Rounding of Oct barrel bottom

[SuperCracker]

I have seen, on early and mid 19C guns (smooth/shotgun), where the builder rounded the bottom half of the octagonal section of the barrel. Presumably this is to make inletting easier as "meticulously match barrel flats" becomes "hit it with a small selection of half round planes til it fits".  Was this also done in the mid/late 18C on O-R barrels?   I haven't been able to see originals that early with the barrel out.

Thanks all

[rich pierce]

I haven't seen this but it's a lot easier to chisel wood than remove metal.  Inletting a barrel is not a big deal for a stocker who has done dozens.  My guess is that on such a barrel they simply didn't take that much time to make the octagonal flats look good, where they would not be seen.

[JDK]

If by "builder" you are referring to the barrel maker, I agree many early barrels are less "finished" underneath and I too have seen octagon/round barrels that appeared to have been left mostly round on the bottom of the octagon section.

I don't know that they were left this way out of consideration for the guy ultimately doing the inletting or not.  I suspect in "production" guns of the day that might have been a consideration to save time, both in barrel production and inletting.  It certainly seems reasonable.

Enjoy, J.D.

[Dr. Tim-Boone]

Lot easier and faster to leave the bottom round than to forge/file flats on it........

[SuperCracker]

That's true.  The two 19C originals I have with the rounded bottoms are what would be considered "productions" or hardware store guns. They certainly would have different shops turning out barrels than were setting them into the wood.  So I'm sure they were saving time.

I was wondering if it has been seen that American late 18C shops were doing it too.  I rounded off the bottom half of a barrel for a 19C build and with a good vixen file it only took a few minutes. Definitely less time that you'd spend making flats in an inlet.  Of course, even if it was a time saver there is no telling what fashion or technical superstition of the time might have dictated.  

[Acer Saccharum]

I've got a small Spanish O/R smooth barrel from Dixie that is round under the octagonal section.  I have carried this with me for YEARS. One of those Turner 'have I got a deal for you' barrels. His picture with crossed barrels.

[longcruise]

Wasn't one of the Harpers Ferry rifles Oct to round with the underside of the octagonal portion of the barrel round?

[Pete G.]

The early models of the 1803 Harpers Ferry rifle had the lower octagon corners rounded off, presumably as a weight saving measure. Later models didn't bother.

[Mike Brooks]

The flats on the bottom were never rounded off, they were never filed or hammered  in. Some what common on trade level guns. (cheap level fowling guns)

[whitebear]

I don't know about smoothbores but a friend has a rifle that has the first few inches at the breech filed octagon and the last few inches at the at the muzzle filed octagon with the remainder of the bottom flats rounded.  The top five flats were filed octagon over the entire length.