Benjamin bulldog barrel ideas

[E30_S50]

Hi all...I've wanted to get a modded bulldog from pitbull for a while. I was reading about the less than ideal twist rate of the bulldog barrel and also how hard it is to retrofit a new barrel due to the unique design. It has kind of put me off on getting one. I had a couple rookie thoughts/concepts to throw out there. I'm not a machinist by any means.

1. TJ liner...since these are actually LINERS...would it be possible to bore out a 357 bulldog barrel and sleeve it with a 257 liner? Rather than try to adapt a 257 liner directly to serve as the airgun barrel. It seems like this approach would add rigidity to the barrel too. Is there enough meat on the 357 barrel to fit a 257 liner in there?

2.  Could the 357 barrel be bored out just enough to remove the existing rifling and then re-rifle the barrel to the next larger size...then use .364 cast slugs from NOE and size them down accordingly. Is there enough meat on the barrel to do that?

[Ironman482]

I like the idea of rebarreling wirh a longer and differrent twist, but by the time you buy the parts pay for the machine work and working out all the bugs , you could just buy a slayer or the evol and be done. But then again the tinkering is part of the game ,so to each there own

[SAGERAT NITEMARE]

Matt...I don't know doodley about the Benjamin but I do know a bit about "re-barreling" and I guarantee unless YOU can do the work yourself then the cost will be totally prohibitive...just swap/sell/give away the Benny and buy a "better/more acceptable/costlier, etc" rifle and get on with it.

The cost for the pieces and parts for my SIMPLE barrel replacement and chamber was just over $200 bucks(as yet unproven)...$140 plus S/H...you can basically double that for having an AG'smith do the work...so why not just buy a new gun that fits your pistol.

Changing calibers is ALSO full of problems only a Benny specialist can expound on...and I think it would be cheaper just to buy a barrel from any barrel maker FIRST and start fresh before even considering a liner...DRILLING out a barrel to fit a liner is ALSO a delicate process unless you have the proper tools and may cost as much or more than starting new anyway.

Milling ans lathe work is EXPENSIVE and time consuming...even CNC work...the last machinist I talked to to do some bullet making charged $75 hr for machine time and $75 hr for operator/computer/drawing time and that was 5 years ago...I was quoted $250 bucks for a 1.25 hr/500 piece run PLUS materials.

I don't know what the OD of the Benny barrel is but that is a consideration in itself...


Talk to TJ's and a COUPLE of AG'smiths to get the ACTUAL costs and problems involved.


Just something to think about ...not trying to dissuade you from doing what you want, Benny isn't cheap so you really need to think this through.

Many times it's much better to use up all the other solutions to get your gun shooting well and not listen to others that give you headaches and nightmares.

Good Hunting.

[Lani52]

There are no good options for a barrel to machine for the Bulldog, they are too small so they have to be sleeved or you buy a 1 inch barrel blank and have it machined, if you have a import truck you can sell it to off-set part the cost .

But there may be an option, I see the Russians are offering barrels on Ebay that are closer to the size, read that slightly oversize, that may work, butt I for one would not buy one.

I would instead read posts from others about what they have done to reach the 1  inch at 100 yards and approach 300 FPE with the oem  Bulldog barrel.

By the way the barrel on the BD is tapered, I don’t remember the dimension, but I had to go to 5/8x18 when I had mine shortened and threaded to experiment with a tensioned BD barrel. I had one inch removed and still hit 865 FPS with the 152 NOE HP from information gleaned from these hallowed pages.

Roachcreek

[Ydunn.223]

I'll be watching this thread, I got out my Bulldog 2 days ago
and gave the barrel a good fire lapping and re crowned it now
 I'm just waiting for some parts that were ordered from Pit Bull
airguns I got a de-pinger and the heavy hammer spring and the
steel cocking lever, going to shoot the NOE 152 grain in it.

[Kinetic45^]

Link to get download of Bulldog parts diagram.
support.crosman.com/hc/en-us/articles/208608616-BPBD3S-Owner-s-Manual-EVP

Don't over complicate things.
Consider just sleeving the TJ barrel in the breech/action area to the OD needed. An aluminum or steel sleeve would work.
You don't have to sleeve the entire barrel, just a couple of inches!
Then drill whatever port size you want for the caliber your are barreling for. Of COURSE the bolt has to be turned down to fit the new caliber too.
The sleeve could be a slight press fit on the barrel or just a snug fit with epoxy and a pin or set screw to be permanent. Or if steel, even low temp gunsmithing soldier works to permanently affix a sleeve.

Alternatively, a permanent (aluminum) bushing/sleeve could be put into the Bulldog action to fit the preferred OD of a LW or TJ barrel by a COMPETENT machinest.

Having gotten another high powered magazine fed .357 air rifle that is superior to the Bulldog platform, I no longer need the Pitbull as a .357 so I am in process of putting a 7mm/.284 18" twist TJ's barrel on it. If course, the magazine will have to be remanufactured to fit a smaller bullet also but that's just a detail.