I know this will get things going as it's always an opinion of choice taste brand.

But here it is any way's
I have two #1 Receivers I want to put barrels on.
1. 45-70
2  45-90
How long of a Barrels as well.?

So what is working for the shooters out there.

Thanks, and let's keep it inside the topic. lol

are you just bored?

Lot of barrel makers out there, they all pretty much work, at least the ones listed below.  Not in order of any preference, here's a few; you can google for their websites to buy.

Bartlein
Brux
Green Mountain
Pac Nor
Lilja
Douglas
Shilen
Broughton
Hart
Krieger
McGowen
BRC (Borchardt rifle co)
Ron Smith if you want to buy Canadian.
Lothar Walther if you want european

I'd go with .458 diameter, 18 or 16 twist for a .45 rifle.  Anywhere from 28 to 34 inches, depending on your preference.  Octagon or round, again depending on your preference.  I'd go at least 1" at the breech end, but again, that depends on your preference for how heavy you want it.

Reason you're not getting much in answers is you're asking to be spoon fed everything without giving any background information about what you  want.

Are you a gunsmith?  Experienced shooter?  What do you want the rifles to do?  What distance do you shoot?  What competition type you want to shoot?  Who will be doing your gunsmithing?  Are you doing your own?  If so, what level of expertise/equipment do you have?  Unlimited budget or trying to do this for half of what you can just buy a completed rifle for?  Hunting rifle or target or plinking of hang on the wall for bragging rights?  Experienced bullet caster?  Intend to cast your own?  Going to shoot jacketed?  Boing to buy hard cast pre made bullets?  Paper patch or grease groove if cast?  Blackpowder or smokeless?  Expecting to just buy preloaded ammo for the rifles?  What would you expect to pay for a barrel of the type/quality you want, or what is your budget?

Answering those questions would be a good start on getting an informed opinion, otherwise something like this is as good as it gets:

Wow, great to see you're doing a .45 cal rifle.  I rebareled an old  .30-06 once and my gunsmith used a (fill in the blank with manufacturer here, from above list, plus numerous others) barrel and it shoots great.  I'm sure it will work for you!

RollingBlockHeadMi wrote on Feb 7^th, 2024 at 4:13pm:

ssdave, do you know what the standard length of these barrels were for each.
Thanks

Thanks Deadeye Bly.
What I'd like to know, is what length were they in standard issue.
or bought when buying one to hunt buffalo.

ssdave wrote on Feb 7^th, 2024 at 4:05pm:



Any idea who has the fastest lead time 

Rollingblockhead
I suggest you build one for hunting-lighter,shorter barrel
and one for target/match shooting-heavier barrel-30inch number 3 
is a good all around length for target/match. Longer barrels only invite BP fouling control challenges
beltfed/arnie

i have a few badger new old stock barrels that i got from axtell. they are profiled full oct. and threade for the 77 that they made. i have 4 of these rifles and they all shoot great. i recently threade one for a hepburn project i am doing. no dovetails, 1 in 18   34.4 long just need final polish.  450.00 .  no wait time  tony<><

I applaud your choice to build two rifles. Any compromise to build a dual-purpose rifle will fully satisfy neither requirement. 

The .45-70 is far easier to get brass for in this current brass-scarce scenario. If you don't have .45-90 brass, I'd go with .45-70 for both rifles since you can always rechamber later. 

My two favorite .45-70 rifles are a Shiloh Quigley for target shooting and a custom 10-pound Rolling Block for hunting. The Quigley shoots far better than I can shoot it. The Rolling Block has a heavy sporter weight 30 inch barrel that points easily and well. The Rolling Block is heavy to carry, but I shoot from several places overlooking known crossing points.

Twist on both is 1 in 18" which stabilizes bullets to 540 grains (And who wants to shoot more since the recoil adds up during a match?). 

I shoot the SAECO 1881 mold with 20:1 alloy for long range. This bullet is an exact copy of the 500 gran round-nose Trapdoor bullet. Both rifles prefer this bullet and I score better with this bullet than heavier or semi-pointed bullets.

beltfed wrote on Feb 8^th, 2024 at 10:26am:


Good Advice!

Unless you really want a 34 inch barrel I would stay with 30 inches. 34 will give you more sight radius but you will need to contend with needing more bullet lubricant than a 30 inch tube, fouling can get more difficult to control (I assume you plan to use BP).

If you want to know what the most common barrel length was, it sort of depends.  If you are talking original long range rifles, most of the time 34", with a total rifle weight of 10 pounds.  Not something people generally do these days.

For a hunting rifle it could vary.

Building a 30" barrel would never be a bad choice and was pretty common for many rifles in the old days.

Nowadays we have different rules, most particularly on rifle weight.  My black powder rifles are all target rifles and have heavy barrels from 28" to 34" and they all work well.

Chris.

4060may wrote on Feb 9^th, 2024 at 10:20am:


The 12lb 2 oz limit is just for silhouette iron sights.  If a scope is  used for silhouette the weight is 15lbs.   Mid range and long range are 15 lb limits regardless of sights.

Chris.