Rifling refreshing tools

Some time back I bought a bunch of very old gunsmithing equipment. Amongst the pile was a sucrets box full up with rifling files and 20 or so arbors in all different calibers. Very little info on the web about these but as I gather they were frequently used on older barrels with soft steel and when the rifling wore out from shooting or cleaning these were pushed/pulled through the bore by attaching to a shaft akin to a cleaning rod. The arbor that holds the files are bore diameter and the files are slightly canted and are placed into the bore one groove at a time. You would make passes on one groove then remove the tool, rotate to the next groove and repeat. Once all grooves were gone over one pass then you would adjust gib screws under the file to increase the diameter of the tool and repeat afore mentioned process until you had deep rifling.
This process did not file the lands but only the grooves. Once completed, you simply sized your bullets larger afterwards.
From my readings, this as common practice with schutzen matches and some would do this after every couple matches.

As life goes on I find myself acquiring older rifles and sometimes with poor bores. This may be a reasonable alternative to sleeping barrels.

Has anyone ever seen these tools? I didn't take any pics but will this weekend. Also have no idea as to there worth but have no interest in selling.

A sleeping barrel could be a dangerous one :kidding:

I would love to see pics... never heard of this before and I am extremely interested in the tools and how they work. THANK YOU for posting!

sounds like you have some cutter heads. to fresh a barrel you would cast a lead plug then inlet a saw into it then scrape all the groves then do the same for the lands. it was done on muzzle loaders.

Looking forward to the pictures.

Some pics,

It looks like the cylinders in the bottom picture are real rifling heads, for various calibers. I think I can see the cutters in the windows on the sides. They should be a single "hook" or scraper. Where there long rods, or a rifling machine, in there with the old gunsmith's "stuff?"

The "saws" in the first picture were typically inletted into a Babbit casting made in the old barrel, replacing one of the "lands" cast by the rifling grooves. The casting so fitted was pushed through the barrel, indexed to the next groove, pushed through again, and so on until all grooves had been scraped. Then a piece of paper was put under the saw and the process repeated until the worn grooves were "freshed out."

Another casting might be made and this time the saw was inletted into the groove in the casting, made by the bore of the gun, and this assembly pushed through until the worn tops of the lands were evened out. A new ball mould would be made to fit, and the gun was ready for another campaign of shooting.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bent Ramrod

It looks like the cylinders in the bottom picture are real rifling heads, for various calibers. I think I can see the cutters in the windows on the sides. They should be a single "hook" or scraper. Where there long rods, or a rifling machine, in there with the old gunsmith's "stuff?"

The "saws" in the first picture were typically inletted into a Babbit casting made in the old barrel, replacing one of the "lands" cast by the rifling grooves. The casting so fitted was pushed through the barrel, indexed to the next groove, pushed through again, and so on until all grooves had been scraped. Then a piece of paper was put under the saw and the process repeated until the worn grooves were "freshed out."

Another casting might be made and this time the saw was inletted into the groove in the casting, made by the bore of the gun, and this assembly pushed through until the worn tops of the lands were evened out. A new ball mould would be made to fit, and the gun was ready for another campaign of shooting.

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No long rods or rifling machine were there.

The arbors have only 1 single slot for the cutters. There is 2 Allen head set screws under the slots to adjust for height.
If you notice in the pic with the cutters some are angled one direction only and some are angled both directions.
If these were for establishing rifling in a barrel wouldn't there need to be 2 or more slots in the arbors?
I'm not certain what exactly I have but it is interesting.
Also included in the purchase were around 20 or so ball mills in different sizes that I assume were for making rb molds.

The indexing done with the rifling head would be done in the rifling machine. You would turn the holder for the rod holding the head a fraction of a turn, lock it in place, and pull or push the rod through the barrel. After going around the four or six or however many stops on the index head, then a slight turn of the adjusting screw to raise the cutter and do another round.

Cliff LaBounty's book, Rifling Machines and Methods, gives a very good rundown of how these tools are set up and how they work. They range from simple devices you push with your hands to elaborate automatic and hydraulic production machinery.

Cool, I never considered a indexing head.
So it appears that I have a hodgepodge of items that I won't be able to use.

Those look more like keyslot broaches to me. For rifling there is usually a single tooth. Multiple teeth have to be canted at the angle of the rifling. Those tools appear to have the cutter parallel to the axis.

I went and looked at them again this morning. The first one I picked up has 50 ca. 1-48 stamped in the rod. This one in particular has a slight cant or helix To the cutter slot.