octogon barrel

[nc.hunter]

Guys I was looking at a Henry lever action .22 magnum and I found one for 369.99, then i looked down the list and seen one with an octogon barrel and it was 426.50! Why is the one with that barrel more? what is an octogon barrel? Thanks.

[elmer fudd]

it is an octogonal prism with a hole in it used for a barrel . i dont know why it is better but that is the best i can explain it!

[GlockMeister]

Might I add, octagon barrels are suppose to be more accurate. As for price increase, more metal used to make them? The shape maybe more intricate to make? Just guessing. lol
Ask Billy, he just recently, within a month or 2, bought a Henry and if I remember from the pictures, it had an octagon barrel. He may know why? I was just guessing. But they are suppose to be more accurate...

[elmer fudd]

that is a good guess but it cant be the strongest becouse i havent seen it on any centerfire buns have you?

[lefty o]

the octogon shape is not better for accuracy. it is however a "classic" barrel shape, therefore they charge a "classic" price for it. it is also more costly to produce.

[GlockMeister]

Looks as if it's another one of those things we'll have to agree to disagree LeftyO. But I'll stick with the opinion that octagon barrels, before all the high-tech material out there now, and even with it, tend to be more accurate then standard round rifle barrels.

[mitch_mckee]

Originally Posted by nc.hunter

Guys I was looking at a Henry lever action .22 magnum and I found one for 369.99, then i looked down the list and seen one with an octogon barrel and it was 426.50! Why is the one with that barrel more? what is an octogon barrel? Thanks.

You are talking about a replica arm there. That's the way they made barrels thru the mid 19th century.

Reason being, drilling a barrel with hand powered equipment is no easy task. One way to make it easier is to clamp the barrel blank into a chuck that holds in tightly in place while being drilled. The best shape for the blank to be held like a box end wrench holds a bolt is to mill the blank down to an eight sided figure. A clamp could then hold it securely. As the craft continued, especially after powered equipment came available, then milling round barrels afeter the drilling process was complete became feasable.

Else, I could be completely full of crap and possesed by demons.

[samuel]

Hexagon and octagon barrels originally were made so they could hold the barrel to use a single cutting tool to cut lands for riflings.The barrel was held more secure making the riflings more precise.In other words,it couldnt shift during the tooling process.You could say octigon barrels are more accurate because the tooling process was more precise.Today they use single cut,multiple cut,button,(both push and pull) and hammer forge.If you think you have ever been in or heard an argument,get around real amature competitors and get them to arguing about which is the best.You think people are opinionated on here,you should just hear them go at it.Personally I think the one that shoots the straightest is the best.They are wierd and cant even make up their minds about stocks.I couldn't either in my younger days. sam.

[oldjarhead]

Originally Posted by nc.hunter

Guys I was looking at a Henry lever action .22 magnum and I found one for 369.99, then i looked down the list and seen one with an octogon barrel and it was 426.50! Why is the one with that barrel more? what is an octogon barrel? Thanks.

It's simply a barrel with 8 flat sides instead of being round. Not really any more accurate; Mitch's answer is a good explanation. With modern rifles it is asthetic.

[billy]

yes the only reason i bought the henry with an octagonal barrel is because it is such a pretty rifle.
after installing the tang site Ive got $807 into it.
expensive?
YEAH.
was it worth it to me?
YEAH.
i could have bought any number of less expensive lever guns that probably would have shot just as well.
for a heckuva lot less.
but every time i pick this one up i think to myself...
this thing is beautiful.

i bet they cant just throw bar stock into a lathe and turn out a barrel in a couple minutes like they can with round barrels?

[jerry]

I'm going the common sense route of supply and demand. If they habe to tool up to fill a niche in the market where the primary sales don't dominate, 80/20 rule, they will have to charge more for said product. For example, yiu get a lot less materials, but .410 shells are twice the money. They also know what the market will bear and know the price point where people will purchase.

[rfc357]

So, the more sides, the more accuracy? Since a circle is a polygon with an infinite number of sides, a round barrel should be infinitely accurate.

If octagon barrels are more accurate, why don't benchrest competitors use them?

[elmer fudd]

if they are so acurate why are they not on center fire guns? i have only seen them on rimfire guns

[SwedeSteve]

Elmer- Ummmmh, what? I think 45/70 is centerfire.

[Cyrille]

The octigon barrel is a "Classic" in every sense of the word, we have two rifles with that shape barrel. As for accuracy--- I am just as accurate with them as I am with my Marlin thuty-thuty and my.22 Savage out to 50- 60 yds with iron sights. So I suppose that accuracy rests mostly on the sholders of the shooter--- but having a good shooting rifle, rounded, octigon, or hexagon barrel is what the shooter prefers. It is the care taken in rifling the barrel that contributes to the accracy not the outside shape of the barrel. It is also the care taken by the reloader in making accurate projectiles that enhances the accuracy of a well-cut barrel.

[lefty o]

quite simply, if an octogon barrel was more accurate, you'd see them on every BR rifle there is.

[elmer fudd]

Originally Posted by SwedeSteve

Elmer- Ummmmh, what? I think 45/70 is centerfire.

o it is on that? hum, i guess you learn somthing everyday!

[billy]

it's for looks guys

same with the brass frame on my bigboy

[rfc357]

I have a Savage 1895 (commemorative) lever gun in .308 with an octagon barrel. It's not a rimfire, as far as I can tell. It also does not shoot any better or worse than my other Savage lever guns.

[samuel]

I never meant octagon would be more accurate today.I meant back in it,s day it held the barrel more precise for tooling.This could have led to more precise boring/rifling. sam.