bore barrel bands

[web365ster]

which is more historically correct on smooth bore fowler barrels, 1 band or 2 bands (rings)? Also, would love to know if smooth bore octagon barrels are historically correct.

[Cory Joe Stewart]

Some trade guns had multiple bands, so they are accurate.  There are a number of smoothbore Octagon barrels in the published literature.  It is not know if they all started out smoothbore, or if they were shot so much that the rifle wore down and then they were rebored to be smooth.

Cory Joe

[rich pierce]

I think of octagonal smoothbore barreled guns as 2 broad categories. First are rifle-built guns with rifle style trigger guards and buttplates. Some of these were made as smooth rifles and others had rifling that subsequently got drilled and reamed smooth.

Next, and rare, are guns built like fowlers, with fowler style guards and buttplates and a rounded toe. I know of one New England gun like that. Full length view is in a Muzzle Blasts article by Eric Bye.

[Cory Joe Stewart]

Interesting Rich, I did not take the architecture into account. 

Cory Joe

[JTR]

Also, would love to know if smooth bore octagon barrels are historically correct.

As far as I know, Bucks County rifles were all smooth bore, octagon barrels, front and rear sights. Also, in the literature the term Smooth Rifle is pretty common.

Probably an outlier out there somewhere, just that I've never seen it.

John

[Seth Isaacson]

A fairly large percentage of American longrifles with plain single triggers that I see are smoothbore. Some were probably bored out, but I'm guessing a lot of them have always been smoothbores.

[Eric Kettenburg]

There are a few Bucks rifles floating around with rifled bores.  Not common at all though.

Regardless of the number of bands, when it comes to oct/rd barrels, it is very difficult to find modern made oct/rd barrels that look like antique oct/rd barrels.  Pretty much all of the commercial makers are lathe cutting the bands and the transition between oct/rd is too deep and abrupt.  The bands are too deep or bold.  Practically every antique I have handled or seen utilizes a much more subtle transition and the band/bands are typically very shallow.  Many, if not most, are around the top half of the barrel only, not completely around it as per a lathe cut band.