Does anyone here have any experience with Whitworth rifling..? A search on this web site = No Results"

I bought a 32 caliber gain twist barrel {1" Diameter X 38" long} 
To my surprise it arrived with a heptagon ( 7 sided) bore.
While unexpected I'm game to try something that is off the beaten path. 

In doing some general research I've seen some of the negatives re; fouling in the corners and such and some say back in the day they were reportedly very accurate, although they were shooting a caliber much bigger than a 32. 

My first thought is to take some the barrel off an the breach end and use it to swage some projectiles so they index with the bore on loading or create a false muzzle.

Paul Shuttleworth introduced me to muzzle loading / false muzzles a long time ago although I've never played with either.

Some of what I've read, suggest a bullet length equal to 3 times the caliber or in this case about .925 + -

Regarding chamber.....
What are your thoughts.. Should this be a 32 Miller short or a 32-40/

Thoughts.. ? 

Thanks In Advance

Bob in St. Augustine..

I think Borchardt Rifle Co. offers that style barrel. May want to talk to Clay to get some info.
Or it was PacNor barrels. One of the two offered it.

I was going to order a .22 barrel in that configuration but they said it wouldn’t work in .22.

Tom Klinger

About 25 years back I cut a hexagon barrel just to see if I could do it. It's not as smooth as I would like but I'm sure it will shoot if I could make a bullet mold to match. Dixie gun works had a bunch of smooth bore barrel in 43 caliber and 48" long for around $10 each so I bought a few. 
Using a piece of barrel to size the bullets only works if you can make the bore slightly smaller. I did this about 50 years back by turning the out side of the barrel down so the wall thickness was about .050" and them pressing it into a sleeve that was about .010" smaller ID than the OD of the barrel. This gave a mechanical fit to the rifling and made it easy to load.
I have not come up with a good idea for making a bullet mold for my hex barrel so it has been sitting on the shelf for many years.

Some years ago, a gentleman in the Netherlands, by the name of Leon Kranen , was making molds for the Whitworth 450s.

I believe he used a CNC EDM machine to burn the cavities, so the bullet matched the rifling helix. The mold was three piece, if I remember correctly.

Not whitworth rifling, that’s hexagonal - and just a hexagon, no fancy things in the corners.  Henry rifling is septagon, but has raised ‘triangles’ in the corners, this one is the inverse, it has flats there.  More like Ingram rifling?  Is there a slope on the flats?

I am a novice..!

That said,  from what I read it is not a 'Metford' as the edges of the grooves are sharp.


oneatatime wrote yesterday at 3:49pm: