« previous next »
Pages: [1] 2   Go Down

Author Topic: Octagon Rifle Barrels, why?  (Read 7563 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline bluez

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Member
  • *
  • Posts: 73
Octagon Rifle Barrels, why?
« on: January 05, 2011, 03:53:51 AM »
Why does some rifles have this type of barrels?
Logged

Offline AtlLaw

  • Moderators
  • Trade Count: (58)
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 6405
  • Gender: Male
  • A good woman, nice bike and fine guns!
Re: Octagon Rifle Barrels, why?
« Reply #1 on: January 05, 2011, 04:36:44 AM »
'cause they pretty!   ;D  Almost as pretty as half octagon, half round barrels!   :D
Logged
Richard
Former Captain of Horse, keeper of the peace and interpreter of statute.  Currently a Gentleman of leisure.
Nemo me impune lacessit

                      
Support your local US Military Vets Motorcycle Club

Offline mattbowen

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Member
  • *
  • Posts: 68
  • Gender: Male
Re: Octagon Rifle Barrels, why?
« Reply #2 on: January 05, 2011, 04:44:12 AM »
Nostalgia!
Logged
Draw Me Not Without reason, Sheath Me Not Without HONOR

Offline Blackhawker

  • Trade Count: (38)
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1486
Re: Octagon Rifle Barrels, why?
« Reply #3 on: January 05, 2011, 05:18:26 AM »
CUZ they're COOL on a levergun!  That's why!   ;D
Logged

Offline bluez

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Member
  • *
  • Posts: 73
Re: Octagon Rifle Barrels, why?
« Reply #4 on: January 05, 2011, 05:29:30 AM »
Yes they are cool, i wish my 92 Browning had one.
I was just speculating if there was a spesific reason related to the way they made barrels, or if it made it easier to make the rifling
Logged

Offline flintlock

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1405
  • Gender: Male
Re: Octagon Rifle Barrels, why?
« Reply #5 on: January 05, 2011, 07:44:04 AM »
In the area of what is now Germany it became the fashion to file the barrels octagon back in the 1600s...When Germany gunsmiths migrated to America in the early 1700s they started making American Long Rifles and of course they continued to make their barrels octagon...That's why...
Logged

Offline Old Grizz

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 387
  • Gender: Male
Re: Octagon Rifle Barrels, why?
« Reply #6 on: January 05, 2011, 08:45:14 AM »
Oh yea, all the above!!!!
 ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
Logged
Marlin 1895G Rules
45-70
Member Team Hornady
Life Member NRA
Member NAHC

Offline SHOOTALL

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 23836
Re: Octagon Rifle Barrels, why?
« Reply #7 on: January 05, 2011, 08:48:23 AM »
It might be that  it added strength to a soft bbl. But they is prudy !
Logged
If ya can see it ya can hit it !

Offline mechanic

  • GBO Supporter
  • Trade Count: (32)
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 5112
  • Gender: Male
Re: Octagon Rifle Barrels, why?
« Reply #8 on: January 05, 2011, 11:44:54 AM »
If you were to try and forge something that long perfectly round on a flat anvil with a hammer you would understand...... ;D

Of course there are tools to fit the anvil hardy and hammers to correspond to round stuff, but keeping it uniform and straight.....I couldn't do it.....

Ben
Logged
Molon Labe, (King Leonidas of the Spartan Army)

Offline flintlock

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1405
  • Gender: Male
Re: Octagon Rifle Barrels, why?
« Reply #9 on: January 05, 2011, 01:38:20 PM »
Maybe...Brown Bess muskets from the 1700s had round barrels as did Charlevilles...They were hammered, then filed round...Octagon was simply the style the Germans wanted...
Logged

Offline hillbill

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3285
Re: Octagon Rifle Barrels, why?
« Reply #10 on: January 05, 2011, 02:48:48 PM »
well germans almost took over the whole world.ill give them credit for that.they did make sum nice rifles tho.can yu imagine the skill it took to file a barrel octagon?
Logged

Offline Blackhawker

  • Trade Count: (38)
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1486
Re: Octagon Rifle Barrels, why?
« Reply #11 on: January 05, 2011, 04:55:58 PM »
I don't care about the technical stuff.  I think they just made em to look cool!   ;D
Logged

Offline Duke0313

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 414
  • Gender: Male
  • I am the way, the truth, and the life. -John 14:6
Re: Octagon Rifle Barrels, why?
« Reply #12 on: January 05, 2011, 08:01:06 PM »
'Nuff said?
Logged
"Republic:  I like the sound of the word -- means people can live free, talk free, go or come, buy or sell, however they choose.  Some words give you a deep feeling.  Republic is one of those words that makes me tight in the throat. -John Wayne- The Alamo

Offline Dand

  • GBO Supporter
  • Trade Count: (35)
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2974
Re: Octagon Rifle Barrels, why?
« Reply #13 on: January 05, 2011, 08:09:11 PM »
Thanks for asking.  I have meant to ask this question several times but always got distracted. I too thought it might have had something to do with production methods.

