Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters What method of barrel making is best?

I have had button rifled and hammer forged barrels. I have never had cut rifled barrels, but have two in the works. Seems the barrel makers I talk to think there method is the best. Of course, if I ever talk to one that tells me his method is second best, you can bet I pass him up.
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<br>Seems from all the research I have done, the cut rifled barrel has the least induced stress, which may or may not make any difference. All seem to have the same tolerances when hand lapped. Possibly the cut rifled can use a harder steel than the button rifled?
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<br>What are your thoughts on the method used? Any practical advantage of one over the other?
<br>Thanks

Along this same vein, what is gain-twist rifling and how does it compare to the methods mentioned?

Gain-twist rifling is nearly straight (almost no twist) just in front of the chamber, then spirals faster and faster toward the muzzle. It isn't a barrel-making method or directly comparable to the methods used to cut, swage, or hammer the rifling into the barrel. It resurfaces from time to time then dies away until somebody else gets the onager notion that it's [theoretically] the sweetest thing since the discovery of sugar. Then it again enjoys a brief and limited popularity until once again its fans conclude that its assets don't outweigh its liabilities. The consensus of veteran users is that it isn't worth the trouble.

"Possibly the cut rifled can use a harder steel than the button rifled?"
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<br>Cut rifled barrels from Mike Rock's shop are 8-10 rockwell c scale points harder than competitive button rifled barrels.
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<br>Cut rifling does seem to have the least stress induction. Think about it, the rifling is cut away with very sharp tooling at about 0.0001" per pass. Button rifling and hammer forging by the very nature are displacing steel, not cutting it. Stresses are induced. Stress relief won't always eliminate every induced stress.
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<br>Even after a stress relief process, try contouring a hammer forged barrel. You'll end up with a banana.
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<br>Button rifled barrels don't have the same amount of incipient stress, though I believe it significant beyond that found in the cut barrels.
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<br>My 0.02
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onager? onager? onager!
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<br>nice use of "onager" as an adjective there, ken, to paint a picture of sheer stubbornness.
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<br>or did you mean it literally, as in jackass?
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<br>in any case, a nice usage.
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<br>oh yeah, i didn't have to look it up. crossword puzzles are wonderful vocabulary teaching tools.

<br>How about as in "wild ass" ?.
<br>Good Luck!

... as an adaptation of definition in unabridged American Heritage Dictionary:
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<br>"on�a�ger... n. 1. A fast-running wild ass (Equus hemionus subsp. onager) of central Asia, having an erect mane and a broad black stripe along its back..... [Middle English, from Late Latin, from Latin, wild ass, from Greek onagros : onos, ass + agrios, wild.... "
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<br>(In the human version, BTW, the stripe along the back is often of a lighter hue.)

"(In the human version, BTW, the stripe along the back is often of a lighter hue.)"
<br>Thanks, Ken, you made my day! Had a good laugh.

So Ken, Back to the original question. Any observations over the years on methods of barrel making?

har har har!!!!!!
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<br>the joys of lexicography. almost as esoteric as ballistics.

I think the stripe has become more yellow in the "American" version since all the politically correct gun grabbing, disarm America and be nice to criminals crap has surfaced. But, that was a nice touch Ken . Flinch

Perhaps the bench resters, who wring amazing accuracy from their rigs, could shed some light on the subject, much like the Indy 500 does for auto technology.
<br>Their needs are different, and economy appears no consideration, but their findings are germain to this speculation.
<br>What do they use?
<br>Cheers from Darkest California,
<br>Ross

my general observations over the years:
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<br>(a) Each method of rifling barrels -- cutting, swaging, forging -- has its advantages.
<br>(b) Some of these advantages make the barrel-maker's job easier.
<br>(c) Some make the shooter's results better.
<br>(d) Any methodological advantage can too easily be forfeited or nullified by other aspects of the rifle, the gun-maker, the shooter, the load, etc.
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<br>In my office one day, the barrel-maker I still consider the best ever (he died) referred to one of his competitors as "the best cut-rifling man in America." But he and I also knew that the maker whom he considered "the best" in terms of his knowledge and skill was also prone to deliver barrels that he knew weren't good, with private remarks like "That's good enough for him" and "He'll never know the difference." My point? that a cut-rifled barrel from "the best cut-rifling man in America" wasn't always a GOOD cut-rifled barrel. The point applies to any method of rifling, from the making and up-keep of the maker's tooling to his technique and quality-control.
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<br>Given these other considerations and influences, comparison of the basic METHODS is (IMHO) like picking fly specks out of pepper or arguing about how many angels can dance on the head of a pin.

Interesting story you told on ole Bill, I think I've heard him say things like that myself.
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<br>Dan