[bear308]

Does anyone know specifics on this barrel.

Sorry about the pic quality, I just threw the thing in a scanner.

A customer just brought this in and I have no idea what the thing on the end is. It has what looks like 6 lans rifling in the end but it's straight. In the largest part is a chamber that is smooth inside and out except for two ports on each side. The guy thinks it's a choke (a la shotgun ). Any ideas?

[Rumpled]

I don't have any idea, but more ?'s

Is only the end rifled? What about the rest of the barrel?
Are you sure it's a .44?

I ask, because it makes me think of the .45/.410 derringers that have straight rifling so that they aren't AOW's.

[NeoWeird]

It LOOKS to me like it has the front sight set back, and a collar on the barrel just past the front sight. It also looks like the finish forward of the front sight is more polished than the rear. What I think happened was someone had a threaded barrel, had the threads turned off instead of cutting the whole end off, and then had just the end refinished so it wouldn't be an assault weapon for being a handgun with a threaded barrel.

Just my thoughts.

ETA: and if you are wondering why the end would be so long if it had threads, think of a Mac 10 barrel which has the threads at the base and then an inch or so of extra barrel as support past the threads.

[bear308]

Originally Posted by Rumpled

I don't have any idea, but more ?'s

Is only the end rifled? What about the rest of the barrel?
Are you sure it's a .44?

I ask, because it makes me think of the .45/.410 derringers that have straight rifling so that they aren't AOW's.

The main part of the barrel is rifled, up to the part where is starts to get big.
The barrel is stamped .44 (mag if iirc)
The very end look like the cut of rifling but it's straight.

Weird, very weird. Told the guy I'd let him know by Saturday if I find anything out.

[bear308]

Originally Posted by NeoWeird

It LOOKS to me like it has the front sight set back, and a collar on the barrel just past the front sight. It also looks like the finish forward of the front sight is more polished than the rear. What I think happened was someone had a threaded barrel, had the threads turned off instead of cutting the whole end off, and then had just the end refinished so it wouldn't be an assault weapon for being a handgun with a threaded barrel.

Just my thoughts.

the light colored parts are just an effect of the scanner and a dif style of part. The front parts are round, while the main barrel part has an octogon profile.

[NeoWeird]

Originally Posted by bear308

The main part of the barrel is rifled, up to the part where is starts to get big.
The barrel is stamped .44 (mag if iirc)
The very end look like the cut of rifling but it's straight.

Weird, very weird. Told the guy I'd let him know by Saturday if I find anything out.

Yeah, sounds like it was threaded. Sometimes they will bore out the barrel where they put threads because the added pressure/heat of turning and putting on threads can change the bore enough to throw off accuracy on target barrels. So they probably had the barrel threaded, then bored just under the threads and collar to prevent any accuracy loss. Then refer to my first post to explain the rest.

[NeoWeird]

Originally Posted by bear308

the light colored parts are just an effect of the scanner and a dif style of part. The front parts are round, while the main barrel part has an octogon profile.

Again, that would be because the original barrel was octagon, and when turned on the lathe, it became round. There may have been several reasons why they went past the stop collar, but I don't know of any specific reason why they would.

I still think it was turned, threaded, bored, then had the threds turned off, and refinished.

[bear308]

could be but the round parts are bigger than the octogon part

[NeoWeird]

Originally Posted by bear308

could be but the round parts are bigger than the octogon part

Maybe it was manufactured that way, or maybe the guy really liked the old octagon barrels and figured if he was having someone work on it, might as well have them throw it in the mill with a couple V blocks and just hog it down to an octagon barrel.

I don't know much about the Thompson Centers, so I don't know if they had anything factory/after market come out like that. It's all just speculation.

[Josh]

its an external choke.

I dont know why its on a .44mag barrel, maybe for shot shells or it was a mistake/ looks cool deal.

[Josh]

Found this on the .44mag external choke.

from http://home.freeuk.net/4-10/mwnotquite410.html
" On the early Thompson-Center Contender: I once had a Thompson Center Contender with the early model light-weight barrel with external choke device. A similar barrel was made in .357 magnum, but I never saw one and presume they were not popular. Both barrels were designed to shoot standard cases loaded with T-C's special HotShot shot capsules. The .357 capsule held ½ oz of shot and was noticeably longer than the .44 capsule which held 5/8 oz. of shot. T-C marketed both loaded ammunition in 20 round boxes and shot-filled component capsules in 50 round boxes. Shot sizes available in .44 were 6s, 7 1/2s, 8s, and 9s. I presume the same sizes were available in .357.

I still have two boxes of the .44 capsules, one of 6s and one of 7 1/2s. These cartridges loaded with HotShot capsules were considerably longer than the CCI type and a shell loaded with one was about two inches long, far too long for a .44 revolver chamber. Since the barrel was rifled, something had to be done to stop the capsules spinning before it got out of the barrel. The inside of the choke device contains straight ribs which do that. I shot a few at Skeet targets and they worked very well. "

[461]

Josh nailed it, it's an old "Hotshot" barrel. Thompson made them in .357 and .44 and even invented a game of shooting ritz crackers with them that was quite popular in certain circles. The shot shells were not your ordinary shells eaither, the shot cup was huge and carried quite a load. I had one about 10 years back along with a few boxes of the ammo. The ammo has its own collector market but I had to shoot a few just to try it. The barrel also handles regular .44 ammo but you have to take the choke off.

[bear308]

Originally Posted by 461

Josh nailed it, it's an old "Hotshot" barrel. Thompson made them in .357 and .44 and even invented a game of shooting ritz crackers with them that was quite popular in certain circles. The shot shells were not your ordinary shells eaither, the shot cup was huge and carried quite a load. I had one about 10 years back along with a few boxes of the ammo. The ammo has its own collector market but I had to shoot a few just to try it. The barrel also handles regular .44 ammo but you have to take the choke off.

Thanks guys. Anyone have any ideas on how to get the choke off? All this guy had was the gun and the holster.

[461]

There was a tool that fit into the rifling to unscrew it, but without that it should still unscrew easy enough unless it was lock-tited or rusted in place. Try leather over the jaws of some water pump pliers and give it a twist. Beyond that, you may be looking for a good smith to handle it as when I start trying to force things that is when I screw stuff up. Good luck.

[Clockwerk]

Thanks Bear for putting this up on the forum for me. Now it looks like I 'll need to find a smith to see about getting this choke off so I can run regular ammunition. That or buy a new barrel for it. Thanks to all for doing the research and coming up with an answer for me. It is a bit of an odd gun but then again, my father was a bit of an odd character. Cheers!