Four groove rifling

[Bill Weedman]

Anyone have experience with 4 groove rifling? I just picked up an old rifle with a .34 cal bore. Wide lands and narrow grooves and what appears to be about a 1 in 36 twist. The bore is pretty good and I think it will shoot well but don’t know what to expect. Anyone have any experience shooting a rifle like this.

[redheart]

I've had two different .32 rifles with 4 groove barrels that shot quite nicely.

[Hungry Horse]

Dixie Gun Works had some barres produced that had four groove rifling. They were 45cal. 1 In 48” twist. They had about ten thousandths rifling, and shot very well.

 Hungry Horse

[Daryl]

Wide lands, narrow grooves usually does not load tight combinations well, however my .32 loaded just fine. I just didn't like the way it shot - only 1" at 50 yards - not good enough
so I re-barreled to a Rice .36 and gave the .32 to a friend.
Here, is the muzzle.  The grooves are lighter than the bore in the picture. It still loaded easily using the rifle's 5/16" hickory rod, as there is not much lead to move in such a small diameter ball.
Loading .320" pure lead balls was really no more difficult than loading .311". It had .007" rifling depth and I used .0225" and .0235" thick patches. A short starter was not necessary, although
I still used one. Choke up on the rod and you can just push that little ball and patch into the bore, with THIS crown.
The rate of twist will likely work just fine for squirrels to 30yards or so. I would think 25 to 30gr. powder. Must shoot on target to find out.

[Bill Weedman]

I just measured the bore it is .330. I have 2 ball options a .330 with a thin patch and a .323 with a thick patch. Hopefully the weather will warm up and I can go to the range with an assortment of powder, ball and patches. It’s going to be fun. The rifle is a W. H. Forker, Meadville, Pa. 1859-1875.

[Daryl]

Note that in my .32, I used a .320" ball AND the 22 1/2 and 23 1/5 though patches. THIN patches were not needed.
The tiny balls are easily formed into the bore.

[Turtle]

 Barrel maker Ken Brasien once told me barrels should have an odd number of lands- I have no Idea why?

[Daryl]

Barrel maker Ken Brasien once told me barrels should have an odd number of lands- I have no Idea why?

That's just his opinion is all.  An even number lands barrel maker told me that odd numbered lands put the bullet out of balance.
Go figure.  Maybe they are both right? Maybe they are both wrong.  Maybe the lands should be invisible like Lancaster's invisible rifling
or oval bores. Maybe the grooves should be a minimum of .028" deep - say that somewhere near here. Maybe Round Ball bench-rest shooters
rifles are all cut too shallow? Maybe THEY don't know any better.  Maybe there should be no rifling at all. Maybe I'm just stirring the pot.

[ron w]

there is actualy a reason for an odd number of lands vs. even number. an odd number of lands supports the ball no matter what shape the ball is (as in not perfectly round) where an even number wil leave an unsupported spot somewhere thatallows the ball to wobble down the bore.  think of a four legged stool on uneven ground vs. a three legged stool on the same uneven ground,....which has more stability ?. the second reason is that the higher number of lands means a higher number of edges to grip the patch to impart spin.