Smooth Rifle

[Juniata]

I'm planning to build a smooth rifle.
I already have a NW trade gun in .62, and an Isaac Haines in .45. so I'd like to go with a smooth rifle mainly for hunting.
I'm thinking a Beck, in .54 octagon to round 42" Rice barrel.
If you have a smooth rifle, I'd like to see pictures.
I'd like to see how it shoots for you.

 

[Griz44Mag]

What is a smooth rifle? A gun with rifling is called a rifle and a gun without rifling is called a smoothbore.

 

[Grenadier1758]

@Griz44Mag, a gun built like a rifle with front and rear sights, maybe set triggers, might have a full length octagon barrel, but with no rifling in the bore is a smooth rifle.

 

[BJHabermehl]

Beck, built at least one, there is one in the Danville historical society museum. It came down through the Byer family. It can be seen when the museum is open usually Sundays. BJH

PS .62 Cal. Octagon to round barrel.

 

[Griz44Mag]

Dictionary says:
rifle
ri·fle
noun

1. a gun, especially one fired from shoulder level, having a long spirally grooved barrel intended to make a bullet spin and thereby have greater accuracy over a long distance.
   "a hunting rifle"

verb

1. 1.
   make spiral grooves in (a gun or its barrel or bore) to make a bullet spin and thereby have greater accuracy over a long distance.
   

SmoothRifle
Seems a contradiction to me......

 

[Griz44Mag]

I have scoured the 'net for a definition of a smoothrifle - have not found one.........
The only references that pop up are on threads here at the muzzleloadingforum.....

 

[Brokennock]

I have scoured the 'net for a definition of a smoothrifle - have not found one.........
The only references that pop up are on threads here at the muzzleloadingforum.....

And someone answered your question a few posts ago. It has been addressed frequently on this forum more times than I can count. Which, makes me wonder if your just being a smart ass and making a joke, or has your account been hacked, because you've been here long enough and are on here often enough that I can't believe you haven't seen this before.

Pretty simple, as stated earlier, rifle style stock, rifle sights, rifle furniture (trigger guard with grip rail for instance), but bore is smooth. Some conjecture that at least some of the extent examples were bored smooth when rifling wore past the point of usefulness, around the same time the user's eyes were no longer getting along with a rear sight. This seems very speculative though as there is period advertising for "smooth rifle guns."

 

[Juniata]

Beck, built at least one, there is one in the Danville historical society museum. It came down through the Byer family. It can be seen when the museum is open usually Sundays. BJH

PS .62 Cal. Octagon to round barrel.

Nice that's not too far! I should go look at it

 

[Juniata]

Agreed Brokennock, Why has this thread become people confused on what a smooth rifle is.... That's not what I asked...I asked for pics of a smooth rifle if anyone on here owned one, and how they liked it.

Like stated:
It's a rifle styled gun with a rear sight in a smoothbore barrel.
If it's only got a front sight it's a smoothbore or as fowler.

 

[Griz44Mag]

And someone answered your question a few posts ago. It has been addressed frequently on this forum more times than I can count. Which, makes me wonder if your just being a smart ass and making a joke, or has your account been hacked, because you've been here long enough and are on here often enough that I can't believe you haven't seen this before.

Pretty simple, as stated earlier, rifle style stock, rifle sights, rifle furniture (trigger guard with grip rail for instance), but bore is smooth. Some conjecture that at least some of the extent examples were bored smooth when rifling wore past the point of usefulness, around the same time the user's eyes were no longer getting along with a rear sight. This seems very speculative though as there is period advertising for "smooth rifle guns."

And you are being your usual crabby self.
Try SMILING every once in a while! Or has it been so long you forgot how?

 

[Rudyard]

I was thinking of Lancasters oval bore rifles that where smooth just twisted. but these are not commonly met with though that firm made then from the mid 19c to the days of nitro rifles . Iv'e owned examples of both . Just mention out of interest . ' Smooth rifles' perfectly understandable
.Rudyard

 

[Griz44Mag]

I was thinking of Lancasters oval bore rifles that where smooth just twisted. but these are not commonly met with though that firm made then from the mid 19c to the days of nitro rifles . Iv'e owned examples of both . Just mention out of interest . ' Smooth rifles' perfectly understandable
.Rudyard

I was fishing for a reference to the Whitworth! Because it is truly a SMOOTH barrel with a TWIST!
I have not seen an oval bore but I have seen a square bore! (I think it was the Pickering?)

 

[martin9]

Without diggin out my KRA disc I believe Beck built several smooth rifles. Most around .50 caliber. I have one in .54 caliber and hunt with it often. Killed a doe this year with it. I can barely tell the difference in offhand accuracy at 40-50 yards with it on a good day. Mine has a 44" B weight swamped octagon barrel on it so is very light., 7.6#s. a B weight barrel is too small to have rifling cut in it so smooth is the only way to get a B weight .54

 

[martin9]

I meant to say I have a smooth rifle...it's obviously not a Beck pattern. Mines' a fantasy gun really....I was trying to incorporate fowler and rifle styling into it.

 

[Mark Herman]

I have a Chrisyian Seibert "smooth rifle". It has all the architectural aspects of a rifle, double set triggers, sights front and rear erc. The bRrel is about 38" octagon to round and is smooth at about .56 caliber or +/- 28 gauge. This was not a bored out rifle barrel, it was produced that way.

 

[tenngun]

Smooth rifle was said back in the day, also rifle mounted fusil
My Lancaster style largely modeled after Hines

 

[rich pierce]

https://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/threads/original-lancaster-smooth-rifle-buck-and-ball-gun.128493/

 

[bluemule66]

TC Renegade .56 smooth bore. One of my favorite toys.

 

[Nuthatch]

TC Penn Hunter .50 outfitted with a 33” smoothbore barrel. Haven’t taken any critters with it yet. But it has been a fun tinker toy for shot. Does just fine with a PRB. For fun, I took a shot at 100 yards and still managed to drop it just a few inches from the bullseye. Bought from a forum member.

 

[Robby]

They are simply rifles with no rifling, there are many from the Lehigh Valley, Bucks County area that are smooth bores, but we don't know for sure how they started out in life and may have been freshened to the point that turning it into a smoothbore was the last alternative. If you were to show up at a shoot with one, no one would know there was no rifling unless you told them, they look like any other rifle.
Robby