Hi Gang:

      A chap I know offered me this gun for only $625.00.

      The gun has a large diameter straight barrel about 24" long and has been re bored recently.  The stock is the original one that has been hogged out to fit the bull barrel.  He stated that it has a rear vernier sight.

       This gun belonged to a late friend of mine and he sold it to the present owner for less that $300.00 several years ago.

        The barel was marked C.C. Johnson.  Why he had it re bored and lined by a local "gunsmith" is a mystery to me. I have no idea as to what a relining job entails but I doubt if a local "gunsmith" would be equipped to do this work.

        In any case, what would it be worth for a project gun? I can not see a use for a bull barreled Stevens 44!  Perhaps if it had a thin barrel and a nice stock, that it would be worth $625.00 but what do I know?

         Any thoughts about this rifle!

                                                                             TIA,

                                                                             Franchi

Zeke
The process for relining a barrel is relatively straightforward and easier now that we epoxies to fix the liner in the barrel. It is well within the the skill set of a local gunsmith. Choosing a good barrel liner and cambering it correctly is the hard part. A good relining job can make the rifle shoot better than the original. 
Also keep in mind I said gunsmith. There are a lot of what I refer to as mechanics out there. These are guys who just swap factory parts. Most wouldn't know one end of a lathe from the other much less how to set it up.

40 Rod

I am a purist when it comes to old rifles, so excuse my remark if it doesn't agree with you.  My opinion of the rifle you're looking at is this.  Someone took a 600$ rifle and put 300$ worth of work in it and made a 100$ wall hanger.  Relining am old rifle to make it a shooter is one thing.  To butcher original wood is another.  Just my opinion.

At this point the sight might be worth more than the gun.

Saddest part is someone relined a CC Johnson barrel! I seriously doubt a barrel that recent, and of that quality was shot out yet. If it still had the CC Johnson barrel I would think the $600 price tag wouldn't be out of line, but with that provenance gone, it's surely not wrth $600 now.

MAD MIKE wrote on Apr 10^th, 2011 at 12:46pm:


That's even sadder! As much as I admire the work done by CC Johnson, putting a liner in a Pope barrel makes me want to cry.

Quote:


J U S T   K I D D I N G,   of course !        

Some days you just get lucky. Waiting to see photos.

If it was a Johnson reline it would shoot excellent, but it would probably have not been a new round blank relined. Most were done to worn out factory barrels, so they have original markings plus CC Johnson's stamp also, not just his stamp.