Swamped barrel

[Adrie luke]

I have a short question. Why are swamped barrels made? Does the swamped barrel have a function?
For the weight or....??

[Hungry Horse]

It's all about balance. A gun with a swamped barrel has much better balance. A straight barrel unless it is big caliber, and small diameter, will be muzzle heavy.

  Hungry Horse

[PPatch]

Weight, and balance. That metal removal makes a big difference. If you had two guns side by side and both the same except for one having a straight barrel, and the other swamped, you would immediately notice the improvement in feel and weight, the straight barrel would be noticeably nose heavy over the swamped one. Also style imo, a swamped barrel makes for a slim and beautiful profile.

dave

[Elnathan]

Weight and balance, as the others have said. I think it is just a bit more complicated than that, though. I have a theory that the flare at the muzzle is actually functional by raising the moment of inertia of the muzzle, thereby making for a slightly steadier gun than one with with a straight tapered barrel of the same weight and balance. Basically, if you take two lumps of playdoh  the same weight and stick them on the ends of a dowel before waving it around, it will be harder to spin than if you wadded up the two lumps and stuck them in the middle of the dowel, even though the weight and balance would be the same.

The subtle curves it adds also fits with the general aesthetic of the Baroque and Rococo eras from which the longrifle evolved.

[wattlebuster]

If you ever pick one up you will have the answer to your question. Superb balance an just looks better

[JCKelly]

One might remember the word "SALES"

Modern swamped barrels are very, very swamped. Kinda like an old Jaeger but longer

They are the contemporary ideal of beauty.

In Ancient Times when all barrels were straight, one would solder a brass wedge to the lockplate & pan cover, so as to get the wrist lines correct. I still have a circa 1965 Roller lock with such a wedge - yes, Bob, I did sell the rifle but kept the lock.

And, given the ubiquitous 5/8x18 breech plug I'd say it sometimes helps to have a heavier breech

I might be surprised if one were to find many original "Golden Age" Kentucky rifles with so much "swamp"

 

[tallbear]

Modern swamped barrels are very, very swamped. Kinda like an old Jaeger but longer

They are the contemporary ideal of beauty.

That might have been true with the profile of initial tapered and flaired barrels first introduced by Getz but most current barrel manufacturers(including Getz) offer many barrels with their dimensions taken right from the originals .Speak to the barrel makers personally about your barrel needs and they can provide with a proper profiled barrel in most cases pulled right from original guns.

Mitch Yates

[Dennis Glazener]

Modern swamped barrels are very, very swamped.

Not the ones I use. Both Getz and Rice make a lightweight barrel with not a lot of swamp. Both barrels come very close to the dimensions of an original Mathew Gillespie barrel that I know of.

There are plenty of other barrels that are copies of originals, Ed Rayl and Charles Burton both (and probably others) will make a barrel to your specs.
Dennis

[JCKelly]

I stand corrected and outdated

[Joey R]

Dennis is correct. Rice's southern classic barrel closely resembles the old original swamped barrels and they are nice. They do not require the high front sights. IMO.

[James Wilson Everett]

Guys,

Another reason may be that when you forge a barrel, or any piece of wrought iron, the forging will tend to split at the free end.  I call this "broomstraw" splits.  When forging I very often plan to cut away the free ends of the piece where these splits occur.  With a barrel, if you try to avoid a lot of forge hammering at the free ends of the barrel, than the barrel will tend to take on a shape that is thick at the ends and thin towards the middle.  Of course, there is the additional considerations noted above for balance and beauty.

When Remington started roll forging barrels without the weld, barrels became straight sided, early 19th c.  After this innovation, most gunsmiths used the straight sided barrels.

Jim