(Factory Winchester M70 barrel in 30-06)

Not my rifle but a mates. Was back in the early 90's and a brand new M70 XTR Sporter.

Didn't examine the rifle for myself, but from what I gathered was about an inch of rifling missing about halfway along the barrel. Being a factory barrel would have been hammer forged.

Seems a truly bizarre thing to happen. Anyone with an idea how this could happen?

I would have to see it to believe it.
Maybe it's just an urban myth like someone finding a mouse in their McDonalds French fries.

In the middle of the barrel is hard to believe.

I don't disbelieve it. I have seen 4 rifles from the same manufacturer that were supposed to be chambered in 7-08 arrive with no chamber or rifling, the exterior of the 4 rifles would not have shown anything to wrong or missing. Let me just say that the QC of that particular company went south in a big way after veing taken over by a large conglomerate.

Cheers.

quote:

Originally posted by kiwiwildcat:
(Factory Winchester M70 barrel in 30-06)

Not my rifle but a mates. Was back in the early 90's and a brand new M70 XTR Sporter.

Didn't examine the rifle for myself, but from what I gathered was about an inch of rifling missing about halfway along the barrel. Being a factory barrel would have been hammer forged.

Seems a truly bizarre thing to happen. Anyone with an idea how this could happen?

Maybe the hammer forging machine jumped a tooth on gear somewhere skipping a hammer stroke

Couldn't happen with a button rifled barrel could it.

A couple of times every year I have guys bring in guns with the claim that they have an unrifled area in the bore about an inch long.
I have seen that exact condition hundreds of times.

You can duplicate it by running a couple of cleaning patches down into the middle of the bore and then shooting it. The resulting bulge will leave about a 1 inch area that appears unrifled.

Believe it or not, I have also pointed out bulges to guys and told them that they needed new barrels and they give me a one eyed squint and ask: "why? It shoots under 3/4 inch with the bulge. It has for years." And some do. Who knows why, it goes against all logic, but sometimes you can get away with a bulge.

I have talked to a barrel maker that said they had a barrel come back that had a piece of rifling missing. His guess was a flaw in the steel. Shooter noticed when cleaning, said the barrel shot well.

I had one rifle in the shop which had a short section (about 1/2 inch) where, it appeared, the reamer had picked up a chip and left that short section oversized. When rifled, the cutter just skipped by. The owner had never noticed anything and I would not have noticed except I pushed a patch through on a short jag which allowed me to feel the bump. I then looked with the borescope and there it was. In spite of this obvious flaw, the rifle shot very well.
As for hammer forged barrels with such a flaw, I suppose it could happen but don't know how. Regards, Bill.

Here's a cute one for yah Billy. I think the barrel maker figured he has invented some sort of super rough, double step, ratchet rifling. The customer declined me to install it after I showed him the pictures and he returned the barrel. The next one was not much better but he had me install it out of exasperation as a fire forming barrel. The second one actually doesn't shoot to bad. I should have taken some pictures of it too but I was pressed for time and by then the novelty had worn off.

Some peoplez fawking kidz ! ! ! !

It is not uncommon to have missing sections of rifling in the 105mm M68 tank cannon, and in the 155mm Howitzers. I have never seen a case in a rifle, where the land, which was there originally, went missing.
Missing lands are not, by themselves, reason for condemnation.
The lesson for small arms is, if it shoots to your satisfaction, ignore it.

I had it happen on a new high end barrel from one of the best known manufacturers. It does happen. I never did get any satisfaction. They said I must have done it. Like I could. And certainly not after 5 shots when I cleaned it.

If the barrel were bulged from an obstruction
there would be a bulge on the outside, and the
rifling would still be there.

Bulges can fool you. Quite often the bulge is so slight on the outside that it is hardly visible. More often than not the area inside that's bulged has been frosted by the material that caused the bulge and because you are seeing it flat in a dark barrel the rifling appears to be gone. After sectioning the barrel and seeing things from another angle the rifling then becomes visible. Bulges are very strange people.

A number of years ago I had a customer stop and he had a German Guild Drilling, 16 ga x 8x57JR

He was going to buy it BUT upon inspection of the rifle bore. about 2 1/2 inches of one land was missing starting at the throat.

Never did figure out how that happened. Our thought was to ream it out and insert a 25-35 liner into it and use it that way.

He went home to think about it and I never saw him again.

J Wisner

I received an Enfield rifle in .303 Br. to rebarrel. When I removed the old barrel and looked through the bore There were only 3 grooves . The fourth one had not been cut. Mighty big land in there. When I showed the customer he said no wonder the thing didn't shoot well.