Girardoni

Last weekend I lapped the barrels.  This consists of making a close negative of the barrel bore and rifling in pure, soft lead, coating with an abrasive paste and pushing and pulling it through the barrel repeatedly.   This  smooths out machining marks and irregularities.  Also one can determine if there...

Today I tapered the two octagonal barrels.   A jig was made from a 4 inch square by 3 foot long block of 6061 Al.   A slot with a 45 degree undercut was cut.  Allen head bolts were inserted to tighten against a steel bar to clamp the barrels. Three round...

  Built a new rifling head and cutter for the Girardoni rifle barrels.   The design is modified from “The Modern Gunsmith” by James Virgil Howe.  His design is based on a scraper rather than cutter as used on the 1902 Springfield rifle barrels.  It operates/cuts in both directions.  I’ve made...