This is most often done to the exterior surface of a rifle barrel, though it may also be applied to the cylinder of a revolver or the bolt of a bolt-action rifle. Main article: Fluting (firearms) A German Army G22 with fluted barrelįluting is the removal of material from a cylindrical surface, usually creating rounded grooves, for the purpose of reducing weight. Artillery pieces are made by various techniques providing reliably sufficient strength. Modern small arms barrels are made of carbon steel or stainless steel materials known and tested to withstand the pressures involved. If the barrel material cannot cope with the pressure within the bore, the barrel itself might suffer catastrophic failure and explode, which will not only destroy the gun but also present a life-threatening danger to people nearby. Construction The barrel of a 240 mm howitzer in use in 1944Ī gun barrel must be able to hold in the expanding gas produced by the propellants to ensure that optimum muzzle velocity is attained by the projectile as it is being pushed out. This was because manufacturing defects such as air bubbles trapped in the metal were common at that time, and played key factors in many gun explosions these defects made the barrel too weak to withstand the pressures of firing, causing it to fail and fragment explosively. Įarly cannon barrels were very thick for their caliber. During the 19th century, effective breechblocks were invented that sealed a breechloader against the escape of propellant gases. The later-invented breech-loading designs provided a higher rate of fire, but early breechloaders lacked an effective way of sealing the escaping gases that leaked from the back end (breech) of the barrel, reducing the available muzzle velocity. Įarly firearms were muzzleloaders, with the gunpowder and then the shot loaded from the front end (muzzle) of the barrel, and were capable of only a low rate of fire due to the cumbersome loading process. Bronze and brass were favoured by gunsmiths, largely because of their ease of casting and their resistance to the corrosive effects of the combustion of gunpowder or salt water when used on naval vessels. Early European guns were made of wrought iron, usually with several strengthening bands of the metal wrapped around circular wrought iron rings and then welded into a hollow cylinder. The Chinese were also the first to master cast-iron cannon barrels, and used the technology to make the earliest infantry firearms - the hand cannons. However, during the late Tang dynasty, Chinese inventors discovered gunpowder, and used bamboo, which has a strong, naturally tubular stalk and is cheaper to obtain and process, as the first barrels in gunpowder projectile weapons such as fire lances. Gun barrels are usually made of some type of metal or metal alloy. History A female worker boring out the barrel of a Lee-Enfield rifle during WWI The first firearms were made at a time when metallurgy was not advanced enough to cast tubes capable of withstanding the explosive forces of early cannons, so the pipe (often built from staves of metal) needed to be braced periodically along its length for structural reinforcement, producing an appearance somewhat reminiscent of storage barrels being stacked together, hence the English name. The hollow interior of the barrel is called the bore, and the diameter of the bore is called its caliber, usually measured in inches or millimetres. It is the straight shooting tube, usually made of rigid high-strength metal, through which a contained rapid expansion of high-pressure gas(es) is used to propel a projectile out of the front end ( muzzle) at a high velocity. The Tsar Cannon of 1586 with its huge bore and a barrel exterior which is perceived like a stack of storage barrelsĪ gun barrel is a crucial part of gun-type weapons such as small firearms, artillery pieces, and air guns. For other uses of "gun barrel", see Gun barrel (disambiguation).
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