A thread on this board got me thinking about Harry Pope and his barrels again. One feature of his style of rifling was was the radius at the bottom of the groove where it meet the lands. In other words where the bottom of the land meet the groove, there was a curve instead of a sharp 90 degree angle. This made cleaning much easier and this style did not rip the bullet like the sharp angle. Does anybody still use this style of rifling? It was a major part of the difference between Pope's barrels and other barrels of his time.

Charger, those guys over at Black Star in Houston know of someone who will cut a 72 degree angle at the junction. I've talked with those at Black Star several times in the far past, say 5 years ago or more, about the cost of such a special operation. Something like 300 bucks at the time, mainly because of the numerous 300 below zero stress relieving between cutting passes. That was the only way they'd "guarantee" accuracy. So, to answer your question, the answer is YES, it still is done today. There would be nothing wrong with an entirely rounded groove if done patiently. Just think, an internal fluting operation! Somebody would surely enjoy doing that one, but who? Maybe somebody at Black Star would know who'd like to be paid to try! ... felix

[ 11-11-2003, 06:38: Message edited by: felix ]