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Posted: 7/30/2007 5:18:25 PM EDT
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Does anyone know who manufactures barrels with hexagonal rifling? I am interested in a .223 and 9mm barrel. There was a link on Defense Review to a company in the Philippines - FERFANS - that offers hexagonal barrels in their PDW offerings and I know that HK uses similar rifling in their pistol barrels just wonder if there is anything stateside. Thanks |
Polygonal = hexagonal when you have 6 "high/low" areas. Polygonal can also have octagonal (8) highs/low = high/low = what ever lands/grooves are called in polygonal barrels. We have some barrel makers that offer polygonal barrels but they usually are more expensive and harder to make (hammer forging). With this increase of cost doesn't necessarily mean and increase in accuracy. Most target rifles are regular rifled barrels. Some of the pistol barrels are polygonal (glock). Basically it doesn't offer a great enough benefit to warrant it. |
Yup, the majority of people are confusing the terms polygonal bore and polygonal rifling. What you see in Glock or H&K pistols is a polygonal bore. The cross-section is hexagonal, octagonal or other polygonal shape, that twists along the barrel length. It has no protruding high points like in a regular rifled bore, so theoretically the bullet is not deformed as badly as with regular rifling. This is believed to cause less disturbance in the bullet's aerodynamical properties. Polygonal rifling on the other hand is a term that is sometimes erroneously used to describe a cut-rifled, round cross-section bore, that has a rounded transition from lands to grooves as opposed to a sharp corner. A Remington 5R or Mike Rock 5R barrel is a typical example of this. The term polygonal is erroneous in this context, there's nothing polygonal about it. The benefit of the rounded rifling is that it causes less copper fouling, since the cut it makes into the bullet jacket is not as sharp as with regular rifling. It is also thought to provide a better seal for the expanding gasses pushing the bullet forwards, therefore giving more muzzle velocity. Personally I feel that polygonal bore is the term that should be used for barrels like you find in a Glock, and rounded rifling for what you find in a 5R barrel. |
| Yes HK makes barrels for HK and Glock makes barrels for Glock and it can only be done through hammer forging. That means things like chamer dimensions, bore size, and rate of twist are fixed as they are all made at the same time. This is fine for mass production of a single type of barrel but not for having a wide variety of chambers, rates of twist, etc that most aftermarket barrel manufacturers would want to offer. |
| Arms Tech and POF, both in Phx, get polygon gain twist barrels for their rifles. Call. I did a recent accuracy and the 14.5 inch barrel stabalized the Nosler 77 grain cannelured bullet perfectly. 1/2 inch group at 100 meters. So I know these barrels are avalable. |
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