Square barrels?

[Hino895]

I have never seen this post on this subject.
Round, octagon, half round half octagon stepped I’ve seen and had all of those.
Serious question, why not a square or for serious bench rest rectangular barrels.
They would be extremely easy to bed.
Maybe a little more difficult to cut the chamber though.

 

[joshb]

.........uh.........because we don’t bed barrels?

 

[Dave M.]

1. You don’t bed the barrel,
2. A square barrel would have very high stress risers in the corners
3. A square barrel would have a VERY uneven heating & cooling profile

There are other reasons as well but those would be the major ones from a materials engineering standpoint

 

[Dusty Stevens]

Never seen anything but round on anything serious about accuracy

 

[spudgun]

Remington made a kinda triangle barrel, rem 700 VTR

 

[Uthink Uknow]

For competition? Weight.

 

[jelenko]

How would square be an better for weight than a round barrel?

 

[Uthink Uknow]

Quite the opposite, Jelenko

 

[jelenko]

How would it be?

 

[G Liles]

I have never seen this post on this subject.
Round, octagon, half round half octagon stepped I’ve seen and had all of those.
Serious question, why not a square or for serious bench rest rectangular barrels.
They would be extremely easy to bed.
Maybe a little more difficult to cut the chamber though.

There’s only one way to find out, build one or have one built, then you will know.

 

[joshb]

Remington made a kinda triangle barrel, rem 700 VTR

...and the theory and trial failed miserably.

 

[Dusty Stevens]

Remington made a kinda triangle barrel, rem 700 VTR

It shot almost as bad as a square one would

 

[Dave M.]

How would square be an better for weight than a round barrel?

It wouldn’t. Square would weigh more.

 

[Bc'z]

Remington made a kinda triangle barrel, rem 700 VTR

I pulled my hair out with my wife's VTR in 260 Remington.
On a really really god day it'll shoot .6"-.7" @100.
Kills deer dead though!!

 

[Dave M.]

With excess heat “stuck” in the corners compared to that of the flat areas, the barrel would experience large thermal gradients and be prone to micro-warping with repeated long strings.

 

[JEFFPPC]

Next question please. Lol!

 

[STS]

Lathes do round better than they do square.

 

[BlueWater]

Serious question, why not a square or for serious bench rest rectangular barrels.

I'm no engineer, but I suspect the loads during firing would be ultra-stiff along certain planes but ultra-ugly (and thus unmanageable) along others. I would imagine that, at a given weight/size of barrel, round would tend to be the best compromise for shape. (My W.A.G. for the week.)

 

[farmerjohn]

Jim Clark Sr made a lot of rectangular revolver barrels and for all I know Jim Jr may still produce them. I had one back in my bullseye days, shot pretty well too... John

 

[NZ_Fclass]

Jim Clark Sr made a lot of rectangular revolver barrels and for all I know Jim Jr may still produce them. I had one back in my bullseye days, shot pretty well too... John

My Walther GSP 22/32 has square barrels. No problem for a 4 in rimfire or 32 S&W.