On a singleshot 7x57, dakota10 or Ruger:

- What would you make the barrel length?
- What would you make the muzzle Dia.?
- where would you mount the peepsight?

"one of the best ways to help the poor is not to become one."

I would go to Mark Stratton who specializes in two things, Octagon barrels and marvelous Ruger #1's. I would ask for a half round/half octagon 26" long (just cause they dont look that long on a #1 and in fact look good.

Will leave some of the decisions to you but I would put the peepsight in a drawer at home.

Woodjack, do yourself a favor and get ahold of Mark. He did an octagon/half round for me and his work is top shelf.

26 in barrel


.525 in at the muzzle


The NECG peep will mount right onto the rear scope base of a #1 and that is not a bad place for it to be.

Look at these two,the Gibbs has a 23.5" barrel,the Dakota 27.0" barrel. Do you think that Gibbs would look right with a 26"? The Dakota looks a bit out of proportion to me.

http://www.hallowellco.com/gastinne_renette_gibbs_farquhars.htm

http://www.martiniandhagngunmakers.com/forsale.htm

quote:

Originally posted by Woodjack:
Look at these two,the Gibbs has a 23.5" barrel,the Dakota 27.0" barrel. Do you think that Gibbs would look right with a 26"? The Dakota looks a bit out of proportion to me.

http://www.hallowellco.com/gastinne_renette_gibbs_farquhars.htm

http://www.martiniandhagngunmakers.com/forsale.htm

I would not change anything about that Gibbs! The Dakota does seem a little long.......

Use a 26" barrel. The lack of a magazine on a single shot gives the same OAL as a bolt rifle with a barrel 2-3" shorter.

quote:

Originally posted by Woodjack:
Look at these two,the Gibbs has a 23.5" barrel,the Dakota 27.0" barrel. Do you think that Gibbs would look right with a 26"? The Dakota looks a bit out of proportion to me.

To my untrained eye, they could both use a couple extra inches of forearm...

This is a recently completed custom Dakota in .257 Roberts with a 26" barrel, 9 1/2" forend, .525" muzzle with a total weight as shown of 7 1/4 lbs.
The reason Hagn's Dakota barrel looks long is because Martin likes short forends.

Note the new trigger guard, lever and trigger along with other custom metalwork and stocking. Engraving by Michael Dubber.
SDH

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Gnmkr,
appreciate the photos.
barrel dia. looks good,I like the short forends as well,so this gives me a good visual idea in relation to a 26" tube. But I am starting to think a 24" tube would be more than enough to get most out of the 7x57,and would make areal nifty little rig,not that is not nifty already! I will have to decide.Cant go wrong regardless of length (23.5-26"). I also like the longer length of chamber area,gives a better sense of central mass weight balance area,when combined with the mass of the action,then it all just flows/draws out from there to the muzzle.

Most of my SS rifles have 26" barrels except for a couple of .30-40 factory HiWalls which are 30". Townsend Whelen found his too clumsy and cut it to 27", but of course you are not allowed to commit that sort of sacrilege today. I think the forends are too short on the rifles illustrated here and also the open sights should be a little further down the barrels. No receiver sight looks good on an SS (and you have to D&T the receiver) and if you put it onto the Ruger rib, even in the rear position, it is too far from the eye to work optimally. An extension rear sight like those used on small bore target rifles could be rigged up to hook into the rib but noone has tried it yet as far as I know. A tang sight can be used on some of the older American SS actions and the repros, but it may be too close to the eye on a 7x57 for safety, depends on the length of pull and whether you are a stock crawler. I use them on the .30-40s but these are heavy rifles that barely recoil. Am presently planning a .405 HiWall and probably will stick to an express sight and a scope on a Ruger rib.

Sounds like 26" is the way to go.
There does though,seem to be alot of metal in that rib on the Dakota above,looks abit bulky for the slim nature of the rifle. Hagn/Martini have done much slimmer jobs. Look at the ribs on the single shots here,including the switch barrel take down version at the bottom:
http://www.martiniandhagngunmakers.com/customrifles.htm