swamped barrels

[BlackNet]

Anyone know how swamped barrels are made? Care to share that info?

Ed

 

[TANSTAAFL]

Some, but not all, modern ones start as round bar stock, which is drilled, reamed & rifled, then indexed octagon and flats are milled, originals were hand filed.

 

[longrifle78]

The originals were only finished with files , the tapper and flair of the profile and the flats were forged in then cleaned up by filing.

 

[Many Klatch]

One gun builder that I know shapes his from a straight barrel. He uses a new sureform plane to do the job for each barrel. After he removes the bulk of the barrel that he wants off, he finishes by drawfiling and sand paper. He has the mills and shapers, but finds that this is just as fast as having to set up the equipment.

Many Klatch

 

[shortstring]

There are a few different procedures used to profile swamps these days.

One common way is to use a machine called a planer. This machine has a table 5 ft long or more that slides back & forth its full lengh. A single tooth cutter sticks down & takes off a small amount of metal with each stroke. The next stroke the tooth is indexed over & another cut is made, with enough strokes a flat surface is established. The swamp of the barrel is made by bending the barrel over a mandral in the middle allowing a straight cut. After the barrel is returned to its original straight bore you have a swamped flat.

Another way these days is to use a large programable milling machine. Instesd of using a single tooth cutter these machines have a rotary cutting device. The barrel is held level with the table & the profile of the swamp is entered into a computer that controls the milling head of the machine. In a single pass a flat is milled & the contour of the swamp is established. A good cutter grinder will turn out a barrel that for all practical purposes is ready to brown right out of the mill. With a planer it is quite common to have to do some draw filing to get a good surface.

 

[Birddog6]

Call Rice Barrel Company & just ask ol LC (Lost Cause) Rice how he makes them. He is a heck of a nice guy & always entertaining to chat with. YOu will come away with more knowledge of it than you ever dreamed of having.... :thumbsup:

Rice Barrel Company

 

[BlackNet]

how about the inside? They do not have a uniform diameter all the way thru.

Ed

 

[J.D.]

how about the inside? They do not have a uniform diameter all the way thru.
Ed

I have heard this before and I have to wonder where this silly idea originated.

The bores of swamped barrels are no different than the bores on any other barrel. It's only the exterior that is contoured.

I once had the owner of a small BP shop tell me that he wouldn't sell a swamped barrel and would never own one because the bores were not
uniform. :youcrazy:

His business didn't last a year. :rotf:
J.D.

 

[BlackNet]

Perhaps my wording is incorrect then.

Ed

 

[BlackNet]

The example in my book is even more extreme than this. shows 9 1/2" long and 3 3/4" at t he muzzle.

Ed

 

[tg]

You may find some guns with swamped barrels that are larger bored at the muzzle like the blunderbuss pistol you show or a gun may be coned a bit at the muzzle or choked but generaly the bore diameter is the same from end to end regardless of the outside dimension which is generally larger at the breech where the pressure is greater.

 

[J.D.]

The blunderbuss is a completely different animal than a swamped rifle or fowler barrel.

Some blunderbuss bores were tapered from the breech an inch or two, then flared to the muzzle. It was mistakenly believed that the tapered and flared smooth bore would produce a larger spread of buck shot.

Those internal tapers would have been laboriously reamed by hand, from the breech and muzzle.

The large flared muzzle made it easier to load from a rocking coach or from horseback.

The sketch of the golden age barrel illustrates various external dimensions of different weights of swamped rifle barrels, and not bore dimensions.

The two lines that could possibly be confused with a tapered and flared bore represent the side flat of the barrel.
J.D.

 

[shortstring]

Most of the barrel makers these days are using a form of machine reamer to establish the internal surface of a barrel. If a hole varied a 10,000th or two in its length that would be about it. I ream my own barrels with the old hickory backed reamer & get a 1,000th or so of taper from breech to muzzle. I always figured it was because the wood wore out that much every pass. But the swamping of the barrel doesn't change any of this.