About rifling an aluminum barrel.

A place for general potato gun questions and discussions.
TillaTheMook
Recruit
Recruit
Posts: 1
Joined: Mon Jul 08, 2013 12:45 pm

Mon Jul 08, 2013 1:02 pm

I built a sweet butane-powered aluminum spud gun for our county's 2nd annual spud gun competition. We took 2nd place in the distance category at 610ft, 1st was at 650ft. We didn't place in accuracy (our friends with the stainless breech loader took that one), so to improve my piece, I'd like to figure out a way to rifle the barrel. Its funny how we got home after the competition and with the first two shots we hit the same spot on a tree 250yds away. Its a 48.5" barrel about 1/4 inch thick. It is welded to the combustion chamber, which is made of a 5.5" ID 1/4" aluminum tube and 1/4" aluminum ends. It's using an $8 stun gun wired to a spark plug for ignition and we feed butane into the chamber via a 100cc syringe. 190cc of butane is about ideal for this cannon. It sits on a tripod because its far easier to aim, I'm too lazy to hold it, and nobody doesn't like a tripod.
Anyway, its a smooth bore, as most spud guns. I know theres a dude who sells rifled PVC barrels, which is really awesome, but PVC won't help an aluminum gun. So, does anyone have any ideas for rifling a 2" aluminum barrel? If it makes any difference, its 5052 aluminum. It doesn't have to be super perfect, but the closer I can get, the better.
Attachments
IMG_20130704_194807_450.jpg
User avatar
Gun Freak
Lieutenant 5
Lieutenant 5
Posts: 4971
Joined: Mon Jan 25, 2010 4:38 pm
Location: Florida
Been thanked: 7 times

Mon Jul 08, 2013 1:57 pm

What ammo are you using that would even benefit from rifling?
OG Anti-Hybrid
One man's trash is a true Spudder's treasure!
Golf Ball Cannon "Superna"M16 BBMGPengunHammer Valve Airsoft SniperHigh Pressure .22 Coax
Holy Shat!
User avatar
jackssmirkingrevenge
Five Star General
Five Star General
Posts: 26179
Joined: Thu Mar 15, 2007 11:28 pm
Has thanked: 543 times
Been thanked: 321 times

Donating Members

Mon Jul 08, 2013 2:08 pm

TillaTheMook wrote: It's using an $8 stun gun wired to a spark plug for ignition and we feed butane into the chamber via a 100cc syringe
Good man :)

Rifling is a bit of a waste if you're only shooting spuds.

Remember modern tank guns have smoothbore barrels and are accurate enough to hit enemy tanks several miles away...

Are you limited to loading potatoes?

If not, these are a better idea than rifling: http://ultimatespudgun.com/uhmw-compoun ... p-222.html

[youtube][/youtube]
hectmarr wrote:You have to make many weapons, because this field is long and short life
User avatar
Lockednloaded
Staff Sergeant
Staff Sergeant
United States of America
Posts: 1566
Joined: Thu Sep 03, 2009 9:38 pm
Location: Texas, USA
Been thanked: 6 times

Mon Jul 08, 2013 5:11 pm

Are there any rules that say you have to use a 1x combustion for this competition? If not, even converting that monster to a 2x hybrid would blow the competition out of the water and get rid of the need for a rifled barrel to gain an edge.
I love lamp
User avatar
Technician1002
Captain
Captain
Posts: 5189
Joined: Sat Apr 04, 2009 11:10 am

Mon Jul 08, 2013 6:59 pm

Depending on the rules, a larger cannon will allow use of higher sectional density ammo. Launch baker spuds instead of #2 russets.

You seem to have the short fat chamber. Great job on that. You may want to look into a chamber fan and possibly some insulating chamber sleeve inside the chamber to reduce the rate the combustion gas cools.

Can you use a higher energy density fuel? Consider MAPP Gas.
whoa044
Private 4
Private 4
Posts: 79
Joined: Thu Sep 23, 2010 7:03 pm

Fri Jul 12, 2013 8:30 pm

Are there rules that pertain to the loading process? With the projectile near the muzzle, you could inject a little extra butane (or MAPP) and then push the projectile to its firing position near the chamber. Simple way to make it hybrid I spose.
Post Reply