Does this sound feasible?

I have a junk 26" .303 barrel off of an 1899A takedown rifle. The plan is to send it down to Briley and have it bored and chambered for 3" .410 shotshell with the tightest choke possible. The intent is to have an auxiliary .410 barrel that attaches like a normal rifle barrel and be suitable for the .410 turkey shoots that are popular at a couple of clubs out in western Maryland.

I know the original .410 barrels had 2�" chambers, so I'm wondering if there will be enough room to finagle a 3" shell into the chamber with the bolt completely open. 3" shells are necessary because the rules state any weight shot is permissible in the loads used (handloads are ok- everybody uses them)- and one can squeeze a lot more #9's into a 3" hull than a 2�". Some guys are loading over an ounce in the little buggers, with a correspondingly puny powder charge- the shot only has to make it 20 yards to the target. Some of those guys get patterns with their .410 "race guns" that are all but totally contained on the 5x8" target- hence the need for a crazy tight choke (or possibly screw-in choke tubes).

I figure it'll get the tongues wagging amongst the locals when I show up with the thing to compete against their Browning pumps and Stevens single shots. One guy spent almost $1000 on a custom barrel with scope mount for his old Stevens single shot, and yes, he takes home more than his share of hams and turkeys.

It's a fun way to spend a Sunday afternoon when there's nothing else to do.

Thoughts? It'll be an adjunct barrel for the takedown custom I'm (still) working on.

go for it and let us know how it works out

norm

Gary,im not sure about the 3" shell working in the receiver,because of the length of the fired shell being to long to eject correctly???? maybe it will. the other thing is the bottom dovetail for the takedown latch stud,i wonder how thick the barrel would be in that area after its bored for the 410??? i know some have done it with the stud instead of the knurled fore end screw.

Sounds like an interesting idea

I'd be worried about wall thickness as well.

Figure out what your wall thickness will be before it's been chambered for the 410, might just be throwing money away.

I like the way your thinking, but Kinda side with Don and Joe, im putting togather a 410 99 with out the knurled knob thing also but cheated and just traded into the 410 barrel all done, still have to use the takedown forarm tho! I hunted one fall season, with one of the savage 410 barrels, shot a few squirrels with it but the forarm would come off about ever other shot! I wish you luck in your endever!

I have noticed that the ejection on mine with the shorter shell is sometimes hard to get the hull out, the 3" mine be worse?

I think you should start with something like this
http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=400402329

Take what you don't need off the bbl spin it, thread it, chamber it, see how she shoots, add tubes if needed.

I think it sounds like a great idea. I have a .410 barrel on a 99 and the walls were made pretty thin at the factory. I must believe that the barrel you end up with will be at least that thick. That said, I do think the barrel maker can tell you ahead of time what the thickness will be. Let us know. Good luck!

How thin is thin Steve?

What's the wall thickness of the factory barrels?

half to remember a 2i/2 shell expands to almost 3 upon firing ,, how about using a 303 brit shell expanded to 410 load it a little heavy with 38 bore[ therefor FULL CHOKE that should get you a small pattern at 20 yds

norm

Ejection is not a problem given that the rifle is a take down and you can always drop the forearm and unscrew the barrel to eject the spent shell with a ramrod/cleaning rod. Kinda caveman style but it would work. Problem is will he be able to finagle the 3" cartridge into the chamber.

Hell Gary, If your shooting targets with it you can screw the barrel off to reload. Kind of like breach seating with fewer tools required.

If you want it to eject I think using a brass case sounds like the way to go. The opening from bolt face to rear of the receiver ring is close to 3". You could trim the case to what ever the max length that works. A 3" might not work but it would be more than 2 1/2".

You can buy 2 1/2" brass but didn't find 3". Found a video on U-Tube making the case from a 9.3x74R. Or go as Norm suggested above.

There appears to be enough barrel wall thickness under the dovetail cut. Waiting on a reply from Briley as to whether there's enough, considering how far ahead of the chamber it is + the relatively low pressure of a .410 shell compared to a rifle cartridge.

Actually, Gary's suggestion makes sense. Upon actually trying a shell in an un-barreled TD action (do you realize how hard it is to find a .410 shell when you only need one and you don't have any?), a loaded shell can be wrestled in, I think, but as stated above getting the empty out is the killer. When I get it done, I think I'll have it chambered for 3" and do the unscrew the barrel routine to at least get the empty out. After all, the way these matches work is you fire a shot and then go and grab a coffee and a hot dog while waiting for the targets in your relay to be scored. It may not be another half-hour until you fire the next shot-- plenty of time to go through that rigamarole. If I should ever want to use it in the field, there's no reason 2�" shells can't be used in the 3" chamber. (Not that I would want to use it for hunting what with the nasty �ber-tight choke.)

I have to check the rules, Rick, but I think one is obliged to use standard factory hulls even though one is allowed to use reloads. As I said initially 3" hulls are necessary in order to squeeze in the maximum amount of #9 shot. (Nothing smaller is allowed- one guy got busted for using #11 or 12 shot. What counts is the BB hole closest to the center-X. The more BB's on the paper the better the chance of winning. Conversely, I saw a guy win once who only managed maybe a dozen hits instead of a few hundred- he had one lone BB dead center.)

Actually another big downside is having to have a second fore arm made since the shot barrel will be larger in diameter than the rest of the 1899H barrels in the set, which means scrounging up all the hardware for a second one.

Mama said it wouldn't be easy!

Well then just make a cap with a firing pin to screw onto the barrel after loading the shell. Touch it off with a hammer. Now you dont need any fore arm at all. No need to thank me, but if you must, PM me for my paypal address.

Scratch that. Attach the barrel to a 25# block of steel, call it a bench rest fore arm. Good steady rest. Then just open the lever and unscrew the action from the barrel and "fore arm" to load.

Wow! You are the "Idea Man"! Can you cook up a cell phone app that allows you to fire my gun from out there when I get the sights lined up? It'll save me from stressing my trigger finger that got smashed when struggling with a 25# steel forearm.

If you mill a little of the front ring you maybe able to get the length needed to eject the spent case? You maybe able to remove a little off the bolt stop and that may gain some as well? The rules say you can use screw in chokes? What about bbl length?

Screw in chokes- ok. No bbl length restrictions. No milling of the rear face of the receiver ring is possible, Chris. There's only a thin web about 1/16" thick there that the rear of the barrel butts up against.

Well I was able to get ahold of a single 410 bbl. I milled the lug off and trued it in the lathe. Looks like it will work, I have an old receiver full of holes that will get the nod for the job.

Gary
It Can Be Done
But I don't Know About the Length for Rotor and Ejection.
There's Plenty Of Meat after rebore.