RE: Barrel proofing, How?
 

IF you decide to make your own barrel, the first thing you will have to do is build a boring/rifling bench so you can drillout the bore, lap and polish it to the final land diameter, and then rifle it. I suppose a skilled machinist might be able to do the boring and lapping on a lathe, perhaps, but rifling it is another story! I don't believe you can do this oon a lathe. If you do this, I'd recommend that you consider makinga sine-bar rifling bench so that you can make any twist you want, and since making a barrel is such a major undertaking, I'm sure that after you acquire such a capability, you'll NOT be satisfied making just one barrel!!

Good luck, and keep us informed of what you do and how it goes, please!

RE: Barrel proofing, How?
 

Sorry, didn't mean to go off on a tangent but I still wasn't clear whether it was buyin' or buildin'. Building a barrel would probably be at least a 5 grand investment for me (no idea really, just a wild guess) so I would be buyin' someone else's work. :)

RE: Barrel proofing, How?
 

No problem UC, I still don't know how or even if any of this will pan out, but as an engineer/tinkerer, I get ideas for "better mousetraps" and get somewhat obsessed with the details and want to learn more about the process. More than likely I will buy a barrel blank and finish it off (hopefully not during the proofing) myself. I know of a gunmaker in my area that makes some nice Tenn/Kentuky style rifles but I don't know if he has the tooling to bore and rifle a barrel. Imight have to get in touch with him.

Eldeguello, I've seen some pictures of hand operated rifling machines but don't recall what they were called. Do you have any links to the one you mentioned or any other info that I could look up? As to whether a machinist could do the rifling, I guess it depends on the shop he has available. My father spent 40+ years as a precision machinist and has done or mademany things that suprised many people, even those in the shop where he worked. If any one could figure out how to do it with the shop he has at home, he probably could. Of course, I'm not biased about him in any way, just proud.

RE: Barrel proofing, How?
 

Check this one out...

http://www.wdsc.caf.wvu.edu/otherwebs/wdsc100jpg/DCP02725%20rifling%20machine%20Gunsmith.JPG

http://www.americanprecision.org/ModelEng.html page bottom

http://www.svartkrutt.net/longrifle.php

http://www.lautard.com/rmv.htm

http://www.border-barrels.com/workshop.htm

Google image search is agood way to find some neat stuff - sort of a back way in. I thought all those were interesting. Maybe something there to spark an idea or cost you some money.

RE: Barrel proofing, How?
 

Thanks UC, those are some great links and information.

RE: Barrel proofing, How?
 

I did a search on sine-bar rifling bench and got quite a few hits, butr what I learned about rifling ML barrels came mostly from Ned Roberts' (.257 Roberts) book, THE MUZZLELOADING CAPLOCK RIFLE.

This book describes, and has pictures of, a great many ML rifle-making tools and gadgets. The old-time smiths had to hand-make their tools including boring machines, bits, and rifling benches before they could even think about making a gun!

The sine-bar type rifling bench is pretty simple, at least in concept, and I believe it would be easier to make than the kind that use wooden shafts with the rifling twist carved into the shaft. With this kind, you need a separate carvedguide shaft for each different twist. The sine-bat bench will allow you to cutgrooves varying from no twist at all to as tight as you'd ever wantit.

This is a picture showing part of one. The bar on the left can be set to any angle, which controls how fast the rack & pinion gear engagement permits the rifling cutter rod torotate as it is drawn through the bore of the barrel. Changing the angle of that bar changes the twist of rifling you are cutting. This picture is of a Pratt & Whitney sine-bar rifling bench. The ones I've seen were made of wood, except for the bar, the gears, and the rifling rod & cutters. Since the bar seems to be set parallel to the cutting rod station in this picture, if used as set now, it would cut straight grooves......

RE: Barrel proofing, How?
 

Thanks for the good info and more ideas to research. I've still not found much on quantifying the results of proofing so if anyone out there knows of some, please let me know.

Thanks again for all the help.

RE: Barrel proofing, How?
 

ahhhhhh my shop teacher showed us a video on building a flintlock......and it showed them bore the barrel and rifle it ect...and proff it.......i dont think it said much about proffing....just that it was loaded with a charge of BP that was much higher then one would normally load with.........not much help..i know...but it was an interesting video...........im SURE theres info out there somewhere..........where to look....no idea....maybe contact TC or someone that proffs barrels and tell them you were wondering how they do it and how to tell if the barrel was damaged or unsafe.....im sure if you talk to the RIGHT person they can help you......or maybe a gunsmith or someone that does custom work could help better........hmmm...interesting project......i myself want to do the same and build a flintlock....but i dont know about boreing and rifling my own bore

RE: Barrel proofing, How?
 

You might try contacting one of the proof houses such as Birmingham http://www.gunproof.com/ and see if they can recommend a procedure or refer you to another source of info.

RE: Barrel proofing, How?
 

Quote:

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Proof - The test-firing of a gun with an extra-heavy load, at an official establishment, to verify the safety of a gun, which is then marked with formal stamps showing, among other things, the loads for which it is intended.

Most civilized countries have proof houses, run either by the government or by the trade association under the regulation of the government. In these countries, every new gun must pass proof before it is sold. The United States, the most litigious country in the world, has no proof house. Perhaps for these reasons, American shotguns are often stronger and heavier than their European counterparts.

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This is all I could find on how to proof a rifle barrel. It would sound like you over charge it, get the heck out of the way, fire it, then check the barrel for damage. If the barrel dimensions have not changed and it took say a two and a half time the normal load, one would then estimate a normal load would be of little concern to the shooter.