Straight Cut Rifling

[blacksmithshoppe]

Straight cut rifling, I was reading Dillon's book on the Kentucky rifle today and he speaks of it as having been used in 15% of the rifles made. Also he said you can use shot in it and it makes loading a round ball easier. Now this has my attention, I put a call into John Getz but get no answer as of yet so has any one out there had any experience with straight cut rifling? Do any makers have the equipment to do it?
Jeff

 

[Blizzard of '93]

Thanks for posting that one, I'm interested in a 20 ga. with straight rifling. hope to see some replys.

 

[blacksmithshoppe]

I found out on another forum that Long Hammock will do straight cut rifling but I have not called to verify that, still haven't heard from Getz but I sent an email off to Don. I will try to keep you posted.
Jeff

 

[Ridge]

A friend of mine had a rifle made last year that was straight rifled. It's supposed to shoot roundballs better than a smoothy and shoot shot like a dream.

He's happy with it.

 

[wulf]

The origional idea was for half of the dirt to get
lost..But they also knew about the rotation of an
arrow stabilized in flight by the feathes on a slant..They have a name for it....so a smoothie
would load up quicker..semi popular..They even used rifling on Freeway off ramps to run off water
during a rain to eliminate planning while trying to make a turn...does the word skid make sense

 

[Zonie]

The first rifleing was straight and was intended to provide a place for the fouling to go when the next shot was loaded. (This was in the late 1400's to the early 1500's before patches became commonly used).

Around that time they discovered that a spiral rifleing improved the accuracy but didn't know why.

I suppose if someone is interested in shooting shot out of their rifle it might make sense to use straight rifleing but it seems to me that if that is going to be the main purpose of the gun, it would make more sense to just buy a smooth bore in a rifle caliber (smooth rifles they are called).
That way, there is no chanch that the shot will get hung up on the rifleing grooves and lead up the bore. If you can find a barrel company who is willing to sell an unrifled barrel it might lower the cost of it a bit. :grin:

zonie

 

[blacksmithshoppe]

The barrel is a 44 inch octagonal swamped .55 caliber, Don Getz got hold of me this morning and said they would do the straight rifling. John has hurt his back and will be out of the shop for a bit. I had already ordered the barrel as a smooth bore so unless it has been shipped, rifling it should not be a problem, just take a little longer,
Jeff

 

[windwalker_au]

blacksmithshoppe i have seen a very old 12 bore that had the type of rifeling in the left had barrle it is
not realy straight rifleing it has a little twist about iturn in about 18 feet i was told it was done to make repeat loading of a round ball easier with the the fowling build up.
bernie :grin:

 

[CoyoteJoe]

I believe what you are describing is called a "Paradox" by the Britts, sort of a combination gun. It was basicly a rather heavy shotgun with a short section of deep rifling at the muzzle. It was claimed to deliver better accuracy with a ball or bullet than a smoothbore while still being useful with shot. Not at all the same thing as a straight rifled barrel.
Blacksmithshoppe, I hope you will keep us informed as you work with this, first hand reports from first hand knowledge would be much appreciated. The current consensus of opinion holds that a straight rifled barrel is no more accurate than a smoothbore, just more expensive and harder to clean.

 

[windwalker_au]

the rifleing is full length of the barrel, the guy that owns it is the president of the perth muzzloding club in west australia. he is a doctor and has hundreds of antique guns, he has guns i did not no ever existed lol.
bernie :grin:

 

[Stophel]

I have yet to build a straight rifled gun, but I WANT ONE.

Straight rifling, by all reports, is nearly as accurate as spiral rifling when shooting patched round ball. For practical purposes, they are probably about the same! The advantage is when using shot.

Straight rifling has been rediscovered by modern shotgun shooters, by the way. You can buy straight rifled shotgun barrels for your favorite pump or semi auto. The rifling holds the shot cup and makes it travel straight down the barrel without rotating, and it is supposed to give you better shot patterns.

 

[dek]

Rice Barrel Company at[url] www.ricebarrels.com[/url] can cut straight rifing for you. :v :v

 

[BLAHMAN]

The first rifleing was straight and was intended to provide a place for the fouling to go when the next shot was loaded. (This was in the late 1400's to the early 1500's before patches became commonly used).

Around that time they discovered that a spiral rifleing improved the accuracy but didn't know why.

zonie

Olie and I were discussing just such an issue recently....Olie has a tendency to think that according to old folklore, the spin on the ball was intended to spin the devil off the ball.

Sounds like an old wives tale ( has anybody ever seen an old wife with a tale anyhow??? :haha: )

 

[Wehrmacht]

I have a straight rifle in .60cal. It's a copy of the piece shown on page 224 of Neumann's "Battle Weapons of the American Revolution". My friend Dave Dodds made it for me,and the barrel is square for the first 9 inches from the breach.He made the barrel when he worked for Getz Barrel Co.back when Don ran the show 3 or so years ago.

Sorry, but I can't give much of a report on how accurate it is with either PRB's or shot. I've just been too tied up to do much with it other than kill one hog. Maybe I should say...murdered one hog. The dogs had it bayed up :shake:.

I can tell you this,though! Loosing sight of what you shoot at will not be a problem, even on a damp,foggy morning! After you recover and regain control of the situation following a shot with 80gr of 3f, the smoke will have cleared :shocked2:

Ed Rayle looked at it last August at the CLA Show,and said he could make a duplicate barrel.

 

[blacksmithshoppe]

I have a friend who's ex wife has a forked tail, and horn's. Yep a real sweetheart.

 

[bnail]

Sounds like a few ex wives I've known :rotf:
I I could play Devil's advocate for a moment, why pay the extra $$ for a straight cut barrel if it only slightly improves your accuracy? Without the spin, what's the advantage? I'd want one strictly for the historical uniqueness on it.
Now, having said my piece, here's something that's been bugging me: Isn't it conicals that benefit most from a rifled barrel?

 

Now, having said my piece, here's something that's been bugging me: Isn't it conicals that benefit most from a rifled barrel?

Any unstabilized projectile will keyhole as it leaves the barrel. I have seen it happen as close as 10' from the muzzle. This is more visible with conicals but your round ball is flopping around too, you just can't tell it. If you happen to be down range of an unstable enlongated projectile you can hear it tumbling. It sounds almost like a boomarang.

The unstable round ball tumbling does not upset its flight as much and it is still predictable for about 25-50 yards of flight. After that the more stable spinning ball from a rifled barrel will be more accurate.

That's what they tell me anyway.

More than likely some day NASA or the JPL will confirm the demon riding the bullet theiory.