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Guys was noticing tonight that 1 of my carbines a (43 Underwood) has a lightly ribbed barrel whereas my others have smooth barrels......is this an oddity or a factory finish barrel ...? If it is factory what if any was the reason for the "rough" finish ?
Regards
Lloyd
milling marks from the manufacturing process.
Tool marks like that are very common on Underwood barrels; in fact they are the norm....
This is quite common on carbine barrels. My two Underwoods with 2-44 and 3-44 barrels are like that also. Where the lathe or other machining was used to cut barrel diameter it took extra steps to make the surface smooth. For the major lenth of the barrel that wasn't critical to have a smooth surface. Where the front sight goes on the barrel will almost always be machined much smoother as this was a critical surface that mated with another part.
It may be more common in later guns than earlier as it was probably determined doing the extra smoothing operation took additional time and added to cost of production.
I have 3 IBM's and an NPM with IBM barrel and they have very pronounced "ribs". My Underwood does too, but not as much as the IBM. Will check out the others and report what I have.
It was the norm on all carbine barrels and is still used today on U.S. weapons. I don't know how some barrels didn't get the treatment, but perhaps it was optional. The 'ridges' serve several purposes; breaking up light reflection for a better non-glare finish, providing slightly more surface area for cooling and providing some protection for the finish in the 'valleys' which contributes to more finish on the barrel for longer periods. This was done on purpose and is not the result of normal lathing.
Don't have it in front of me, but i think my Buffalo Arms barrel is very rough.
So from the responses guys does it mean that only certain manufacturers had ribbed barrels or was it a later production "thing" to speed up production.
Enjoying the thread so far guys...thanks
Regards
Lloyd