Logged
NRA Life

liberal Justice Hugo Black said, and I quote: "There are 'absolutes' in our Bill of Rights, and they were put there on purpose by men who knew what words meant and meant their prohibitions to be 'absolutes.'" End quote. From a recent article by Wayne LaPierre NRA

Offline SHOOTALL

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 23836
Re: Octagon Rifle Barrels, why?
« Reply #14 on: January 06, 2011, 01:52:41 AM »
Quote from: mechanic on January 05, 2011, 11:44:54 AM
If you were to try and forge something that long perfectly round on a flat anvil with a hammer you would understand...... ;D

Of course there are tools to fit the anvil hardy and hammers to correspond to round stuff, but keeping it uniform and straight.....I couldn't do it.....

Ben
[/quote

Some bbls were made by wrapping iron around a mandril heating and hammering it togather. others were forced thru a die while forging . Colt used both profiles at one time or another on their cap and ball guns . Colt did both at the same time with the army and navy revolvers. Sharps noted in one ad that round was more accurate . I always wondered if it was to get a better bedding of stock and action ?
Logged
If ya can see it ya can hit it !

Offline Blackhawker

  • Trade Count: (38)
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1486
Re: Octagon Rifle Barrels, why?
« Reply #15 on: January 06, 2011, 03:49:59 AM »
Even though I keep saying they're cool, the history behind them is interesting.  So please, don't take my goofy comments as a means of pushing the whole thing aside.  It was an honest to goodness good question.

By the way, octagonal barrels on old single shots and old revolvers are cool too!    :D
Logged

Offline flintlock

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1405
  • Gender: Male
Re: Octagon Rifle Barrels, why?
« Reply #16 on: January 06, 2011, 06:20:56 AM »
Quote from: hillbill on January 05, 2011, 02:48:48 PM
well germans almost took over the whole world.ill give them credit for that.they did make sum nice rifles tho.can yu imagine the skill it took to file a barrel octagon?


They hammered them octagon, then cleaned them up with a file...Some old barrels still have the hammer marks on them...As mentioned, they took wrought iron, heated and bent around a rod, hammer forged the ends together and hammered them both octagon and swamped them as well...

No wonder the Germans love beer... :)
Logged

Offline LONGTOM

  • Trade Count: (391)
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 4644
  • Gender: Male
  • IF ONLY I COULD GO BACK-I WOULD BE A MOUNTAIN MAN!
Re: Octagon Rifle Barrels, why?
« Reply #17 on: January 06, 2011, 07:07:53 AM »
Like said, they looked cool.

Most people wanted what had worked for 100s of years.
When Winchester switched to round barrels on their rifles most people still asked for and bought OCT barreled guns, even though the OCT barrels cost extra.
Hard to teach an old dog new tricks!!!
Check the values and production figures on round barreled guns and you will find that the round barrels are valued higher and had lower numbers of them manufactured.
People just were not convinced that a round barrel would shoot as good as an OCT one.
I know in my collection of model 73 lever rifles that the round barrels are sure worth more in the same condition as the OCT barreled ones.
Go to any gun show and look at the old Winchesters and see how many of each you find.
OCT at least 5 to 1 over round.



LONGTOM
Logged
NRA Benefactor Life Member
NAHC Life Member
NRA Member-JAMES MADISON BRIGADE
IWLA Member
NRA/ILA Member
CCRKBA Member
US OLIMPIC SHOOTING TEAM supporter

"THE TREE OF LIBERTY FROM TIME TO TIME MUST BE REFRESHED WITH THE BLOOD OF PATRIOTS AND TYRANTS".
THOMAS JEFFERSON

That my two young sons may never have to know the horrors of war. 

I will stand for your rights as my forefathers did before me!
My thanks to those who have, are and will stand for mine!
To those in the military, I salute you!

LONGTOM 9-25-07

Offline 3leggedturtle

  • Trade Count: (7)
  • Avid Poster
  • **
  • Posts: 209
  • Gender: Male
Re: Octagon Rifle Barrels, why?
« Reply #18 on: January 08, 2011, 02:53:08 PM »
Plus they hang real nice when shooting offhand.
Logged

Offline Keith L

  • Moderators
  • Trade Count: (4)
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3781
Re: Octagon Rifle Barrels, why?
« Reply #19 on: January 08, 2011, 03:16:01 PM »
Lets not forget they look cool.
Logged
"Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy."  Benjamin Franklin

Offline Lloyd Smale

  • Moderators
  • Trade Count: (32)
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 18263
Re: Octagon Rifle Barrels, why?
« Reply #20 on: January 09, 2011, 01:33:21 AM »
first and foremost because they just look right on a lever and secondly because in most cases there lighter then a round barrel.
Logged
blue lives matter

Offline Ex 49'er

  • GBO Supporter
  • Trade Count: (8)
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1975
  • Gender: Male
Re: Octagon Rifle Barrels, why?
« Reply #21 on: January 16, 2011, 07:27:57 PM »
That's the old timey way of makin' 'em. They sure hold good and are accurate. Octagons are way cooler looking than rounds!
Logged
When you're walking on eggs; don't hop!!

