the Nov-Dec issue of Muzzleloader Magazine has a nice blurb about a DVD and book that detail how to build and operate a wooden rifling machine. They claim you can rifle a barrel in 58 minutes.

Phone: Al Neubauer 269-429-0514 in MIchigan.
www.hootalrifleshop.org

Rich
DRSS
Knowledge not shared is knowledge lost...

Rich,
Who is going to sell you the material 1 barrel at a time, whose is going to drill, ream, contour, and stress relieve it for you. If you are bored and have nothing else to do you could read and listen. Just my thought only.
Butch

Here you go:

quote:

Originally posted by Idaho Sharpshooter:
the Nov-Dec issue of Muzzleloader Magazine has a nice blurb about a DVD and book that detail how to build and operate a wooden rifling machine. They claim you can rifle a barrel in 58 minutes.

Phone: Al Neubauer 269-429-0514 in MIchigan.
www.hootalrifleshop.org

Rich
DRSS
Knowledge not shared is knowledge lost...

58 minutes and 20 years of experience.

Butch, et al,

knowledge not shared is knowledge lost...

where else can you learn about the "lost art" with a DVD to show you how they are made?

Rich
DRSS
Knowledge not shared is knowledge lost...

quote:

Originally posted by richj:
Here you go:

Where's the posters of chicks with guns???

quote:

Originally posted by Idaho Sharpshooter:
the Nov-Dec issue of Muzzleloader Magazine has a nice blurb about a DVD and book that detail how to build and operate a wooden rifling machine. They claim you can rifle a barrel in 58 minutes.

Phone: Al Neubauer 269-429-0514 in MIchigan.
www.hootalrifleshop.org

Rich
DRSS
Knowledge not shared is knowledge lost...

Thank you for finding it Rich!

P.S. Did momma see the "new toy" yet?

quote:

Where's the posters of chicks with guns??? rotflmo

That would be like desecrating a temple.

Really cool. Thanks for posting it. There's also a book on building a wooden rifling bench at Track of the Wolf.

The one they have at Colonial Williamsburg is pretty neat, too. But they have a much shorter wooden screw, and the add in sections of steel rod rod behind the cutting head, if I remember correctly. Takes up less space but takes longer.

366 Torque,

not yet, she fell prey to the fine state of business in Italy. She went to the airport in Rome yesterday morning, and the Italian Airline Pilots Assn. went on strike. Soooo, they got an extra day and night in Rome. Yesterday morning they were able to get a British Airways jet to Heathrow, and a four hour layover. Then to Chicago and a two and a half layover and clear customs. Missed the connector due to customs taking their sweet time. She should be in about lunchtime.

For those of you who did not know, I have chronic mid-life crisis syndrome. About once or twice a year I get a little loose with the $$$. I bought a jag XK8 convertible while she was in Italy. Should be some fun for the next day or two here. I may be sleeping out at the ranch!

Rich
DRSS
Knowledge not shared is knowledge lost...

quote:

Where's the posters of chicks with guns???

They'd have to be reflective of an earlier era.

Idaho,
Went there, did that, gave it all away! Actually built a gundrill using a hydraulic power pack from a large milling machine and fed it using a gear motor and lead screw. Actually worked pretty well but wasn't anywhere near a production setup. For the rifling machine I used a sine bar setup and fed a table back and forth using an electric motor, chain, and microswitches to reverse the travel. That machine actually worked pretty well. If I did it again I'd use a large gear on the side driving change gears on the table so I could vary the twist. I was making mostly Civil War musket barrels but I think the machine would have been capable of rifling about anything. Cutter design is the secret. The designs you'll probably get with the rifling machine design will be the type used 200 years ago and they aren't the best unless you like a barrel that looks like it was cut with a corncob. If you can come up with a single point cutter that is raised by turning in a screw at the back then you have the beginning of something. The wodden bench might be a good exercise if you really want to try it, but I'd just buy mine from Green River, Rice, Getz or somebody.

Back in the spring of 90 I was stationed out in MD. Over a 4 day weekend I took a pass downt to Colonial Williamsburg and saw them make a muzzle loader barrel from start to finish. They started with chunks of metal and heating it in a forge and pounding it out. Then several steps of pounding it around a mandrel and shaping the barrel to octagon then filing it out.

The machine they used for rifling the barrel was similar - it might even be the same set up - but being almost 20 years ago the details are fuzzy. It looks crude as all get out - but I was VERY impressed with just how nice the rifling in the bore was. I never would have imagined it capable of the quality of finish it gave.

What was most impressive was the accuracy of the barrels. The "gunsmith" who was doing all this shared several photos and targets with me from rifles he had built and even with the crude sights and patched ball he was getting less than 2" at 50 yards from his shooting bench.

FYI - I dit get to watch him "proof" the gun he was building at that time. He tied the barreled action to a stump and touched it off reaching around a corner.

The level of craftsmanship that gunsmith posessed was incredible. And the rifles he built were far from cheap. Even back then he was getting over 5k if I remember right.

I spent the huge majority of my weekend watching him build the rifles and spent vey little time visiting the rest of Williamsburg. I will have to go back again someday to see the rest of the town.

What I want to know is why is that man wearing a dress? Must be an early photo from San Fransisco.

Seriously, if you want to see how to make your own barrel, get a copy of the video done by Wallace Gusler, "Gunsmith of Williamsburg". Done in 1969, when Gussler was in his late 20's, he demonstrates how to hammer forge a barrel on a mandrel and then rifle it using a wooden rifling machine he made himself. When you watch it keep in mind that he's self-taught. Amazing talent.

I went to Colonial Williamsburg 25 years ago while on vacation. The entire complex was awe inspiring. Unfortunately the Gunsmith Shop was closed for vacation. The shop was closed and locked so I could not even enter to see the equipment. Who would have thought that was possible during peak vacation periods. Oh well. I do have the tape mentioned"Gunsmith of Williamsburg". I have been a part time Gunsmith for over 32 years,so I would have appreciated seeing the equipment on a professional basis. Will try to get back there someday.

The set up is very close to the one in CW,a friend of mine is one of the former gunsmiths

the machine up there is turned by a large hand cranked wheel, i spent one long afternoon cranking that bear.

Humbug!

Harold Hoffman explains how to turn your lathe into a rifling machine - cut or button rifling.
Hoffman Books

This is certainly an interesting subject; I agree that it is important to share knowledge or it will be lost. It would be a great project to build one. Here's a link along the same lines

How to build an antique rifling machine

Edited to add: this is ~6 MB PDF just so you are aware before you click on it

An uncle of mine build muzzleloaders from scratch, including the barrel. Got me interested in it and I picked up a sinebar rifling machine from a guy down in KY. It was home built, but pretty nice. It is a labor of love, but with the properly drilled and reamed barrel you can rifle a tube in one evening. I use the single point hook cutters and pull the head by hand.

There's an almost similar rifling machine hanging on the wall of Petersons gun shop in Albuquerque - I must have a better look next time I'm over.

Among the things on my to do list before I retire is to build a barrel reboring and rifling machine. My intension is to use rusted or shot out barrels. But that one will come later.