Straight Rifling

[smoke]

Hi: I just saw a gun advertised as a straight rifled smoothbore. He claims it is more accurate than a regular smoothbore with PRB and still patterns well with shot. Anyone have any experience with a gun like this? Dan

[Nate McKenzie]

I have worked on several originals with straight rifling but the were all built like rifles with octagonal barrels,  rear sights, cheek pieces, and trigger guards with finger rails. One was flint converted to percussion and the others were original percussions.

[northmn]

Straight rifling is used in one modern makers choke tubes to stabilize the shot pattrn as it prevents spin.  It works with a plastic shot cup.  With a traditional shot load it probably would not hurt the pattern.  Smooth bores can be surprisingly accurate if properly loaded.

DP

[Longknife]

I have an Austrian made percussion, 18 bore (.635) side by side rifle that is straight rifled in the left barrel and a fast twist in the right. I plan on getting a mold and testing it this summer. I will publish the results here.....Ed

[trentOH]

The rifling grooves were originally designed as a place for the fouling to go during loading, so the shooter could get more shots off between cleanings or wipings of the barrel. They were straight grooves. One day a guy had the idea to spiral the grooves, which would create more groove area in the bore. While it probably worked for that purpose, it gave the ball a great increase in accuracy.

[Daryl]

My Husky double has straight rifling in it's 13 bore right tube.  It shoots RB OK - quite OK actually to about 35 - maybe 40 yards.  I have not targeted it further.  It also shoots shot fairly well, slightly tighter than cylinder bore. It would do for moose or deer easily to 50 or 60 yards I assume, maybe further.

The grooves seem to hold the wads back just fine - no donuts in the pattern, anyway.  These are with black powder loads.