Hammer forged or button rifled
- Thread starter fgr39
- Start date
- Status
Well all AK's barrels are hammer forged so they don't ALL shoot exceptional...
Basically which ever barrel has the greatest attention to detail put into it, will be the best; whether that's forged, button, whatever. I don't think it matters.
Basically which ever barrel has the greatest attention to detail put into it, will be the best; whether that's forged, button, whatever. I don't think it matters.
GTSteve03
Member
The AK's barrel is the last thing affecting it's accuracy. Mostly it's the crude sights and torque from the heavy gas piston.
Hammer forged barrels will last tens of thousands of rounds, one of the reasons why you see them on AKs.
briansmithwins
Member
- Joined
- Aug 1, 2005
- Messages
- 4,631
Actually, the reciprocating parts of an AK weigh almost exactly the same as the reciprocating parts of an AR.
As far as I know, hammer forging makes it easy to turn out really good barrels cheaply. BSW
browningguy
Member
Well for hunting rifles it's all down to the manufacturer, you can get good, or crap, from either process. But no one ever won an F class match, that I know of, with a hammer forged barrel.
Hammer forging is one of those processes that the manufacturers like to play up as being a wonder process for producing super accurate barrels. But it's cheaper to manufacture which is why they really want to sell it to you. If they don't change out the mandrels often enough, or skimp on the quality of the mandrel the barrel will be so-so. And I don't want to sound negative about them, for a hunting rifle they produce fine barrels. But if you are building a match rifle then go for button or cut rifled.
And yes, I have been VP Manufacturing for two succesful companies, so I have a little knowledge about the process.
And just to add, I would go Savage. I did it myself so that it would be easy to change barrels if I decided I needed something different. My 12FV in .243 shot in the mid .3's out of the box with my handloads.
Hammer forging is one of those processes that the manufacturers like to play up as being a wonder process for producing super accurate barrels. But it's cheaper to manufacture which is why they really want to sell it to you. If they don't change out the mandrels often enough, or skimp on the quality of the mandrel the barrel will be so-so. And I don't want to sound negative about them, for a hunting rifle they produce fine barrels. But if you are building a match rifle then go for button or cut rifled.
And yes, I have been VP Manufacturing for two succesful companies, so I have a little knowledge about the process.
And just to add, I would go Savage. I did it myself so that it would be easy to change barrels if I decided I needed something different. My 12FV in .243 shot in the mid .3's out of the box with my handloads.
atblis
Member
Hammer forging
Hammer forging enjoys such a good reputation thanks to the Germans/Austrians and Finns. Steyr specifically, but Sako barrels are darn good too. It's the same reason that certain calibers enjoy accuracy reputations. Quality of the rifles and quality of ammo, not the "inherent" accuracy of the round.
In reality hammer forging is probably the cheapest way to crank out a bunch of barrels really fast.
Most likely you'll be happy with any of the three you mentioned. The Savage is intriguing due to the ease with which you can switch barrels.
EDIT: I don't know if the bolt buffered can be included in a direct comparison to the AK's reciprocating mass. It's isolated from the upper/receiver barrel so...
Hammer forging enjoys such a good reputation thanks to the Germans/Austrians and Finns. Steyr specifically, but Sako barrels are darn good too. It's the same reason that certain calibers enjoy accuracy reputations. Quality of the rifles and quality of ammo, not the "inherent" accuracy of the round.
In reality hammer forging is probably the cheapest way to crank out a bunch of barrels really fast.
Most likely you'll be happy with any of the three you mentioned. The Savage is intriguing due to the ease with which you can switch barrels.
EDIT: I don't know if the bolt buffered can be included in a direct comparison to the AK's reciprocating mass. It's isolated from the upper/receiver barrel so...
Barrel
Hammer forging is a in-expensive, quick way of making a barrel. Marketing has taken a minus and made/sold it as a plus. Button rifling will usually be more accurate. However, there are no absolutes and any barrel, by any method may turn out to be very accurate. Or a dog. Just my opinion based on reading and owning a great deal of rifles. I think few of us will ever own enough, or shoot enough, or keep precise enough records, to prove it either way.
Hammer forging is a in-expensive, quick way of making a barrel. Marketing has taken a minus and made/sold it as a plus. Button rifling will usually be more accurate. However, there are no absolutes and any barrel, by any method may turn out to be very accurate. Or a dog. Just my opinion based on reading and owning a great deal of rifles. I think few of us will ever own enough, or shoot enough, or keep precise enough records, to prove it either way.
skinewmexico
Member
Hammer forging was invented as a super fast way to build MG42 machine gun barrels by the Germans, in WW2. 1200 rounds a minute burned barrels out pretty fast. I guess they can be good barrels. Personally, I'll take a Savage, so when I get tired of a boring caliber, I can slap a new Shilen barrel on it in 30 minutes.
Swampy
Member
fgr39,
Good info posted so far. I can't argue with any of it on principle.
I'll only add one detail as food for thought..... Go to ANY extreme accuracy shooting event such as BR, Long Range BR, Highpower X-Course, Highpower Long Range, Palma, F-Class, etc...... You will have to look a long time to find ANY rifle on the firing line with a hammer forged barrel.
When top accuracy is the name of the game the cut rifled barrel is King with button rifling running a very close second. You will find-see pretty much 100% of the serious competitors using these two types, with a higher percentage using cut rifled.
Hammer forged tubes are not even in the same ball park.
Best,
Swampy
Garands forever
Good info posted so far. I can't argue with any of it on principle.
I'll only add one detail as food for thought..... Go to ANY extreme accuracy shooting event such as BR, Long Range BR, Highpower X-Course, Highpower Long Range, Palma, F-Class, etc...... You will have to look a long time to find ANY rifle on the firing line with a hammer forged barrel.
When top accuracy is the name of the game the cut rifled barrel is King with button rifling running a very close second. You will find-see pretty much 100% of the serious competitors using these two types, with a higher percentage using cut rifled.
Hammer forged tubes are not even in the same ball park.
Best,
Swampy
Garands forever
- Status
Similar threads
