will allow me to play with timing nodes, recoil, and drop. It is unlikely that I will fiddle with either the 350 or or the 300 grain bullets. MAYBE if I was hunting from a stand and KNEW that the max range was going to be under 200 yd, I might consider the lighter weight bullets.

Now you can see why I LIKE this cartridge.

Paul