Octagon barrel v.s. Round barrel

[cowboys1062]

 Can anybody give me a history lesson about Octagon shaped barrels? I was wondering when it was introduced and why alot of gunmakers made them in the 1800's. Like the Hawken rifles and the Plains rifles going out west. Or the Ohio rifles and Kentucky rifles. I know that they had round barrels back then but why did they make Octagon barrels? I know that most of the Revolutionary War rifles had round barrels back in the 1700's. What were the advantage or disadvantages of Octagon barrels and why were they made? I was just wondering. Respectfully, cowboys1062

[beowulf]

actually most of the rifles during the revolution had octagonal barrels , while muskets and other smooth bore guns usually had round ! the octagonal barrel goes all the way back to the earliest guns , no idea why they just do !

[Red Badger]

Just a SWAG but could the reason be that an octagon barrel give purchase for wrenches and other implements to turn it while cutting the rifleing?   

[hotfxr]

In a video from Historic Williamsburg that I picked up several years ago, in the Colonial times they were forging steel around a rod and in a half octagon groove in the work bench. After they got the basic shape, they drilled the bore out then sitting in another jig, they filed the flats down. Then in one of the research books (and for the life of me I cannot remember which one) It said most barrels were made round and the octagon was shaped by hand drawing with a flat file in later times. I have always been curious about the octagons and I wish that someone with a lot more knowledge than me would explain it so my feeble brain can understand. Anyone heard from the mangy yet apparently domesticated cur over in Indiana? Bet ya bolts to buckets he would have the answer to this conundrum fast as a buck runs when I cock the hammer.

[beowulf]

Just a SWAG but could the reason be that an octagon barrel give purchase for wrenches and other implements to turn it while cutting the rifleing?   

thats a reasonable idea !

[beowulf]

In a video from Historic Williamsburg that I picked up several years ago, in the Colonial times they were forging steel around a rod and in a half octagon groove in the work bench. After they got the basic shape, they drilled the bore out then sitting in another jig, they filed the flats down. Then in one of the research books (and for the life of me I cannot remember which one) It said most barrels were made round and the octagon was shaped by hand drawing with a flat file in later times. I have always been curious about the octagons and I wish that someone with a lot more knowledge than me would explain it so my feeble brain can understand. Anyone heard from the mangy yet apparently domesticated cur over in Indiana? Bet ya bolts to buckets he would have the answer to this conundrum fast as a buck runs when I cock the hammer.

back in 84 or 85 I was given a very old anvil , damned thing weighed well over 150 lbs , it had octagonal swages built into it for about four different sizes . 

[Red Badger]

I also have seen the Williamsburg video and the way shown was not the only way to ream out a barrell.  This may well be one of those interesting tidbits that historians will wonder about for a long time along with which came first the cheeto pie or bbq cheetos.... or that other famous conundrum  Who shot JR.... 

[mongrel]

I just came across this, and actually I do have an answer to the question of why they "octagonized" barrels, back in the day.

In short, though we now know this to be untrue, it was believed that the octagonal profile gave additional strength to the barrel walls, a comforting thought in a time when metallurgy and sometimes welding techniques were iffy. However, a barrel is only as strong as its weakest (usually thinnest) point, so those bulky forty-five-degree corners only added weight and a certain visual appeal, not any additional margin of safety during the internal pressure of powder exploding.

Incidentally, rifles right back to the matchlock days most typically had octagonal barrels. It was the various forms of musket that typically had round barrels. Even without high-tech equipment for measuring such things they knew that rifles generated more pressure due to the tighter-fitting projectile inside the barrel, and the restriction of the rifling as it spun the projectile, so it followed naturally that the "stronger" and definitely more expensive barrel profile was most often used on rifles.

[Patocazador]

Well, they definitely didn't mind heavy guns back then. I saw a Bannerman mail-out (flyer) from 1943 on another forum and the weights varied from 8 lbs. (very few) to 18 lbs. for flint and percussion guns. Some were very expensive for the time. The low was ~$40 for a well used shooter to $1000 for a 10 1/2 lb percussion gun.

The avg. yearly income in 1943 was $2000. Gas was 15 cents/gal.