Also known as: cutting rifling.
| Process | Cutting spiral grooves into the bore |
|---|---|
| Tool | A rifling machine guided at the chosen twist |
| Result | Lands and grooves that spin the projectile |
Cutting the grooves
After a gun was cast and bored smooth, rifling it meant cutting the spiral grooves along the bore. A rifling machine drew a cutter down the bore while turning it at the prescribed rate, deepening each groove in successive passes to leave the raised lands between them.
The number, width, depth, and twist of the grooves varied by system, and this was the operation that turned a smooth bore, whether newly cast or an old smoothbore being converted, into a rifle.
On this site
Sources & further reading
- Benton, James G. A Course of Instruction in Ordnance and Gunnery. 2nd ed. New York: D. Van Nostrand, 1862.
- CivilWarArtillery.com research archive: manuals, reports, and manufacturing references.