Working thru the barrel steps. This barrel blank was button rifled with my own pulling bench, using tooling I milled and heat treated. Its 45 caliber and will finish out to be the match of the original Hoss. I have many Barnes designed slugs for it, and it will shoot round ball well.

The pics show an early pull with Swarf in the bore. I’ll proceed to shaving reamers I made. The muzzle is roughly crowned at this point for access.

The Original Hoss made 60 yard off hand shooting very possible. I suspect the same here. Projected energy is plus 200 foot pounds.

Thanks for watching.
Gary

Very nice Gary
Somebody will be getting a extra special package there !

Thanks
Kurt

Thk You Kurt,

I’ve been studying my notes, drawings, and priming my memory of the Original, to make certain this one is as special.

Gary

Gary, the rifling process has amazed me. If I remember correctly, the process of getting the uniform spiral involves the twisting of a square bar into a spiral which is the fed thru a "key". The cutting button rides the bar thru the barrel to cut the grooves. Fascinating that the twisting of the bar can be done so uniformly by hand! Just that little I have seen is amazing, but doesn't come close to getting a rifled barrel ready for Barnes accuracy.
Nice work Gary!

Thank you Kent,

These barrels are “Button Rifled”. The unique feature to button rifling is that the steel is “Swagged”. “Molded”. The “Button” has the rifling pattern milled onto it. The lands and grooves. Number of same. The twist rate. The Button is welded to a “pull rod” (and it better be a darned good weld). Then, with tremendous force, the rod pulls the button thru the raw steel bore. The button doesn’t “Cut” the Steel. Instead; it shoulders the steel out of the way. The button is actually bigger than the bore, so the bore (with medium thickness wall material) has to SWELL as the button passes, and contracts again behind the button. In very thick wall material, the button “displaces” the steel. Leaving a groove with kicked up lips on either side of the groove. These are reamed off later.

It’s an amazing process. One you would not expect to work at all. And it requires tremendous force to move the material. Imagine; you are shaping the entirety of the diameter of lands and grooves, at once. With tools that can “pass thru” the bore. It so precisely that it can produce groups of a third of a MOA at 100 yards. From handmade tooling, heat treated by hand, in a one man shop. There’s a lot to learn to do that.

Gary