Oddball Barrel Question

[Sprit_Sailor]

Hey everyone, this is my first post here - great site by the way, and very informative... I've been an avid black powder shooter for many years, but I'm just getting into the building aspect of things and I've got one question...

Now, I don't mean to offend any traditionalists, but is there any way of obtaining a barrel with Whitworth's hexagonal rifling?

Most of my black powder shooting experience has been with various forms of reenacting, and having shot everything from a small .36 pocket pistol on up to the 32 pounder of Shepherd's Battery at Fort Fisher, NC, I've become impressed with the accuracy of the whitworth barrel. Anyway, like I said, I don't want to offend any traditionalists, I was just curious if this kind of rifling is obtainable for rifle builders...

[Blacksmoke]

Sprit-Sailor, Genuine Whitworth rifling is a hexagonal bore that takes a hollowbase hexagonal bullet. It was popular during the great international rifle matches of the late 1800's.  I 've been rifling round ball barrels for about 30 yrs. now but have never run into anyone who is cutting Whitwoth rifling.  Then there is the problem of getting a mold cut to make the bullets to fit the bore.  I toyed with the idea once but gave it up for lack of interest and cost of "tooling up".        Hugh Toenjes

[Sprit_Sailor]

I can imagine the tooling to cut such rifling would only make it worth the price of admission for guarenteed bulk orders - not likely to happen outside of the actual whitworth rifle pattern from companies like euroarms. It still makes for an interesting concept though (if only in my own little dreamworld)

Thanks for the response though.

[Blacksmoke]

wofat-- Also If I remember correctly Parker -Hale made a "so called" Whitworth gun but the bore was not hexagonal. But rather rifled to accommodate a hollowbase standard conical bullet. Another term for the Whitworth configuration is a "mechanical fit bullet". The Parher-Hale guns that I encountered were not this configuration.     Hugh Toenjes

[Clowdis]

Hugh & Spirit Sailor,
Navy Arms made, or had made, some hex bore rifles after they took over the Parker Hale business. They also had a few hex bullet molds made to go with them. Unfortunately they never caught on and were discontinued. But if someone had to have a Whitworth they could search through the Parker Hale/Navy Arms Whitworth rifles and maybe find one. I wouldn't buy it though unless it came with the bullet mold.

[Clowdis]

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.asp?Item=126528075
One for sale

[T*O*F]

There is a lot of misinformation being given here.  Hex bored Whitworths are long range guns.  Several English gunmakers built rifles with Whitworth patent rifling.  Some of the barrels were supplied by Whitworth and others were made independently.

Genuine Whitworth rifling is a hexagonal bore that takes a hollowbase hexagonal bullet.

Whitworth bullets were solid, hexagonal, paper-patched bullets.

If I remember correctly Parker -Hale made a "so called" Whitworth gun but the bore was not hexagonal. But rather rifled to accommodate a hollowbase standard conical bullet.

I believe you have the Whitworth confused with the Volunteer rifle, which had Alex Henry rifling.

Navy Arms made, or had made, some hex bore rifles after they took over the Parker Hale business.

Navy Arms never took over Parker Hale's business.  They imported everything they sold.  Parker Hale's equipment and surplus barrel inventory was purchased by an Italian concern.......I believe Euroarms.  3rd generation Whitworths were made using these Parker Hale barrels and were so marked, but were not built by Parker Hale.  After all those barrels were used up, subsequent barrels were manufactured using Parker Hale's old equipment.

I wouldn't buy it though unless it came with the bullet mold.

Many original and reproduction Whitworths are currently in use by long range shooters both at Friendship and in International World competitions.  Almost all of them use soft round bullets which obturate on firing to fill the bore and become hexagonal.  They have found the round bullets to be more accurate.

[Dphariss]

Hey everyone, this is my first post here - great site by the way, and very informative... I've been an avid black powder shooter for many years, but I'm just getting into the building aspect of things and I've got one question...

Now, I don't mean to offend any traditionalists, but is there any way of obtaining a barrel with Whitworth's hexagonal rifling?

Most of my black powder shooting experience has been with various forms of reenacting, and having shot everything from a small .36 pocket pistol on up to the 32 pounder of Shepherd's Battery at Fort Fisher, NC, I've become impressed with the accuracy of the whitworth barrel. Anyway, like I said, I don't want to offend any traditionalists, I was just curious if this kind of rifling is obtainable for rifle builders...

This bore design grew out of teh various "belted ball" and other fitted bullet (bullet the same shape as  the interior of the barrel) experiements.
Unless you are shooting a "fitted" bullet as the originals did its largely a waste of time.
Poor choice for the patched RB too.
The most accurate rifles of the ML era did not use Whitworth Rifling. Nothing against it understand. It just adds complexity and has no advantage over conventional rifling.

Dan

[Acer Saccharum]

Get a fast twist square groove rife, and you can use a long conical.

[Clowdis]

"Navy Arms made, or had made, some hex bore rifles after they took over the Parker Hale business"

Yep, my bad! Seems to be made by Euroarms/Pedersoli and marketed by Navy Arms if this blog is to be believed http://www.johno.myiglou.com/whitworth.htm But I still think that if I were to buy one that I'd try to get the hex bullet mold to go with it. If you're into Civil War (firing at Fort Fisher) then I assume that you've heard the stories of the Southern snipers and Whitworth rifles and want to try one. Outside of that, I don't know of anyone who makes a hex bore barrel that you can buy to build on.

[Vivian Oblivion]

Unless you are shooting a "fitted" bullet as the originals did its largely a waste of time.

Rubbish!

Almost all of them use soft round bullets which obturate on firing to fill the bore and become hexagonal. 

Correct!

If I remember correctly Parker -Hale made a "so called" Whitworth gun but the bore was not hexagonal. But rather rifled to accommodate a hollowbase standard conical bullet.

I believe you have the Whitworth confused with the Volunteer rifle, which had Alex Henry rifling.

Parker hale did in fact make a "Whitworth rifled musket" and it was 'so called' because it had an actual Whitworth Hexagon bore.

Viv

[Gene Carrell]

Whitworth sporting rifles will shoot with the Rigbys, Alex Henrysand other sporting rifles in long range events. Most shooters load with heavy paper patched round conicals. Whitworth military-style rifles with their bands do have a difficult time shooting with the sporters, but do on the right day win out. A 1000yd match at Atterbury was won  last year by a shooter using  a 1st gen. PH Whitworth 3-band, swaged round paper patch bullets. Those bullets  bump to fill the hex bore on detonation.
I shoot both, Rigby style sporter when serious, and PH 1st. gen. for fun (and frustration).