Rifling is the term for helical grooves machined into the internal surface of a firearms's barrel for imparting a spin to a projectile to improve its aerodynamic stability and accuracy. It is also the term (as a verb) for … See more

For best performance, the barrel should have a twist rate sufficient to spin stabilize any bullet that it would reasonably be expected to fire, but … See more

An early method of introducing rifling to a pre-drilled barrel was to use a cutter mounted on a square-section rod, accurately twisted into a spiral of the desired pitch, mounted in two fixed square-section holes. As the cutter was advanced through … See more

The grooves most commonly used in modern rifling have fairly sharp edges. More recently, polygonal rifling, a throwback to the earliest types of rifling, has become … See more

Muskets are smoothbore, large caliber weapons using ball-shaped ammunition fired at relatively low velocity. Due to the high cost, great difficulty of precision manufacturing, and the need to load readily and speedily from the muzzle, musket balls were … See more

A barrel of circular bore cross-section is not capable of imparting a spin to a projectile, so a rifled barrel has a non-circular cross-section. Typically the rifled barrel contains one or more grooves that run down its length, giving it a cross-section resembling an See more

The original firearms were loaded from the muzzle by forcing a ball from the muzzle to the chamber. Whether using a rifled or smooth bore, a … See more