Drilling/boring a pistol barrel

[bob in the woods]

I have a 1 1/8th inch wrought iron bar. [ cylindrical ]    Is it necessary to forge it into a skelp and weld it , or for what it's worth, [ I only need an eight inch length ]   try to drill it.  After it's drilled, I'd  either use the forge to hammer it octagon or else just file it , since it's such a short length.  Thought's ....suggestions ??

[Dave B]

I have seen several wrought Iron barrels made from round stock lengths that were deep drilled , reamed then rifled. If you are gong to leave it smooth bore what caliber were you thinking? You should be able to file flats on the round bar stock but your bore size precludes just how big a hole you are going to have for the bore. some barrels have only the top 5 flats defined and the bottom of the barrel is left round. Eight inches in not that big for a pistol barrel but should work well if you keep the caliber under .58 if you want a nice taper to the barrel. Heck you could just file flats on it as it is. Just breach the tube after boring it out to .62 cal. It sounds like a fun project.

[bob in the woods]

I'm planning on a .58 to 62 smoothbore.

[Daryl]

Would you bore it, then insert a rod that size through the bore, then hammer (hammer forge) it to octagonal shape, ream and polish inside and file the outside to finish it?

[Dave B]

I would be inclined to forge the octagon with the swadge block first then drill it. That way you keep the bore on center and one less boring  procedure, plus I would bet the barrel will be 10 inches by the time you were done swaging it to octagon a much better length for a proper pistol. 

[bob in the woods]

Thanks Dave. I was thinking that would be a better way of doing it. My concern was keeping the bore on centre, hence my original plan of drilling first . 

[Mark Elliott]

Actually,  You wouldn't need a swage block for round stock.   I would just taper the round on the anvil and then just hammer in the flats.   I imagine that you would gain at least 2" in length tapering out the round.   If you hammered out a skelp to be welded around a mandrel,  you would get more length than that.   A .58 to .62 bore is going to leave a lot of wasted metal under the lathe.     

[hudson]

Thought I would pass on the method that worked once for me. I have no experience with rot iron so can't say how this would work for you. Work Was chucked, faced and center drilled. next drilled a short distance with a drill smaller than needed. This is followed with a small boring bar to the exact size or a couple of thousands under finished drill size wanted, this is to insure the drill will run true. Remember to allow for reaming. Using a new normal and quality drill I drill to depth going slow just peck at it in other word drill slow a vary short distance, back off a bit and go again. use plenty of cutting oil and clrar chips often. Follow this with a longer bit. They are available from machinist supply houses. The hole came out quite close. Finished blank was put between centers and skin cuts made until cleaned up. The finished blank was set in v-blocks and milled octagon. Finished with a square reamer. May not be the old time way but it worked for me. Good luck with your project.

[bob in the woods]

A few years ago, I drilled a length of brass bar, and filed it to shape. The barrel was 8 inches. It was a lot of work, but the brass drilled OK.  I used my drill press on slow. The wrought iron will be a lot more work, I'm sure, but being able to hammer it oct. etc should save on filing. As long as I can get hole drilled down the length, it will give me something to work with. At least that's the plan.  The wrought iron rod is a piece that I purchased from Brad Emig a few years ago. I think it came from an old bridge.