polygonal barrels on revolvers

olympicmotors · May 6, 2014

I just got through cleaning the copper fouling from my 640 pro barrel. It has only been to the range twice and I posted in another thread I first thought the bore was scratched and pockmarked from the factory.

It was a pretty lengthy process , I brushed and soaked the barrel about 10 times until I got it acceptable. ( still not 100 percent clean ).

I have never seen this in my Autos with polygonal barrels. I use the same type of ammo, ( usually winchester white box and speer gold dots ) for both.

Do you think this is caused by the hotter 357 vs my 40 cal. autos? or is it because the polygonal barrels are easier to clean? Or maybe I just cannot see the fouling as well in the auto barrels ?

what brand of copper solvent do you recommend ?

Finally, why are there no polygonal barrels in revolvers?

Laketime · May 6, 2014

Probally not the hotter 357,since it handles the 50 AE with out issues.

colt_saa · May 6, 2014

Welcome to the Forum,

Absolutely there are polygon rifled revolver barrels.

Tell me why you would want polygon rifling instead of broach cut riffling, or button cut rifling or ECM/EDM rifling?

In terms of heavy fouling (copper or lead), I have been using Outers Foul Out for 2 or 3 decades now. Also I never worry about a 100% clean barrel.

olympicmotors · May 6, 2014

colt_saa said:
Welcome to the Forum,

Absolutely there are polygon rifled revolver barrels.

Tell me why you would want polygon rifling instead of broach cut riffling, or button cut rifling or ECM/EDM rifling?

In terms of heavy fouling (copper or lead), I have been using Outers Foul Out for 2 or 3 decades now. Also I never worry about a 100% clean barrel.

Thanks.

I have read polygonal barrels are 1. easier to clean, and 2. have a little tighter seal to the bullet, so produce a little higher velocity.

I would think every gain in velocity would be good , especially in very short snub-nose revolvers .

How often do you try to get the copper out of your barrels? after every range trip? How detrimental is copper to accuracy?

Which revolvers have polygonal barrels?

colt_saa · May 6, 2014

olympicmotors said:
Thanks.

I have read polygonal barrels are 1. easier to clean, and 2. have a little tighter seal to the bullet, so produce a little higher velocity.

I would think every gain in velocity would be good , especially in very short snub-nose revolvers .

How often do you try to get the copper out of your barrels? after every range trip? How detrimental is copper to accuracy?

Which revolvers have polygonal barrels?

I can not comment on any type of rifling being significantly easier to clean than any other.

Polygon rifling produces higher velocity because it has less friction. Other factors in handguns produce more velocity variation than the type of rifling chosen. For example the way a chamber is cut or in the case of revolvers the barrel/cylinder gap.

As to fit, polygon barrels are far more fussy about accurately firing undersized projectiles than virtually any other form of rifling.

In handguns I never worry about copper fouling. I just clean the barrel. We are not talking about benching 1000 yard rifles here, we are talking 25 yard pistols held freestyle. 95+ percent of the shooters will never see enough copper fouling in a handgun to be an accuracy issue during their lifetime

I have never bothered to compile a list of what firearms use what rifling. Since this is the S&W Forum, the Performance Center has purchased polygon rifled revolver barrels from Lothar-Walther of Germany for various firearms over the years. Some were used on one or more of the 327s or 627s, cant remember off the top of my head.

BigBill · May 7, 2014

All my CZ pistols have polygonal bores. Shooting leadcast isn't recommended in the polygonal bores. I never had copper fouling in any of my cz.

olympicmotors · May 7, 2014

Interesting information, thanks everybody.

686 SSR · May 7, 2014

H&K does not recommend shooting any lead cast bullet through their polygonal barrels. The apparent reason is that lead buildup can fill the polygonal rifling enough to raise pressures to dangerous levels. Since a lot of revolver shooters use cast lead bullets, perhaps that's why revolver polygonal barrel are not common?

r3captain · May 8, 2014

686 SSR said:
H&K does not recommend shooting any lead cast bullet through their polygonal barrels. /QUOTE]

Same with Glocks, which is why I use an after market grooved barrel to shoot lead with.

mmncw · May 8, 2014

I can attest to the notion that shooting lead through a polygonal barrel might not be the best idea. Shooting a glock 20 (before I heard about the no-lead in polygonal barrels), shot a box of the American Eagle lead through it. Did not notice until I went to clean it, but there were 1/2" long strings of lead hanging out of the muzzle at each 'corner' of the polygon. They were stuck hard and getting the lead out of the inside of the barrel wasn't much fun either. Didn't do that again.

BigBill · May 8, 2014

Some food for thought facts,

As far as polygonal accuracy using 3' of Kentucky windage with my cz 85DB in 9mm luger with a 4" barrel at 100yds I can ping small rocks on the berm constantly.

TiroFijo · May 8, 2014

Velocity of poly vs normal rifled barrels, not much (or any) of a difference:

BBTI - Ballistics by the Inch :: Results

And poly barrels are not lead friendly.

Never had any problems cleaning my revolvers, you don't need to get the barrels surgically clean.

polygonal barrels on revolvers

olympicmotors

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