Offline rhernandez914

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Member
  • *
  • Posts: 36
  • Gender: Male
Re: Octagon Rifle Barrels, why?
« Reply #22 on: January 24, 2011, 10:46:30 AM »
I agree with the fact they look really cool!
Logged

Offline Darreld Walton

  • Eagles Don't Catch Flies
  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Avid Poster
  • **
  • Posts: 212
  • Gender: Male
Re: Octagon Rifle Barrels, why?
« Reply #23 on: January 27, 2011, 01:01:44 AM »
Then there's the notion that they 'stiffen' a barrel, and increase the surface area for cooling.  These days, people cut longitudinal grooves in perfectly good barrels for the same reasons, as well as to lighten them.
"Innies" or "outties", sorta like belly buttons, which do you prefer?
Logged
I told my pap and mam I was going to be a mountain man; acted like they was gut-shot. "Make your life go here, son. Here's where the people is. Them mountains is for Indians and wild men." "Mother Gue", I says "the Rocky Mountains is the marrow of the world," and by God, I was right. Keep your nose in the wind and your eye along the skyline

Offline crash87

  • Trade Count: (5)
  • Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 408
Re: Octagon Rifle Barrels, why?
« Reply #24 on: January 27, 2011, 05:47:01 AM »
Quote from: AtlLaw on January 05, 2011, 04:36:44 AM
'cause they pretty!   ;D  Almost as pretty as half octagon, half round barrels!   :D
Almost, just not quite, I do concur... ;)
Logged

Offline bluez

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Member
  • *
  • Posts: 73
Re: Octagon Rifle Barrels, why?
« Reply #25 on: January 27, 2011, 04:21:16 PM »
A little off topic, her is a picture of a old Norwegian multibarrel machine gun using black powder  ;D

 
Logged

Offline Canuck Bob

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Avid Poster
  • **
  • Posts: 187
Re: Octagon Rifle Barrels, why?
« Reply #26 on: January 28, 2011, 11:47:12 AM »
Quote from: crash87 on January 27, 2011, 05:47:01 AM
Quote from: AtlLaw on January 05, 2011, 04:36:44 AM
'cause they pretty!   ;D  Almost as pretty as half octagon, half round barrels!   :D
Almost, just not quite, I do concur... ;)

Sorry guys, full tapered octagon for me.  The half round always looks like the smith just didn't finish turning a round barrel.  In my muzzleloader I like the flat plane of the barrel as part of the sight picture.  Someday my 444 might get an octagon barrel if I ever end up rich.
Logged

Offline AtlLaw

  • Moderators
  • Trade Count: (58)
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 6405
  • Gender: Male
  • A good woman, nice bike and fine guns!
Re: Octagon Rifle Barrels, why?
« Reply #27 on: January 28, 2011, 06:41:56 PM »
Quote from: Canuck Bob on January 28, 2011, 11:47:12 AM
Quote from: crash87 on January 27, 2011, 05:47:01 AM
Quote from: AtlLaw on January 05, 2011, 04:36:44 AM
'cause they pretty!   ;D  Almost as pretty as half octagon, half round barrels!   :D

Almost, just not quite, I do concur... ;)

full tapered octagon for me.

full tapered octagon!?  They just ain't no way of accountin for some people's taste...  ::)

Now if you had said swamped octagon...  ;D
Logged
Richard
Former Captain of Horse, keeper of the peace and interpreter of statute.  Currently a Gentleman of leisure.
Nemo me impune lacessit

                      
Support your local US Military Vets Motorcycle Club

Offline David D.

  • Trade Count: (1)
  • A Real Regular
  • ****
  • Posts: 680
  • Gender: Male
Re: Octagon Rifle Barrels, why?
« Reply #28 on: February 02, 2011, 02:56:32 PM »
Their just plain cool, even on an Encore!!!!
Logged
Dave D.

Offline mechanic

  • GBO Supporter
  • Trade Count: (32)
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 5112
  • Gender: Male
Re: Octagon Rifle Barrels, why?
« Reply #29 on: February 02, 2011, 03:53:25 PM »
David D.

Thats a mighty purty Encore.  You ever need a baby sitter, let me know..... ;)

Ben
Logged
Molon Labe, (King Leonidas of the Spartan Army)
Pages: [1] 2   Go Up
« previous next »