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How do they make rifle barrels?

decee
We had a big long discussion about this during our deer hunt.
Nobody knew.
Is the barrel cast or machined?
How do they get the bore in?
How do they get it staight?
How do they cut the rifling?
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Comments

8 comments

Date Votes
  • bobski
    i'll keep it simple:
    its a solid rod of metal (bar stock) that gets bored (drilled) out. hmmm, wonder why its called a rifle 'bore?' next, lands and grooves are cut into the bore with special cutters passed thru the center. then, the outer parts are machined to fit into a receiver. old gun mfgers like hi standard did an extremely fascinating method called 'button swaged rifling,' where the lands and grooves arent cut out of the bore, rather they are forced into the surrounding metal under extreme pressure making the lands and grooves twice the strength of cut surfaces, since no metal is lost, rather, its added to the bore surface. (its why hi standards neve wear out and still shoot x's 60 years later, no metal loss.) hope its a start. anyone want to add to the thread?


    former air operations officer SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team 2. former navy skeet team, navy rifle/pistol team member. co-owner skeetmaster tubes inc.. owner/operator professional shooting instruction.
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  • decee
    Can they make a drill bit in say .17 or .22 cal and drill straight through hard steel for 28 inches without wobble?
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  • bobski
    yep!
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  • duckhunter
    THE MACHINE IS CALLED A 'BORING LATHE NOT A PROBLEM WHEN IT IS SET UP CORRECTLY.

    I WOULD RATHER BE DUCK HUNTING.
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  • Tailgunner1954
    Most barrels are made as discribed above, that is drilled (and the drill used is very long, and is called a "gun drill"), reamed, and button rifled. After all this is done, the chamber is cut into the finished barrel.
    The other 2 ways of making them are "Cut Rifled" and "Hammer Forged".
    Cut rifling starts like button rifleing, but instead of pressing the lands and grooves with a carbide button, a cutter is inserted into the bore and it removes metal to form the grooves. This is the origional system of forming rifling, and where the term "Grooves" comes from.
    Hammer forged barrels start out as a shorter but fatter piece of stock, that is drilled and reamed to a diameter thats larger than the chamber diameter. A reverse form insert (chamber and a section of rifling combined) is placed into the hole and the outside is hammered down onto it. The form is withdrawn as the barrel takes shape, and after the hammering is done the barrel is complete except for the receiver thread.
    Streighting is done in a hand press, by a experanced man who judges the finished product by eye.
    The difference between a cheap barrel and a premum barrel, of the same material, is the tolerances there held to, along with the premimum manfactures willingness to scrap any barrel that is even slightly out of spec as opposed to the cheap barrels maker that figgurs that if the hole goes completly thru it's close enough.
    Some guys like a mag full of lead, I still prefer one round to the head.
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  • p3skyking
    There is hammering the barrel around a rod (old time way) that has grooves in it. The hammers actually beat the metal into the mandrel and then it is pulled out of the barrel

    Broaching has already been covered.

    Straighting a barrel is done with a good eye (optical) and natural light on a special machine that actually bends it.

    A lot goes into a barrel. The grain of the steel has to meet specifcations as well as the hardness, not too brittle, not too soft.

    This is the most difficult part of a weapon to make correctly.

    A man who starts imagining that others think good because he does is simply out of his mind
    It behooves one to be wary when among strangers and not to trust too much L'Amour
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  • Bushnell Boy
    I know you are talking about modern rifles but my dad bought an old sxs at an auction and the barrel looks like a strip of metal was wrapped around some sort of rod and the seams were some how then bonded together. Its a pretty interesting looking barrel. Its got a spiral that runs all the way down it.

    EXACTLY WHAT WAS DONE...THEN HAMMER FORGED TO WELD THEM TOGETHER..



    In the time of chimpanzees I was a monkey

    -Beck (1993)
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  • p3skyking
    quote:Originally posted by p3skyking
    quote:Originally posted by Bushnell Boy
    I know you are talking about modern rifles but my dad bought an old sxs at an auction and the barrel looks like a strip of metal was wrapped around some sort of rod and the seams were some how then bonded together. Its a pretty interesting looking barrel. Its got a spiral that runs all the way down it.


    It's called a DAMASCAS barrel and you use only black powder shells with it.
    You may, on close examination, see a brass and/or a copper band also for a true Damascas barrel. Very pretty when new.

    ...honor is important only when dealng with honorable men.
    You asked if I have reverence? I have reverence for truth, but I do not know what truth is. I suspect there are many truths, and therefore, I suspect all who claim to have THE truth. L'Amour


    ...honor is important only when dealng with honorable men.
    You asked if I have reverence? I have reverence for truth, but I do not know what truth is. I suspect there are many truths, and therefore, I suspect all who claim to have THE truth. L'Amour
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