2-groove rifling

[Edarnold]

Black-powder military rifles had to be cleaned (mostly) from the muzzle, including the Trapdoor Springfields. Narrow lands would be more vulnerable to being worn away at the muzzle from the steel cleaning rods. 3 groove barrels would be sturdier, any accuracy lost would be more than compensated by a longer service life. I believe the Trap-door 45-70 rifles, from 1873 to 1884, were made with 3-groove barrels. I know from owning one that the first small-bore issue rifle, the Swiss Schmidt-Rubin 1889, had 3-groove rifling that apparently worked fine with the paper-patched .30 caliber bullets of the original ammunition. There probably many other examples, I'll leave it to the collectors of 19th century firearms to chime in with more examples.

 

[tuj]

Benchmark Barrels uses only the highest quality 416R and 4140R carbon steel in the production of our product. This ensures that our barrel is the finest you can put on your rifle.

All barrels are individually double hand lapped to a true consistent bore. The manufacturing process also includes double stress relieving and quality control inspection utilizing Diatest and air gauging prior to shipping.

The chambering and threading process consists of the most modern CNC and fixturing techniques in the firearms industry. Our methods produce the straightest and most uniform threads and chambers.

Barrel blanks are produced in all of the standard contours and with the option of 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 8 land/groove configurations and a variety of twists in most calibers. Standard finished blank length is 27”. We also offer fluting and other custom options upon request at an additional charge depending on the specification.

those guys make some darn good barrels