Barrel Rivelling

[Reggie Bishop]

I hope that is the proper terminology? Tell me what your knowledge is of this wavy appearance on the exterior of some barrels. Is it seen primarily on barrels that have been re-blued? Or does anyone have an original finish gun with rivelling? Can it be corrected? Are they safe to use?

[Dean Romig]

I don’t know what it is and don’t believe I’ve ever seen it but it sure doesn’t sound desirable.





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[Mike Franzen]

Reggie can you post pictures of an example?

[Dean Romig]

Twice I have seen some, what I thought was strange and very questionable, rippling along the barrel exterior, especially visible when holding up to a light source and sighting along the outside surface.

This effect was caused by some ham-handed shade-tree ‘gunsmith’ eremoving rust by running the barrels ACROSS their length against a wire wheel. Sometimes hard to catch unless you sight down the length as I have described.

One of these guns was a C grade Fox and the other was a grade 2 Ithaca.






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[Reggie Bishop]

Maybe the term is riffling or rippling. I will try to get a picture. It is not easy to see. It is on the bottom of one barrel only and it is not visible looking into the bores. I googled it and read some discussions on other boards which were not much help. Some said it was due to poor re-finishing and some said they had seen factory barrels with it and it was a result of not being properly finished at the factory. These discussions were not about Parker guns in particular.

[John Campbell]

Reggie is right. "Rivveling" is a series of small, shallow waves/ripples in the barrel interior or exterior. They are an aftermarket syndrome caused by a minor barrel obstruction or overloaded cartridges. They can be removed, but with resultant thinning of the barrel wall. In many cases they are cosmetically objectionable, but not too dangerous. Evaluation by a competent double gunsmith is best.

[James L. Martin]

I have seen it a few times, last was on a 16ga DHE in left barrel just before and into the choke .I turned down the gun because of it. I also believe it's caused by a minor barrel obstruction or a overload ,maybe a magnum load or steel.

[Reggie Bishop]

This one is in the mid section of left barrel on the bottom only best I can tell. Maybe because the left barrel has the tighter choke?

[Kevin McCormack]

It can also be caused by the use of steel shot in barrels with too tight a choke, especially with large shot sizes, for the loads used.

[Reggie Bishop]

Hard to see in the picture but here goes.

[Dean Romig]

Pretty easy for me to see.... I wouldn't buy a gun like that...





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[Reggie Bishop]

There is a story, always a story I guess, about this gun that I will not share on the internet.
Thanks for all the input and comments. I am sending the barrels Kirk M. to check out. I will say this gun is a two barrel set. The other barrels are in good condition.

[Randy G Roberts]

The good news would be that the issue has occurred at the best possible place along the barrels in terms of pressure. Hopefully it turns out to be more of a cosmetic issue vs safety. Sounds like there's a story in there that I would like to hear some time Reggie.

[Destry L. Hoffard]

My old BH had some, it's common in old British driven game guns that have been shot hot a lot so I'm told.

[Stan Hillis]

Has anyone here ever seen rivelling in a barrel that was on a gun other than a S X S, such as a O/U, a pump, or a jammamatic?

[hugh rather]

There is a section on this phenomenon in McIntosh's Shotgun Technica book. Interesting read.

[Mike Franzen]

Thanks for the pictures Reggie. If anyone can interpret those marks it’s Kirk Merrington. I hope you’ll get us posted