Even way back in the early days of rifled barrels I'm sure that production companies were using powered methods of drawing the rifling cutters through the bores and took far less time to cut the rifling by being able to take heavier cuts than could be pulled through by a single laborer.
Well sir, that is a valid point, but since Gary Asked:
"How long does it take
in the pre-industrial age to rifle an iron barrel?" (emphasis mine) that's how I answered.
Also, it is important to remember that Apprentices were cheap, and Machinery was costly.
once even water-powered machinery was in place, the entire game changed. Then things changed from "one craftsman creating an entire product"
to " piece work" and "specialization". The development of "mechanization of processes" at Springfield Armory took place gradually according to Hounshell from ~ 1815- ~ 1840.
I highly recommend
"American System to Mass Production, 1800-1932"
By David Hounshell
For a more detailed look at mass production and how the men in charge of Springfield Armory changed the
way business was done in the Armory from "one man building one gun up until 1802 " to "a division of labor"
"in 1802 Henry Morgan took charge as superintendent and promptly institued a series of what
no doubt seemed like radical changes... by splitting the workers into four main divisons: barrrelmakers and forge men;
filers; stockers and assemblers; and grinders and polishers. "
These changes were not taken well by the workforce....
Machinery and use proper uniform guages was introduced over time, first uniform guages,
and teaching of the proper use of hardened gauges for true parts interchangability and "duplicating lathes"and specialised sequential machines
designed to carry out only one single step before moving the part to the next stage.
musket barrel turning machines ( 1818, by Blanchard)
then stockmaking lathes ( 1819, by Blanchard) ,
then inletting machines ( by 1822, also Blanchard)
Thus the mind-numbing assembly line was set in motion.
Regarding large scale production rifling machines Hounshell writes:
"Cyrus Buckland also designed a large number of machines between 1840 and 1852; some were only improvements
on Blanchard's stocking machines but others were more original, such as the self-acting rifling machine."
To grasp an idea of production volume,
the
Springfield Model 1812 Musket ( .69 caliber smoothbore
flintlock) was produced in a quantity of almost 30,000 between the 3 years between 1814 and 1816
while the
Model 1803 Harpers Ferry Flintolock Rifle had only a total of 15,703 manufactured in the 7 years from 1814-1820.
in contrast, Springfield Armory produced 265,129
Model 1861 Rifled Muskets between January 1, 1861 and December 31, 1863
yhs
shunka