doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com What is striking a shotgun barrel?

I've got a heavy gun that's 4# 9oz. unstruck weight. Needless to say, it's on a heavy frame.

3# is typical for a SXS game gun and 3 1/2# fairly typical for a pigeon gun. At 4# 9oz, I'm going to guess a big bore long range fowler. Barrel weight and weight distribution must be matched to action + stock weight and weight distribution to achieve ususal balance range and usual swing efforts. If you were to "shoehorn" a set of long, heavy barrels on a light stocked action you would find the balance so far forward as to compromise handling, most likely.

"Instant of Inertia" !!!! Oh, I love that one!!! IOI!!

That is some dream foistered upon the public along with the rest of the "magic" required to create a 'best" gun. Didn't you ever read Vic Venters on "Concentricity"?
Way more important and working towards quality than the hackneyed notion of striking for balance. If you had any clue how little change the balance can actually effected by "striking" you stop repeating this absurdity. I'm quite sure you Never put any file to any barrel.

Striking is simply about removing the flaws from the barrel finish to achieve a quality bluing or browning and final appearance. There is not enough metal removed to effectively change handling qualities without drastic thinning of the barrel walls.
If this was ever done, it certain is out of the scope of today's gunmaking.

And another one bites da' dust!

Thanks, Steven for that contribution. I always had my doubts about that "striking for balance". I have draw filed octagonal barrels and know the work involved in striking, though I've never attempted a shotgun barrel. Have no need to, someone else has always beat me to it.

Shotgun balance is, indeed, an important issue in handling, but much BS is written about it by people looking for a few more paragraphs. Just like this notion, now, that you can somehow utilize the difference in handling between a comp gun that has steel screw in chokes compared to one that has titanium ones, toward higher scores. Bull!

SRH

Stan;
Considering the price differential between Steel & Titanium they have to come up with Something to Sell them.
Not much different than adding a new powder to an already existing line & promoting how much it will reduce "Felt Recoil".
Occurs all the time & folks Swear By It.
I would be quite certain there are those out there who have laid out the green for those titanium tubes & would also swear they can "Fel" the difference in balance & that their scores have improved by X number of clays as a result.

Might have been something to that 'striking for balance' notion back before the invention of the lathe.

As Miller knows, taking any significant amount of metal off a barrel would be a lot easier in a machine. And you can also file in a lathe a lot faster than on a barrel stuck in a vise.

Any of you that have measured wallthickness have seen that barrels, for the most part, have a constant wall thickness from muzzle to about 15" +/- from the breach. Then many have two straigth tapers, one shallower angle from the thin section, and another steeper angle to the breach. These angled tapers are blended enough in the "striking" process that they are often not noticed and thought to be a smooth single taper or even a radius. Holding a set of early 20th century barrels up to a light source and looking down the outside makes the two tapers evident. If I were to guess what purpose of "striking" was, I would venture to say it was to blend these three cuts and remove the machining marks.

Any manufacturer that has ever tried to machine and finish a product of any kind will always strive to maximize the use of the machine and minimize any hand work. This is as true today as it was in 1900. Anyone that doubts this, I recommend you go buy a 30" bar of 3/4" diameter mild steel, which should cost about the price of a meal at McDonalds, and try to hand file .010" off the diameter the full length. I'll check back with you in August. Oh, and keep it round too.

Not saying I could or would want to, but this is just machining and probably very doable with careful layout. I do see your point about the time involved. It's just that it might still require more time and much more skill to strike the new diameter rod well.

Isn't the profile of something just the shape or outline of the side view. I don't believe buffing would turn that same profile into a best gun barrel, but proper striking might preserve the same profile while creating a preferred look.