doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Why areTop Ribs on Vintage English Doubles smooth

I have a Daly-Miroku 12 bore that has a swamped rib with no matting. I used to shoot well with it before I got too old for 12 bore recoil. But, what a nice gun! Chops

In general the British do not matt or otherwise engine turn file cut ribs because thats the way we did/do it .Some makers did engin turn, matt , file cut on certain grades as decoration or to customer order . We did not as is the case with many modern Continental guns have barrels finished to shine as if they were chromed .Matting ,file cutting etc. can be used to hide the fact that the rib is not as true or well struck up as it could be as you will see on many lower end older hammer guns and cheap boxlocks.

Gunman-

Interesting point:

"Matting, file cutting, etc., can be used to hide the fact that the rib is not as true or well struck up as it could be as you will see on many lower end older hammer guns and cheap boxlocks."

That probably explains it -- it saved time and money.

Thanks for sharing.

OWD

As oak often used to cover mistakes in wine-making.

I agree, that is probably the best explanation and 'reason' thus far.....spot on I would say.......

Best,

JBR -PA24
I believe the finish you are refering to is made with a single point tool that is sort of like a cheap hole cutter for wood. The rib is mounted on a mill with a long bed and the feed rate is set for a constant advancement the cutter rotates as the rib passes making a convex cut ont the frount of the pass and a convex cut on the back. When everything is set corectly you get a very nice effect. See a DM Lefever or an Ithaca flues.
bill

I was at Gunter Pfrommer's a couple yrs ago and he showed me how to do the "file cut" matting used on the ICD's and some European guns. The tool was literally made from a single cut mill file. The piece of file was brazed to a shank and ground so as to form a chisile shape with the sawtooth pattern on the end. This would leave those lines as the tool was chased across the rib. He demonstrated it quickly for me. Simple stuff.

Doug,
I got involved in helping a friend build a RV-3, later a RV-4 and some extra -4 wings, many moons ago. I did the first flight for a friend on his RV-6 a long time ago. Flew a bunch of diff homebuilts over the years. My Pitts is collecting dust in a hangar. Way past time to sell it.

I read Gunmans reply as: English gunmakers didn't cut any corners and they had to be straight and true therefore ribs with filed finishes were easier to finish.

Maybe I'm wrong but what did you mean exactly Gunman.

I appreciate I'm going to blow slightly warmer air onto this question now.. All in good faith.

Cheers

T

999 Look at some of the Midland Demond's or gun made by Davis , Fred Williams , Ward's to name but a few. Not all English were built like Purdeys many were knocked out by guys on a pittance to be sold for a few shillings. They were cheap and nasty and fortunately most are long gone . So Engine turning was a way of making a barrel look better ,it would be cheaper to do as it was machined as opposed to the hand work in matting or file cutting.
I am not saying that it was true in all cases ,but I have seen far more cheap guns with engine turned rib than better quality ones. I have seen a lot of guns.Greener & Bonehill did engine turned ribs but this was house style and only on some of there guns .

Yep I get you. Agreed. Even with my relatively short experience...

T