Mainly for big gun, but has anyone ever tried to rifle their barrels to improve accuracy? I was watching history channel on naval guns through the ages and it got me thinking: would it even help with our cannons accuracy? Is it even possible to do with our barrels being bent? Would the use of CO2 instead of powder have an effect? if so good or bad? This is the type of thing that comes up with to much time on your hands to think lol
Good question... does anyone know of a rifled bb gun?? I'm wondering if it would be of negligible advantage since the projectile is round.
Well it being round makes it even more likly to help would't it? I mean ball ammo became more accurate when the muskets were rifled, thus becoming rifles. Might be an interesting experiment to try for some one with the skillz to pull it off.
I think the trade off would make it useless. In order to use the rifling, you'd need tight tolerances & perfect bb's. Your spin would maybe help the round fly straight, but the greater friction in the barrel would lower the muzzle velocity / range. The way to overcome the extra friction in a firearm was to up the gas pressures (more powder). We can't (won't) do that for safety reasons, so you're stuck w/ the lower velocity. At lower speed, the rifled barrel accuracy is cancelled out by the shorter max range. Plus God help you if you got a misshapen or oversized bb stuck in that rifling.
valid points. but like all thing theoretical it must be tested to be sure. if i ever get that good with tools and have the needed one i promise to try ad report back lol
Our shot does spin anyway due to it racing around the bend in the barrel....it exits the barrel with a definite backspin.
I'm assuming that the rifling would wwear off in a hurry unless the barrel were hardened. (or the rifling case hardened which can be done with case hardening compounds. That may make them to brittle though. You could probably get off a few shots to test the theory with soft rifling though.
I tried a ship that had riffled barrels (of the same sort used in daisy rifles) and it didn't shoot straight, the bbs would kind of arc and move to the left, not straight.
Maybe the short barrel length, along with the rifling, thew the trajectory off. Maybe the spin from the rifling caused the BB the arc and go to the left.
This is something I see a lot when folks talk about paintball barrels as well. A perfect ball (or a soft lead one that will expand to fit the barrel) would benefit from rifling. But these rounds we’re getting from Wal Mart or wherever simply aren’t. Just like with paintballs they are even more prone to being misshaped. I’ve seen them do some damned funny things if they get dimpled and get shot through a rifled barrel. Of course some folks use an attachment to intentionally put a spin on them to create longer ranges, or left/right hooks. But that’s all pot luck really. When you look at actual gun barrels they are twisted something like 1:20 or something like that. To accelerate a BB down the tube AND get it spinning fast enough would require a hell of a tight twist. If you only kinda get it spinning you make more of a problem then you fix. Best to stick with smooth, tight tolerance barrels.
Even the competition grade bbs aren't perfect. I don't see any reason to use anything other than right tolerance smooth bore barrels.
Ah but we arn't discussing BBs or not meant to be any ways. with the 1/4" ball bearings we fire at longer distances although the standard 2-3 feet range is what most battles take place at. I have seen a ship fire and randomly hit another ship at 20+ ish feet give or take a few feet. also aren't the ball bearing we purchase from strike perfectly round? So that negates the issue with imperfections does it not? At the longer range say 6+ feet would it be beneficial if you could do it?
We won't know until somebody tries it. Nobody does biggun around here where I am, and I haven't seen anything biggun other than a destroyer so I wouldn't know. Maybe you could be the first to find out?
I had thought about it but two issues: 1) I dont have the skills or tools make cannons let alone this haha and 2) and starting in october my ability to do anything ship involved will be greatly diminished. Its something I thought someone would of tried but obviously no one on the forum has thus far.
I once saw Normandie land four perfect holes on the waterline of Mogami at about 20 feet or so and she sank like a rock. Although the captain was highly skilled, luck had more to do with it than anything else. The biggest thing that causes missed shots is the captain. You are far more inaccurate than your guns are once your boat gets 10 or 15 feet away from you. There are other aspects of the standard big gun cannon that cause more inaccuracy than the barrels. The all-important bearing that allows the magazine to rotate also allows the magazine to wobble. It also is a weak area on many cannons, and I have seen several magazines get blown off from firing or fall off during handling. Mogami is the only sink I've ever seen from long range. It's not that it doesn't happen (it clearly did), but it is far more important to become a master at three feet or less, where most of the real killing occurs. Improve the bearing, reduce the wobble and strengthen that weak area before worrying about rifled barrels. You're going marine corps, right? Best of luck to you.
I could shoot the left wing off of a nat at 40' with my old Daisy 22cal rifled pistol. BUT that was shooting lead pellets that would expand and engage the rifling on the barrel. I don't think a hardened steel ball bearing would do the same.
Gascan- yes I leave for bootcamp Oct. 14th so all my ships are gutted and stored. Obviously the kill range of 3-4 feet is the most important. But like i said in my original question/post I had been watching the history of naval guns and got curious. Steve- it might or might not. It worked for the real ships using cannon balls which are far more imperfect then our steal ball bearings. But obviously there are massive differences in the designs. It shall be one of those curiosities until someone tries it. I will if I ever get the tool/skill and time.
