The old way, by cutting the rifling grooves into the barrel:
One of the new ways, by cold hammer forging the grooves in:
Frankly they are both frightening as hell! The 2nd video isn’t specifically firearm related, but the process is similar. I cringed every time that hammer came down and struck the object… that’s TONS of force per square inch.
To use a Workaholics reference… both processes are so tight butthole.
Thoughts?
Hat tip: Simon, Eric
Hammer forged barrels are created in a much more civilized manner…. A barrel blank with a mandrel inserted is placed in a hammer forging machine and then magic happens. See link below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCF2Gd_oCMM
Once saw some video of a rotary forge working a 155mm barrel; ‘impressive’ is an understatement
Very cool. I’ve been kind of brainstorming ways to do this at home without a big expensive piece of equipment like a hammer forge.
I saw a video of how the Kentucky long rifles were made by hand, and two guys were working on a bench with some sort of mechanical device that didn’t really resemble the one in the first animation.
I used to work at a forge shop, we didn’t do barrels but we did the pintle mount for a Ma Duece. Those prints were dated 1936.
The coffee on my desk had rings like in Jurassic park all day long.
Rich
It might just be me, but the hammer in that video seemed like it was raping the barrel
way tight butthole dood