Fluted shotgun bore

[Stewart117]

I have a 12 gauge barrel that looks to have straight flutes inside the barrel on half of the bore. Does anyone have any idea of what the purpose of this is? Its fluted on the chamber end and not the muzzle end.

[M-Tecs]

Steel shot in wads not designed for steel will do that. When steel shot was first mandated I saw a couple of barrels like that.

[Stewart117]

These are perfectly space evenly around the bore though. It looks just like rifling grooves. Just straight and only halfway.

[broomhandle]

Hi Sir,

You should contact the maker of the shotgun ! I have been around shotguns for years & never saw one like that.

"IF" it was shot with steel shot. The barrel might fail depending on how deep the grooves are. Better to replace a barrel then loose a eye!

Good Luck,
broomhandle

[RugerFan]

I have a Hastings "Wadlock" barrel on my 12 ga Rem 1100. An aftermarket barrel with straight rifling the full length of the bore to keep the wad from catching an anomaly and starting to spin before leaving the muzzle. Suppose to ensure more consistent patterns. I bought it many years ago and I believe that was the marketing behind it anyway.

[M-Tecs]

Interesting...…….

http://www.hastingsdistribution.com/index.php?l=product_list&c=35

[Stewart117]

Thanks for the replies. Rugerfan and m-tecs i think yall are correct. The grooves are to evenly space to be random burrs from steel shot. If i could get a good picture of it i would post one.

[wjham77]

You can get a cheap usb endoscope for under $10 on ebay, amazon. Handy little things

[Stewart117]

You can get a cheap usb endoscope for under $10 on ebay, amazon. Handy little things

I have thought about getting one for a while now. Just havent for some reason. Ive had plenty of projects that it wouldve come in handy though

[Fernando]

Briley was doing some straight rifling in tube sets.
Whats the bbl for? age?

[labradigger1]

Was tungsten shot ever used in this gun? It is much harder than any barrel.

[Gewehr-Guy]

I have a Husqvarna 12 ga rolling block with straight rifling the full length of the barrel, it was done in the 1880's? to get around a law passed in Sweden that you could only shoot a moose with a rifled gun. It seems the peasants[farmers] were tipping over moose with round balls out of their common shotguns, and the city boys caused a law to be passed to fix that problem! Husqvarna then came out with the straight rifling, and solved the problem. There was an excellent website on the history of Husky firearms that recently disappeared, that gave some history of those shotguns.

[Stewart117]

Briley was doing some straight rifling in tube sets.
Whats the bbl for? age?

I dont know what the barrel is for. I bought 10 random singleshot barrels hoping to get a couple i could use for different projects and it was one of them. It is in very good condition though only problem is missing extractor.

[Stewart117]

I have a Husqvarna 12 ga rolling block with straight rifling the full length of the barrel, it was done in the 1880's? to get around a law passed in Sweden that you could only shoot a moose with a rifled gun. It seems the peasants[farmers] were tipping over moose with round balls out of their common shotguns, and the city boys caused a law to be passed to fix that problem! Husqvarna then came out with the straight rifling, and solved the problem. There was an excellent website on the history of Husky firearms that recently disappeared, that gave some history of those shotguns.
That sounds pretty unique. I might have to make or buy one some day if i can find one. I have a collection of different 12 gauge actions. Break, bolt action, pump, semi auto, and soon a lever action. Didnt even think about adding rolling and falling blocks.

[uscra112]

If it were caused by steel shot, the damage would be out in the choke, wouldn't it?

[2152hq]

Hastings was (is?) the main bbl mfg that produces straight rifled shotgun bbls and blanks.
Remington was making some I think too. Briley making tube sets in that style.
No doubt other bbl makers have tried the system.

The idea being sold was that the straight style rifling produced up to 10% (?) tighter patterns than the same smooth bore and choke combination. 'Flyers' in the pattern are somehow reduced so the marketing statements go.
Take that for what it's worth,,and plenty of people are on both sides of the theory.
But they do sell and anything that may get you 1 extra clay target in a money shoot can mean the difference in winning and collecting big ,,,or just going home with the rest of the crowd. That's the idea,,the promise of maybe just that slight edge it may give you.

All of the bbl's & tubes I've seen have been rifled full length of the bore.
Perhaps the bbl you have is an earlier production, experimental or otherwise special order from someone.
Lots of testing has been done with the straight rifling to try and develop that small extra 'edge' for the clay target shooters,,,and hunters too for those long water fowl shots.

[M-Tecs]

If it were caused by steel shot, the damage would be out in the choke, wouldn't it?

When steel first came out lots of people reloaded it using standard shotcups. The shot would push thru the pedals and leave grooves starting at the forcing cone. On the ones I have seen it was worse at the chamber end.

[M-Tecs]

https://www.trapshooters.com/threads/a-straight-rifled-barrel-pattern-tested-winston.73070/

https://shotgunreport.com/2012/07/24/straight-rifling/