Q
I believe that factory rifles are equipped with barrels which have two different types of rifling – button rifling and cold hammer-forged. Which type of rifling do you think is best? Which type lasts longest?
– Garry Charlton
A
With button rifling a carbide die or button is either pulled or pushed through the blank to swage the lands and grooves in place. The cold hammer-forging method uses a mandrel with the reverse form of the desired rifling which is inserted into an oversized barrel blank and the rifling is molded in when the blank is hammered around the mandrel. Extremely accurate barrels can be made by both methods. I own rifles with both kinds of barrels, but I have a sneaking suspicion that the hammer-forged variety may have a longer life and that a good chrome-moly barrel will outlast a stainless barrel. But nothing is carved in stone, so don’t take that as gospel.
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