Rifling Machine

[James Wilson Everett]

Guys,

Here are some photos of a rifling machine that I have used since 1976.  The legs can be removed so that the tool fits into the back of my Dodge Caravan when traveling to show & tells.  The machine cuts a 7 groove barrel, 1-56 inch twist, 4 foot long max.  The barrel mounted in the machine in the photos is the wrought iron barrel that I drilled out and lined with steel tubing, 0.402 inch bore, 39 inch long.

Jim

[The Original Griz]

ah heck, I already saw this before
just yanking ya, you building a new garage? That dont look like your shop...

[James Wilson Everett]

Griz,

Right!  My shop is too small and crowded to use the rifling machine inside, it needs about 17 feet minimum to work the tool.  So, this is set up in my garage.  I was just trying to start the cut in the lined barrel using a newly made cutter and rod.  This 40 caliber barrel is the smallest I have ever cut, requiring a smaller cutter rod.  The results were not what I had hoped for.  The cutter tended to grab - release - grab - release, which indicates that the cutter teeth are too aggressive for the liner material.  I will try again later after resharpening the teeth of the cutter to make them less aggressive, similar to the way cutters are sharpened for brass machining.

Jim

[hammer]

Nice, simple design. 
How do you set the cutter for the next of the seven grooves?  Can't make it out in the photos.
Thanks.

Peter.

[James Wilson Everett]

Peter,

Good question, it is very simple.  After a cut in a particular groove, I return the rifling guide all the way forward until the grooves in the wooden guide disengage from the metal index plate.  Then, I rotate the guide to the next groove and re-engage it with the index plate.  I normally take only one cut per groove, then index on to the next.  So, after the first seven pulls the barrel is rifled, just that the grooves need to be made much deeper.  I estimate that it takes about 100 cuts per groove, or 700 pulls to finish the rifling process.

The lowest photo shows the guide and the index plate at just about the position where the guide would be disengaged and rotated.  I hope that this makes sense.

Jim

[kaintuck]

Sounds like a teenaged powered machine!

Nice piece of equipment....thank you for sharing.

Marc n tomtom