Videos: Cut Rifling

Four years ago, in the early days of this blog, we had studied a method of manufacturing a rifled barrel, called Cut Rifling, or more accurately, Single Point Cut Rifling. Since then, that series of posts has been referenced by other websites which wish to explain how these technologies work. However, mere descriptions of the processes involved is not always enough. Hence, the next series of posts will present movies of the various processes.

If you don't know how cut rifling works, you should click on the links above and read up on the processes. Then, watch the following movie to see it in action:

The sine bar rifling machine in this video was manufactured by Diamond Machine Corp. of Rhode Island. This company was originally founded by Mr. R.I. Costain and Mr. Nicholas B. Hadley in 1869 and known as Hadley & Costain, manufacturers of the Diamond Emery Wheel. In 1881, they shortened their name to Diamond Emery Wheel & Machine Corp., and around 1889 or 1890, they became known as Diamond Machine Corp and they seem to have been in business till at least 1926.

The uploader of this video notes that this machine had been owned by multiple people, including the uploader's grandfather and has been restored to working condition and is cutting its first barrel in 40 years.

As was mentioned in the original cut rifling thread referenced above, these machines are not being manufactured in quantity, as they were before World War II. Therefore, it is hard to find a machine for sale these days and hence, some people manufacture their own versions, usually by converting a lathe.

The above video shows a person cutting rifling using a small lathe and a home-made cutting tool, which produces a fairly good product.

The next video shows a person cutting rifling using a more manual method:

It just goes to show that when the technology is not available, people can still get their work done, using a little ingenuity.

In the next post, we will look at a video about broach rifling. Until then, happy viewing.