Cut vs. button vs. hammer-forged rifling

Written by a former custom barrel maker

Every rifled barrel starts as a drilled and reamed hole. How the grooves get in is the big split between makers. All three methods can make an accurate barrel. They just get there differently.

Cut rifling

A cutter is pulled through the bore, taking a tiny bit of steel out of each groove per pass, and the barrel is indexed so each groove gets cut in turn. It's slow, but it puts very little stress into the steel. Krieger and Bartlein both describe their barrels as single-point cut-rifled, and Bartlein's FAQ says plainly "no button rifling and no broach cutting."

Button rifling

A hardened carbide button with the rifling shape on it is pushed or pulled through the bore in one pass. As Lilja's FAQ explains, no material is removed. The steel is displaced, which leaves stress in the barrel that has to be relieved. Button rifling is fast and very repeatable. Hart, Lilja, Douglas, Criterion and Pac-Nor are among the makers that use it.

For what it's worth, the barrels I made were button rifled.

Hammer forging

The barrel blank is hammered around a mandrel that carries the rifling shape. It's mostly used for high-volume factory and military barrels, not the small custom shops in this tracker.

Does it matter for you?

For most hunters and many competitors, the maker's quality control, the steel and the gunsmith's chambering matter as much as the rifling method. Pick a maker you trust, a lead time you can live with, and a twist that fits your bullet.

Sources

This is general information, not gunsmithing advice. Have a qualified gunsmith fit and headspace any barrel.